Epson EH-TW2900 Projector Stuck in Standby

[grahamw01]

Hi everyone,

I recently bought an Epson EH-TW2900 in its current non working condition as a project to try and repair but it is a lot more complicated than I hoped!

It is just stuck in standby by the looks of it, I took the top off and visually checked all connections and capacitors (capacitors is what I hoped was the problem)

Whilst I had the case open I kept turning it on and off for about 10 minutes to see what happens, and actually the bulb came on 3 times, the auto iris moved once, and on 2 occasions the TEMP and LAMP lights blinked red constantly.

Every time the projector has turned off after about 10 seconds. From what I have read the temp and lamp blinking means an auto iris fault, but I do not believe this is the case as it did rotate open once.

I didn't see of hear any fans come on at any time either.

So, I would be happy to hear some thoughts and suggestions

Thanks,
Graham

[grahamw01]

Re: Epson EH-TW2900 Projector Stuck in Standby

does anyone have any ideas please?

thanks

[drumguy560]

Re: Epson EH-TW2900 Projector Stuck in Standby

Try taking it apart and taking out the cinema filter, should be the first thing after the lamp in the light path. Take this out and inspect it. Make sure there are no broken teeth on the bottom. If there aren't any, put it back in its place. There should be two white plastic "endstops" that tell it how far to go. Sometimes this goes too far and gets stuck, so taking it apart and putting it back together can help. Most of the time it's this cinema filter that causes the problem. There could also be a broken gear on the inside of the motor. Also the auto iris position sensor can be dirty. You can try cleaning it with some rubbing alcohol. It's a small circuit board on the auto iris with a little black channel in it that a piece of plastic goes through to tell its position.

Sorry for the run on sentences. I'm on my phone

[grahamw01]

Re: Epson EH-TW2900 Projector Stuck in Standby

Try taking it apart and taking out the cinema filter, should be the first thing after the lamp in the light path. Take this out and inspect it. Make sure there are no broken teeth on the bottom. If there aren't any, put it back in its place. There should be two white plastic "endstops" that tell it how far to go. Sometimes this goes too far and gets stuck, so taking it apart and putting it back together can help. Most of the time it's this cinema filter that causes the problem. There could also be a broken gear on the inside of the motor. Also the auto iris position sensor can be dirty. You can try cleaning it with some rubbing alcohol. It's a small circuit board on the auto iris with a little black channel in it that a piece of plastic goes through to tell its position.

Sorry for the run on sentences. I'm on my phone

Hi, thanks for your comments, I have done as you have told but found nothing wrong. There is no broken teeth on the cinema filter, I also removed it and the end stop buttons and tried turning it on a few times while holding 1 of the buttons. I can't check any of the gears for the cinema filter motor though because to get to them i need to remove the whole LCD assembly which I am not confident in doing (lots of dust around), but to be honest I don't think there is a problem here as this motor does not activate when I try to turn the thing on, and also playing with the end stop buttons hasn't had an effect.

Also the auto iris looks fine visually, I tried cleaning the sensor with some rubbing alcohol too and no difference, sometimes the auto iris moves anyway when I turn it on.

It just seems very strange that sometimes (rarely) the lamp will come on, and for different periods of time too. Sometimes it comes on for a few seconds before the unit turns off and sometimes it will come on or about 10 seconds. There is no display though, just a rectangular white light displayed on my wall.

Do you know what should activate first? I imagine the first thing the projector would fire up is the fans. There is about 4 fans in total in the machine and none of them have turned on yet, even when the lamp has come on.

If a fan was faulty would it just turn on and off like this or would there be a warning light? It seems strange to me though that if a fan was faulty and stopping the projector from turning on, it would sometimes still turn on the bulb or move the auto iris.

Thanks,
Graham

[drumguy560]

Re: Epson EH-TW2900 Projector Stuck in Standby

I'd think the fans probably aren't faulty, unless they are somehow not communicating their RPM to the computer. You can check them by hooking up a 12v source to them and seeing if they spin freely.

The usual sequence is, power button applied, pulsing blue power light, relay clicks, cinema filter cycles in between the endstops, the lamp lights, fans come on, and the epson logo shows.

I'm still thinking there is an auto iris or cinema filter error. The motor for the auto iris is a stepper motor, and the motor for the cinema filter is a geared DC motor. So there could be teeth missing on the tiny gears inside the motor for the cinema filter. This is kinda tough to repair though, you may need a CNC machine or 3d printer to make a new gear if this is the case.

The white screen leads me to believe that something is wrong with the main board. Not exactly sure what though...not familiar enough with component level repair to say. But I'd try reseating all of the connections on the board, especially the LCD connectors.

Also I wouldn't worry about the dust, opening the projector up means dust is going to get in, so I'd clean it all out while you are in there. The entire light path can be opened up to clean it if need be, so I'd go ahead and pull the optical block out and check the gear motor on the cinema filter.

[grahamw01]

Re: Epson EH-TW2900 Projector Stuck in Standby

I'd think the fans probably aren't faulty, unless they are somehow not communicating their RPM to the computer. You can check them by hooking up a 12v source to them and seeing if they spin freely.

The usual sequence is, power button applied, pulsing blue power light, relay clicks, cinema filter cycles in between the endstops, the lamp lights, fans come on, and the epson logo shows.

I'm still thinking there is an auto iris or cinema filter error. The motor for the auto iris is a stepper motor, and the motor for the cinema filter is a geared DC motor. So there could be teeth missing on the tiny gears inside the motor for the cinema filter. This is kinda tough to repair though, you may need a CNC machine or 3d printer to make a new gear if this is the case.

The white screen leads me to believe that something is wrong with the main board. Not exactly sure what though...not familiar enough with component level repair to say. But I'd try reseating all of the connections on the board, especially the LCD connectors.

Also I wouldn't worry about the dust, opening the projector up means dust is going to get in, so I'd clean it all out while you are in there. The entire light path can be opened up to clean it if need be, so I'd go ahead and pull the optical block out and check the gear motor on the cinema filter.

Hi again, I have now checked all tiny gears in the cinema filter gearbox assembly and the iris stepper motor and there is no damage.

I have already tried reflowing all the connectors and all the components with solder ball connections just in case of a bad joint.

I have a feeling this is PSU related, do you have any knowledge in this area?

Thanks,
Graham