Power cuts

zombie_donkey

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I had a 4 hour power cut last night, luckily my PJ was not running, otherwise the bulb would not have been cooled properly when the lights went out!

This now has me worrying, I get a few power cuts each year and I don't want one of these to end up costing me a new bulb!

I am thinking of getting an Uninteruptable Power Supply off E-bay for £30.

Does anyone else use such a thing?
 
I got an APC UPS when I bought my first projector, three years ago. I bought it more to be safe than anything else.

You know what? We had a blackout in the very first 5 to 10 projection "sessions”!!!

I distinctively remember blessing the decision to buy one at the time...

No other power shortages since but, the way I see it, it is well paid for :)

AK
 
Thanks, that confirms what I'm thinking.

I can hopefully get one before the weekend if I go collect it.
 
I have one of them aswell, very handy to have :) well worth the 60 or so quid i paid for it a few months ago.
 
What make do you have Fragmaster?

The one I am after has a 30 minute run time for £40 if I collect one.
 
zombie_donkey said:
What make do you have Fragmaster?

The one I am after has a 30 minute run time for £40 if I collect one.

Do you have any links to these please?
 
They are Trust EV 400 UPS and are available on E-bay for £29.99 or at Maplin for £40
 
mines a belkin make, unsure of model number ( but its a low spec one only has 20 minutes of juice when the power goes off, which is enough for what i want it to do)
 
According to an inFocus engineer on avsforum, it's not a problem at all if you have a powercut - in fact, the bulb can last longer if it is allowed to cool down slowly.

So why have cooling? Because restarting a projector bulb when hot is bad - it's the quick way to end up with a dead bulb. Which is why the fan continues to run once you "soft" power down the projector - get the bulb cool as soon as possible in case the user switches the projector back on.
 
When initially discussing this, about 3 years ago, I distinctively remember the issue not being about the lamp. With LCD projectors the problem revolved around the perception that high, non-dissipated heat could lead to panel warping.

AK
 
Yes heat can damage the optics, but the problem also with power cuts is the temp of the lamp actually initially rises if the power is cut off suddenly ;)
 
zombie_donkey said:
They are Trust EV 400 UPS and are available on E-bay for £29.99 or at Maplin for £40

Thanks will have a look. :thumbsup:
 
Fuly advise the ebuyer.com ones. They are 1200VA and 46.99 including free shipping, would come on the 29th or something - or you pay to have it before christmas. Have very good reviews and are much more powerful than the ones mentioned above. Mine is arriving thurs morning I hope :)
 
explicitlyrics said:
Fuly advise the ebuyer.com ones. They are 1200VA and 46.99 including free shipping, would come on the 29th or something - or you pay to have it before christmas. Have very good reviews and are much more powerful than the ones mentioned above. Mine is arriving thurs morning I hope :)

Do you have a direct link as i can't find them. :)
 
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=64159 is the one i have. They also have a white one (link at the bottom of the page).

The only niggle is the power connectors, the UPS only has a PC output. Like the spare socket on a pc's PSU (that ive never used). But I bought a cable (quickfind 40660 on ebuyer) and a wall connection and its now like a regular socket (just protected). Hope you can vaguely work out what I mean, its shocking what 4 pints has done.... :p
 
Perhaps a fraction off topic but I´m pondering a similar situation for my inlaws who have recently got themselves a huge rear projection Sony Wega TV (it's a US model of some description).

Their building recently experienced some power cuts and although the unit wasn't powered on at the time, it left me thinking that a UPS for their TV wouldn't be a half bad idea as I was concerned at what might happen to the lamp if this happened.
 
take the time they say with a pinch of salt
my 600 (from ebuyer) lasts about 5 mins
 
Having seen projectors in work switched off directly at the wall many many times, without any apparent side effects, is a UPS strictly necessary? Granted I wouldn't do the same thing to my own PJ!
 
I have a DLP projector installed in a new-build house. For those of you with such a property - I am sure you know all about power cuts.

We regularly have them and mostly when we're enjoying a film. I can count at least 4 times in the last 6 months and (thank you!) my Optoma H50 has taken it on the chin and not caused any problems.

In IMHO a UPS is not strictly necessary....
 
pjclark1 said:
take the time they say with a pinch of salt
my 600 (from ebuyer) lasts about 5 mins


For the prices that Ebuyer are charging, go for the 1200VA model. I loaded one of those at 200W, and after 10 minutes the battery indicator was still showing 50% charge. For the money, these are an absolute steal !

rimibar said:
In IMHO a UPS is not strictly necessary....

Probably not, but when a "switch on spike" takes out your TV/PJ, then you might change your mind ! Don't forget these UPS's include surge protection.
 
Would agree with Nick, the 1200 model has over 2x the battery inside it (bigger battery and two of them rather than one). A friend of mine can run his mesh 3ghz pc with a big graphics card for 15mins off it, Im sure it will cope fine with a projector :)
 
Ekko Star said:
Yes heat can damage the optics, but the problem also with power cuts is the temp of the lamp actually initially rises if the power is cut off suddenly ;)


Yes, it's the same with car engines. The bulb in your average PJ gets much hotter than any car engine and that heat would need to be dissapated before it can damage other parts of the PJ. Also I am told the bulbs can be shocked if not cooled properly.....
And the bulbs in my PJ cost £450 so I ain't gonna take no chances! for less than 10% of the cost of a bulb, I can relax, until the next powercut causes me to run around like a demented, headless chicken, turning off my PJ and looking for a torch whilst cursing me Leccy supplier and anyone else who gets in the way of my dark rampage!

Anyways..........

I got my UPS from Maplin in MK earlier today.

It had PC cable outlets so I have chopped the end of one of the cables provided, and put a domestic 3 pin extension outlet on it! The little beauty should last a minimum of 12 minutes to 30 minutes according to the instructions and it is charging as I type! :beer: :beer: :beer: :beer:
 
explicitlyrics

I think i understand the use of that cable, basically the 3 male pins go into the UPS and then the female part into the projector?

Whats the wall connection thing? I dont understand
 
The wall thing is the bit that is in your wall that you normally plug stuff into! :p

Its just this way i can plug an adapter into it and connect other things to the ups aswell. Effectively created a wall socket that is surge and battery protected :) - there thats what i was trying to say.

Shouldnt have given up english so soon....
 
Basically what he's saying is that he didn't have a proper cable, so he chopped the male plug off a scrap cable and fitted it to a 13A distribution panel. This means that you don't have to spend money on several expensive cables, but there is a danger that someone could overload the UPS by plugging in a high-power appliance. The guy who came to sweep my chimney tripped my UPS into overload by plugging his industrial vacuum cleaner into the 13A distribution panel.
 

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