InFocus LP425 won't light.

[pentium]

This thing worked perfectly when I put it away a few months back.
I tried to use it today and while the fan does come on the bulb never lights up
I removed the bulb and looked at it and visually I saw nothing wrong with it.
It only had 200 hours of use. do these bulbs die silently?

[linuxguru]

Re: InFocus LP425 won't light.

Is this an Optoma OEM unit with an 120W..150W Osram P-VIP short-arc lamp? If so, the lamps don't fail prematurely, and neither does the lamp drive (usually a subassembly sourced from Osram), but there may be a small PSU board driving other electronics that is loaded with Teapos - check that one out (all of the above only applies to Optoma-built units from Taiwan).

[kc8adu]

Re: InFocus LP425 won't light.

a bunch of those units have come through here with oddball problems.
in most cases it is dried out sm lytics.

[pentium]

Re: InFocus LP425 won't light.

Well I guess I could open the thing up and check the PSU out.

[Krankshaft]

Re: InFocus LP425 won't light.

If I remember correctly Infocus had to replace quite a few of their projectors PSUs a few years back due to bulging caps. They called it a "power supply upgrade" .

Sadly I open up my X3 that I bought in 05 to dust it out and what do I find on the PSU? Su Scons in 85C and General Purpose I guess they didn't learn their lesson and its just a matter of time till these issues strike again.

Pansonic FCs to the rescue .

As for your issue do you hear a sparking or ticking sound which signifies the PSU is trying to strike an arc?

[pentium]

Re: InFocus LP425 won't light.

I hear nothing except the whine of a fan.
Usually when the bulb lights I can hear a momentary slowdown of the fan followed by another fan turning on.
I'm currently glued to NASA TV and I want to crack the case open and start to take photos but the TV is so addicting.

[pentium]

Re: InFocus LP425 won't light.

Son of a bitch!
Why the hell did they have to make it so that access to the PSU required removal of almost all the insides?
Anyways, I have never been good at identifying caps. How are these?

[zandrax]

Re: InFocus LP425 won't light.

Son of a bitch!
Why the hell did they have to make it so that access to the PSU required removal of almost all the insides?

To be sure you void any warranty.

Anyways, I have never been good at identifying caps. How are these?

Blue with grey signs and T vents ... they apparently seem Panasonic FJ because remember a lot yanz ones.
Look for the Matshita M on them.

Zandrax

[pentium]

Re: InFocus LP425 won't light.

I see a silver M in a silver square.

[zandrax]

Re: InFocus LP425 won't light.

I see a silver M in a silver square.

So they're Panasonic. Still unsure about the series, but FJ are almost identical (color, font, vents): wait for KC8 or Pcbonez confirm though.

Zandrax

[stevo1210]

Re: InFocus LP425 won't light.

They look more like FC, FM or the FF ones I have here. The FJs that I have here have got a black sleeve with gold writing.

[kc8adu]

Re: InFocus LP425 won't light.

blue/silver i have seen on panasonics were hfq
these are not likely to be your problem.
logic or lamp driver/ignitor issue.
watch out for the ignitor.it will knock you on your ass if you are careless!

[pentium]

Re: InFocus LP425 won't light.

Okay, and how do I test the ignitor or the driver?
I don't think you can even get new bulbs.

[linuxguru]

Re: InFocus LP425 won't light.

Most likely FFs, which are inexpensive silver-striped (not as low ESR as the gold-striped FJ) Pannies, widely available in Asia. They haven't bulged, so you can try replacing them with FC/FM/FK/FJ only if visual inspection reveals no other obvious problems.

[pentium]

Re: InFocus LP425 won't light.

Well the tops look pretty flat but I don't know if the bottoms have failed as that black rubber glue has done a great job of pushing the caps around.

[Krankshaft]

Re: InFocus LP425 won't light.

Those caps are Panasonics I highly doubt that they have failed.

The ignitor if functioning would fry any DMM (its around or over 5,000 volts for some bulb types) but its just to jump the electrodes in the bulb then it drops to a running voltage to as low as 78 volts.

Some bulbs are AC and some are DC if the bulb is DC you likely will see a large rectifier package on one of the main heatsinks.

You should hear a ticking noise with the bulb plugged in when powering the projector up. It usually attempts to strike around a few times then waits then tries again after a few cycles it should give up and display a bulb warning.

If you're not hearing the sparks then the ballast assembly is not doing its job for some reason.

Do you hear the fans spin up when you hit the power button and do you hear the color wheel spin up?

[pentium]

Re: InFocus LP425 won't light.

I flip the switch and I hear a fan turn on as well as the control panel backlight turns on and that is it.

When the thing did work, when I flipped the switch I hear a fan turn on as well as the control panel backlight comes on and after about twenty or thirty seconds the fan slows down for a second from a heavy load and the bulb lights and another fan comes on and the bulb gradually gets brighter.
I only hear a clicking noise when the VGA monitor pack is plugged in and it's nowhere related to the firing of the bulb.
Also, the backlighting on the control panel remains orange while the bulb is off.

[Krankshaft]

Re: InFocus LP425 won't light.

Well the bulb looks just fine I know first hand what a cracked and burst one looks like.

I had quite a few projectors where the original owner didn't know they had to clean out the filters on the bulb casings on the DLPs.

What were the estimated hours on the bulb when you powered it up last?

It may be possible that the projector isn't powering up because the maximum hours on the bulb were exceeded. It does this to prevent bulb bursting.

[pentium]

Re: InFocus LP425 won't light.

Well the bulb looks just fine I know first hand what a cracked and burst one looks like.

I had quite a few projectors where the original owner didn't know they had to clean out the filters on the bulb casings on the DLPs.

What were the estimated hours on the bulb when you powered it up last?

It may be possible that the projector isn't powering up because the maximum hours on the bulb were exceeded. It does this to prevent bulb bursting.

The bulb was like 215 hours old.

[Krankshaft]

Re: InFocus LP425 won't light.

According to the LP 425 manual the control panel turns orange when the projector is turned on.

Try this when it turns orange try hitting the menu button if it turns green then the main board is functioning fine and the projector is working minus the bulb.

It definitely sounds like a faulty semiconductor in the lamp section of the ballast board.