I have done over a dozen audio-video projects in my career. One of the constant complaints I would get from Owners were about projector lamps. The Owners would inevitably complain about the sticker shock for replacement bulbs. Despite the fact, I recommended a mass purchase of replacement bulbs as part of the project. A bulk buy of 50 to 100 lamps would have saved a lot of money. Nobody wants to spend that money upfront. It’s easier to push the costs off of the capital budget into OPEX. It is somebody else’s budget.
Grey-market protector bulbs
This penny-foolish procrastination could end up costing organizations a great deal more. When a department is required to purchase its own consumable goods, they often buy the cheapest goods they can find and the results can be tragic. A recent example comes from Scotland. Back in May 2014, the 175-year-old Glasgow School of Art (GSA) Charles Rennie Mackintosh building caught fire. The blaze inside the historic building is believed to have started when a projector exploded in its basement according to the MailOnline.
Luckily there were no reports of serious injuries. If it turns out to be an exploding projector, the cause could have been a grey-market bulb. Grey-market goods are often sold on dodgy websites as original equipment. They are cheaper and are often packaged in convincing counterfeited packing. Monoprice had this same problem a while ago (which I reported on here).
In order to educate yourself, and protect your clients, projector bulb reseller – JustLamps.net – published a website – Counterfeitlamps.com – which provides some pointers on how to recognize counterfeit lamps and what to do if you get one (or twenty).
Clean out the projector filters
T
he second step to protect the installation is to service the projector. Everybody hates to climb the ladder and clean out the filters, but it’s got to be done. It increases the life of the lamp, so you save money by increasing the lamp life which reduces the risk of buying a counterfeit lamp and possibly burning down a building.
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Protect your equipment (and buildings) by replacing projector lamps before they exceed their rated hours. Do not keep using it until it stops working. It could get ugly.
There are opportunities in here, many mid-high quality projectors will now generate alerts when it exceeds a number of hours. Maybe you can be the on the ladders cleaning the filters for them.
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- Lamp-free projectors: A bright idea that’s catching on (eschoolnews.com)
Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.