To Ballast or not to ballast?

[AngelArs]

I have a Mits 73733. I recently replaced the bulb but this isn't the first bulb that has been replaced with this DLP TV over the years.



It has the [i]original [/i]ballast and I was wondering if replacing it would help improve the picture quality in any way?

[ChubbsTech]

Hello,



If your original ballast still powers your lamp with no issues then their really ain't a reason to change it now. All the ballast does is power the lamp. When it starts to weaken as it will with time it will take longer to ignite the lamp, but as far as better picture quality unfortunately a new ballast won't do that. Please let us know of any other questions or concerns.



Regards,

[AngelArs]

Is that the only down side to using the old ballast? Just a longer power up time?



I'm asking because I installed a new one, and it - [i]seems [/i]- to make the picture "pop" more. Everything just seems to look better, but that could be my imagination playing tricks on me too.



What happened is that I installed my first new lamp ([i]TV has had other bulbs installed, but I didn't own the TV at that time[/i]). When I replaced the bulb I didn't know that you had to put that bulb door back cover on to get the bulb to power up, so when the new bulb didn't power up I figured the ballast was the next logical part to replace.



I found a new factory ballast online for a incredibly low price, so I bought it. The old ballast was incredibly dirty, but I cleaned it up really good with compressed air. However if it's not going to help the picture in any way to use the new ballast, then I might as well just send it back.



In other words, once the old ballast gets powered up, it delivers the same output voltage as a new ballast?

[dew420]

i have a 60" and it has a new buld. then came the white dots so a new dlp chip. as soon as i got it put back together i turned it on and all was good, for about 30 minutes then it went black and the red light came on. i was told it was a ballast issue but what are the odds that it would go out right after replacing the dlp? it seems more like a heat issue to me because after 10 minutes it came back on for another 20 and the cycle continued. now i have to admit when i changed the dlp i forgot the heat sink tape but it was only on for 2 or 3 of these on off cycles. could i have damaged the chip? also i may have tightened the tension screws too tight. i loosened them when i applied the silicone tape. so, to ballast or not to ballast?! or did i damage the dlp? help please

[appleads]

With any DLP TV over 5 or so years old, you're going to want to install as much that's new as possible, IMHO. Obviously, thoroughly cleaning the set once you're inside it is the first smart step you can take. Since ballasts are famous for dying after about 5 years or so, putting in a new one is a good idea. But if you find that it's not running like it used to Idying on you), I would recommend changing out the lamp fan, and since you had a chip failure, you might change out that DMD fan too. Easy parts to replace and not very expensive. And it will certainly help you any overheating issues your set may have experienced. Lastly, I'd say check over all those capacitors for swollen tops, and replace any that are bulging. That pretty much just leaves the power supply and the color wheel. If either of them fail, it should be pretty obvious what's gone wrong next. Good luck. Let us know how things turn out.

[AngelArs]

I replaced the ballast and the bulb. Everything's working great again.