Author: FixYourDLP.com
How to extend the life of your DLP, LCoS, SXRD, HD-ILA, or LCD TV Lamp -Intuitive Guide
Saturday, April 7th, 2007 @ 1:05 pm
It’s a terrible feeling…it sucks when you’re anticipating watching your favorite program and “pop,” the lamp in your projection TV fails :( Why did it happen? You were just watching TV, it’s not like you were wrestling with it! Why?!?In our experience, there are a number of factors that can contribute to a premature lamp failure. Keep in mind that there is no fail-safe course of action you can take…these lamps are consumable products…they are designed to need replacing. Nevertheless, there are a few things you can do to insure your lamp has a healthy and long life.
The following list is made in order of importance (remember, there is no scientific data behind this, just years of refurbishing experience)
1) Rapid Power Cycling - Turning on the set, turning it off, turning it on, turning it off…turning it on…turning if off. This is absolutely the worse thing one can do to their TV. If you turn on the TV accidentally, give it a good 15-20 to warm up before turning it down. For more look at #2.
2) Power Cycles - A power cycle happens every time you press the power button on your remote to turn it on. Think of it as your car starter. Imagine an insanely busy pizza delivery boy who has 50 deliveries a day. Every time he leaves the pizza shop he needs to activate his car starter…every time he leaves a customer’s house, he needs to activate his starter again. There is a good chance this poor guy’s starter (100 starts a day!) is going to fail sooner than someone with an 9 to 5 office job, who starts his/her car once in the morning, once in the afternoon, and once in the evening. The same concept applies here. Do not power cycle your TV set every half hour thinking you’re going to save 10 minutes of lamp life–it doesn’t work that way. You’re doing more damage “sparking” or “striking” the lamp. In short: it’s better to keep the TV on for 5 hours straight rather than watch a one hour program and turn it off only to turn it back on half an hour later.
3) Dust and Dirt - I cannot stress this enough. Eliminating dust and dirt is another very important aspect of maintaining a healthy Projection TV. Take a look at the back of your TV; there is a good chance there’s a lot of dust sitting on the back of the TV. Wipe your finger across the back and you’ll see. With so much dust on the outside of the TV you can imagine some of it must be getting into inside, and as a result, shortening your lamp life. After 5,000 + lamps replaced, I can honestly say maintaining a clean and dust free TV is essential to promoting a long life. My recommendations:
a) wipe down the back of your TV once a month with a damp cloth
b) invest ~$100 in a ionic air purifier and place it close to the TV. This will silently attract all the dust, pollen, smoke, etc. away from the TV set. Do NOT take a can of compressed air and go nuts spray air everywhere inside your TV! In general, these ionic purifiers are practical and good to have anyway. http://www.ionicpro.com/howitworks.html . I use this particular one in the office 
4) Surge Protectors — These are good and bad, but ultimately good if used properly. The manufacturer’s typically recommend against plugging our TVs into surge protectors. Why? Because they are afraid customers might get accustomed to turning off their TVs this way (which is a big no no!). Most projectors and projector TVs need a cool down period after they are shutdown. Most of the time, there is a silent fan running. If there is no power, the fan stops working 
Surge protectors are important as sudden spikes in voltage can fry your ballast and/or lamp. If your lamp made the infamous “pop” noise, recall seeing if you had a surge protector inline.
5) Ventilation and Filters — ensure your TV has adequate ventilation. Most sets have at least a vent or fan close by to the lamp. Some have filters. Make sure that the filter is clean and replaced/cleaned per the manufacturer’s specifications
6) Never touch the lamp with your bare hands. Our hands are naturally oily and body oil cause “hot spots” on the lamp which may lead to explosions, implosions, or cracks. Always use a clean, non-abrasive, lent free cloth when handling your lamp.
7) Movement and Vibration – Ever moved your TV and noticed it didn’t fire up the first time? Have you noticed a scrambled or distorted picture when adjusting your TV Stand while the TV has been on? What about everyday vibrations of powerful home theater systems? All these can lead to the lamp, light engine, color wheel, etc, etc., from losing alignment. There’s been dozens of times when we’re fixed a “lamp problem” by just reseating the lamp or adjusting the lamp cover sensor.All the above recommendations are intuitive suggestions. There isn’t any scientific research behind it, but through experience we know that they play some factor in the life of your lamp. I have not mentioned anything about picture brightness or power settings because there is much debate over this. Some claim by putting your lamp in economy mode or low power this will result in longer lamp life. On the contrary, we believe these options do not promote longer lamp life; more on this subject to come. Send us your feedback!
Hitachi, JVC D-ILA, Philips, RCA, Samsung
Great informational site!
All the answers I’ve been looking for have been easy to find on your site. No other forums offer such phenominal information at your fingertips.
Thanks again!
I have a question and I don’t see a place to log it so I’m hopeful this is the correct area. I have a Samsung HLR6768W which we had no problems with. We moved to a new home but I had it professionally palleted for the move because I know they are delicate. We got it home and put it on the new tv stand, let it set for a day or two before Directv was to come up and install the HDTV DVR, they cut it on, its fine, we watch the crappy little ‘how to use your directv’ film as if its rocket science, sweet picture and everything. About 3 hours later (mind you the tv was on during this whole time) the directv guy finally leaves, I go upstairs to get something, come back down cut it on and now I have a crazy picture, distorted heads, I mean WHOA like take up the whole screen with just the head. When commercials come on I get widescreen type images but instead of the black bars being at the top and bottom its on the sides. I called for service because after checking that maybe somehow we had it stuck on an unknown zoom function or something we thought we’d better have service come out. I’ve been trying to search online to see if there has been anyone with a similar problem or any suggestions. The closest I could find is someone indicating something slightly similar when they were moving and that it turned out to be the video card had been knocked loose and it was having problems synchronizing. Any thoughts, luckily I’m still 16 days within warranty but still I would like to have any thoughts you may have.
Sonja,
While it’s difficult to say without being out there to diagnose it with a tester…it definately sounds like something is either loose or the issue is related to the move.
A few things we can rule out:
1) it’s not a lamp issue
2) it’s not a color wheel issue
3) doesn’t sound like a Engine failure
So the three most common problems being thrown out, I would suspect a loose PCB or some sort of mis-alignment. Let me know more details!
Great site!
Hope you can help me out with an issue I seem to have with a 03 model V500S. I just had the LE replaced (NEW, not re manufactured, according to Hitachi) and a NEW lamp at the same time. The set has been turned on LITTERALLY a dozen times and has less than 2 hours total on the NEW Lamp and LE and the lamp is gone again.. according to the LED’s up front, anyway.
It now also buzzes when it is turned on. It is not a continuous buzz, rather it is intermittent. Like it buzzes while something is cycling internally. I unplugged it and allowed it to sit for a few minutes. Tried to power it up and the Power, Lamp & Temp lights all cycle one by one, as they should per the manaul, and then the buzzing starts.
The lights continue to cycle, the buzzing continues intermittently, the Power LED begins to slow down blinking, the buzzing continues, then, all LED’s, less the LAMP LED go out and the TV is powered down, on it’s own, like a safety mechanism.
First of all, I don’t think it’s right that I even have to fool with this, seeing that a shop just repaired it. Well, it was actually repaired about 2 months ago, but I’ve kept the unit at a friends house in their spare room, since being repaired. That is, until today when I moved it to my house. Worked fine for about an hour, then as a programmed the cable box remote to control the TV, and the TV remote to control the cable box, the above happened.
I’m at a loss and can only HOPE that this is some stupid fluke that a reset of some sort will cure. My luck simply can NOT be this bad…
Thanks to anyone who replies!
I’m not sure if this is the right place to ask…I have a Samsung HLN5065WX/XAA. We have heard the banshee sound that everyone describes. My wife said the three lights on front started “freaking out.” I was not there and she can’t describe any better than they were flashing. She turned the tv off. About half an hour later, she turned it back on and the picture was black and white. We don’t hear the banshee sound anymore. I am thinking of replacing the color wheel. I found instructions online. Should I replace the lamp at the same time? Should I go to that lamp conversion that converts the lamp to a small one? A lot of questions, I know. My lamp code is BP96-00224C(P). Thanks for any reply–Jake
Is there any way to disable the lamp display message or reset the lamp couner on a philips LCOS tv 44pl9523/17
other than whats in the manual. I replaced the lamp with an OSRAM and picture is fine but change bulb display keeps poping up. I’m looking for a way to reset the lamp timer with the remote or disable the message internally from a printed circut board like on you posts about LG tv’s. If not do you have the original philips bulb (part # 3122 438 7310).
I have a Mitsubishi 57″ TV that had It’s lamp go out back in July(On the 2nd), I found out then that Mits will void the warranty If You buy Your TV from a seller on ebay(Big or Little), If their on ebay they are not authorized dealers at all even if They say they are, Their lying according to Mitsubishi, As Mitsubishi only has one authorized dealer online and that is Amazon.com, So I paid $175 for a New Lamp on ebay as I have no choice in the matter($25 for shipping from China is included in the $175), Even If Mits hadn’t voided the warranty(I bought the TV in Nov 2006 and the TV was made in May 2006), The nearest service center is 45 miles one way from where I live and Midway Appliance of Victorville CA refused to come out here(The nearest repair shop is in Barstow CA and their not an authorized service center[Russells VCR]), Midway only services what they sell, After that I guess One would be like Me, Screwed.
Oh and I think You have a wonderful website here, Keep up the good work. Being I’m a disabled person It would have been nice If someone had come out If Mits hadn’t voided the warranty after 8 months of TV usage just cause of Me buying the TV on ebay, Samsung I’ve read will not void a warranty if a TV is bought there, So I may one day buy a Samsung after the Mits has quit or I have enough money to replace It with.
[...] The Samsung BP96-01653A Enclosure is powered by a Philips “e22″ style lamp, operating at 132W / 120W watts. It’s a 1.0mm arc lamp and its mean life is rated between 6,000-7,000 hours. That equates to roughly 3 to 3 1/2 years. Remember, this is the MEAN…we’ve seen a range between 2,000 to 30,000 hours on UHP lamps. Information on how you can extend the life of your projection tv lamp, click here: How to extend the life of your DLP, LCoS, SXRD, HD-ILA, or LCD TV Lamp -Intuitive Guide [...]
In response to messege #6 above, did anyone ever find out how to fix that because my tv is doing the same thing? Thanks.
My Samsung 50 inch just died; two days of it going black after 5 minutes; then tonight on third attempt to turn it back on a loud “crack” and nothing.
I understand it needs to get fixed; but who do you call?
Please Help. My TV makes a buzzing sound the entire time it is on. When I turn it off, you actually hear the buzzing sound ramp down and cut off. Picture and sound are still okay. Im not sure what the problem is and am about to replace the lamp to see if that helps. Any other suggestions?
I’m curious whether there was a solution to the problem listed above in #5.
“I’m not sure if this is the right place to ask…I have a Samsung HLN5065WX/XAA. We have heard the banshee sound that everyone describes. My wife said the three lights on front started “freaking out.” I was not there and she can’t describe any better than they were flashing. She turned the tv off. About half an hour later, she turned it back on and the picture was black and white. We don’t hear the banshee sound anymore. I am thinking of replacing the color wheel. I found instructions online. Should I replace the lamp at the same time? Should I go to that lamp conversion that converts the lamp to a small one? A lot of questions, I know. My lamp code is BP96-00224C(P). Thanks for any reply–Jake”
JanieJone (and Jake),
It sounds like a color wheel. When that color wheel goes out, it’ll make a winding or screeching noise. That noise is caused by the ball barrings of the color wheel. The reason it probably went black and white is because the wheel finally gave and stopped spinning. That can cause a discoloration or no color at all–that would also explain why the noise stopped.
Replacing the lamp at the same time depends on how long you’ve had the lamp in the TV. If it’s still a relatively new lamp (about a year or less), I’d recommend you simply purchase a backup. Those old BP96-00224C came with Philips 1.0mm arc lamps, which are usually pretty reliable.
I have a Toshiba 62″ that is probably 3 years old. I have noticed that in the center of the screen on the bottom there appears to be a “lighter spot”. Does anyone know what this is and can it be fixed? I don’t really notice it when watching a show unless it goes to black or an extended dark scene for 3 seconds or more. I also think I see it when the TV is off, not sure if I really do or not, but it seams to be there. Please help, I want to buy a new one anyway, but not if this is a common unfix able problem.
We have a Viore 46″ dlp. Probably not the greatest quality tv, but the hd picture is superior to most other tvs. Last novemember I unplugged the tv and slid it out from the wall on its stand. Plugged it in afterwards and there was no sigh no life not matter what I did. The next morning the green stand-by light was on the tv worked fine.
Same thing again - I slide the tv out to install surround sound and after plugging the tv back in, there is no sign of life and it still hasn’t come back to life.
I new I would have to replace the lamp on of these days, but I don’ think this is a lamp problem.
If something gets out of alignment, will the tv simply not even show a power light at all? I would have no problem replacing the lamp, but I think the problem is something else. thanks
Hello
Very good sit. Helped a lot on the lamp life. Only thing I have to say is that I do not feel you should have to replace a lamp every 3500-4000 hours of use when you PAY $2800.00 for a tv. That is like buying Cadilac for $50,000.00 and bracking down after a year. I would be mad. Thanks and thats all
Geoff
My Samsung HLR 6167W has developed some interesting problems. The original problem started with a “scrambled picture”, being horizontal green/pink striping slanted diiagonally to the left. I was able to fix this with some setting changes on the STB (motorola Comcast box) but it then came back and seems unadjustable. Interestingly the PIP is clear! I have checked the service menu and the TV projects the color bar pattern perfectly. I’ve tried several input variations and am neat the conclusion that there is a video processor problem.
Now, although I still have not solved the video problem it has other issues.
the lamp timer went off several months ago at
Hi webmaster!
I have a Samsung RPTV Model HLP6163WX/XAA. Lately when I try to turn it on I get the buzz indicating the lamp is trying to start up but doesn’t. It cycles this process a few times on its own before stopping and then going into a “Timer Lamp” (in green),and “Standby/Temp” ( in red), flashing on the center button. It’s done this in the past but evetually came on after I unplugged it and let it sit. Sometimes I have openend the lamp case and reset the lamp and it started working. Not this time. The lamp is fairly new so I am wondering if there is something else that I have over looked. I didn’t want to buy a new lamp if that is not the problem. Any suggestions? Thx G.
I have a Samsung RPTV Model HLP6163WX/XAA. Lately when I try to turn it on I get the buzz indicating the lamp is trying to start up but doesn’t. It cycles this process a few times on its own before stopping and then going into a “Timer Lamp” (in green),and “Standby/Temp” ( in red), flashing on the center button. It’s done this in the past but evetually came on after I unplugged it and let it sit. Sometimes I have openend the lamp case and reset the lamp and it started working. Not this time. The lamp is fairly new so I am wondering if there is something else that I have over looked. I didn’t want to buy a new lamp if that is not the problem. Any suggestions? Thx G.
Dear Sir:
Is there a practical way of testing the lamp if busted or not? Also another way to test the ballast or power supply of the lamp to test?
I am thinking of checking the power source of the lamp socket whether
it was the lamp supply ckt board or the lamp itself was bad. What would be the supply voltage from the ballast?. Could I measure a ac voltage comming from the socket pin of the lamp? To make sure which one is bad ? Thanks and hope to get some feedback.
WF Torres.
I have a Samsung DLP HLN5065WX/XAA and it’s having troubles. The power will turn on but the screen stays black and then it turns off within one minute. I ordered a new bulb and installed it but no picture, and the lamp light is still flashing. Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Hi, Have a question and hopefully u can help, I’ve had a samsung tv , and all of the sudden the colors seem really dim, ( i’m missing red and green colors ) do you think it could be the lamp, model : BP96-01472A
thanks.
If it is how long does it take to get from your place to So. Cal.
Interesting facts.I have bookmarked this site. stephanazs