What would cause this?

[hometheaterman]

I have a Panasonic AE900U projector. The total projector has probably 2600-3000 hours on it. I just put a new bulb in it not too long ago and that has about 150 hours on it. The old bulb didn't fail I just wanted to change it before it did. I also started to slightly notice this issue with the old bulb but changing bulbs seemed to fix it but now it's back. It seems like it gets brighter and dimmer and brighter and dimmer just like it's constantly flickering. It doesn't go off just gets brighter and dimmer. I'm super picky so I notice stuff like this. I had someone else there watching and they didn't notice it until I pointed it out and then they thought it might be the show until I flipped to a input with nothing on where the screen was blue and it still did it. I saw this somewhat before the bulb change but it seemed to have gone away after wards or maybe I just didn't notice it. Now it's doing it again 150 hours or so later.

Anyone have any idea's as to what's causing this? I don't have money for a new projector right now and this is bugging me very much.
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[bhelms]

Pull the bulb out again and clean the contacts very well, both on the lamp and in the socket. (Power down of course before poking around inside.) Try simple alcohol on a cloth/Q-tips to start. You might have to work up to something more aggressive.

Projector lamps of any kind draw hellish current. Anything that adds even a small amount of resistance will impact that current in a negative way, and the brightness as a result. Minute resistance changes would cause minute brightness changes. The likely place this is happening is in the socket where contacts oxidize over time, and yes, you can get a variability to that resistance that could cause exactly what you're describing. You can remedy that with an occasional cleaning. Replacing a lamp "scrubs" the contacts a bit (withdraw and insert) in the critical contact area, and that provides a type of "cleaning" that lasts a short time. But you might have to help the process for the longer term.

If that doesn't work I have no other suggestions. But that's a simple place to start and it might just solve your problem...!

(I assume you know to never touch the lamp itself - a whole different problem could arise if you do that...)

 

[mike123abc]

My projector bulb flickered a bit when it was new, by about 50 hours it was steady. I just attributed it to a new bulb breaking in.

Your old bulb should have just been getting dim, not really flickering. I would check contacts as suggested above.

 

[hometheaterman]

Thanks for the help guys. I found out on AVS forum and another forum that some others have had this issue and to run it in high mode for a while instead of low power mode.

What would cause this? - AVS Forum

There is the avs forum link. I tried that for 2 shows tonight and I didn't notice it doing it any so I'm hoping that's all it was. If it starts back up I will check the contacts. Thanks for the help guys. I really think that's what it was and hope as I love my projector.

 

[8bitbytes]

Definitely lamp flicker. You will have to run the lamp on high for a dozen or more hours to smooth things out again. Try to run it for more than 3 hours straight also to get some quality melt time in on the electrodes too.

 

[FlyingJ]

My Panny (PT AX200U) did that for a bit and I checked the settings...Seems that I put the "Light harmonizer on manual somehow, switched it back to auto, no more flicker. Not 100% sure that is what did it, but hey, it fixed the problem.

 

[spacebug42]

I have another solution which you can try and see if it helps your projector lamp problem. Is your projector and other home theater components on a power conditioner unit? Surge protectors keep dangerous voltages from destroying expensive home theater components, but they still carry line fluctuations and noise. Power conditioners not only stop dangerous voltage spikes, but also filters out line noise and smooths out voltage fluctuations so that each component receives steady voltage. Components like the subwoofer can create voltage spikes which can affect the performance of other components such as the plasma TV or a projector. I bought a Monster HTS 3600 MKII Home Theater Reference Power Conditioner for less than $300. I did this before I bought the Optoma HD65 projector and an Accuscreen 100" 16:9 projection screen and I have to say that it's the best investment I made. I've been using the projector four to five nights a week and every night I have a consistant bright picture while watching OTA HD programs or DVDs from NetFlix - no flickering! You might want to look into this solution. I think you'll save a lot of money by buying a power conditioner versus spending money to replace projector bulbs prematurely.