Holy Cr*p! A Freakin' Light Bulb...

SCCutler

SCCutler

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Spike Cutler
...the lamp in my 50" DLP TV failed last night during a storm.

You know how much a new lamp costeth?

Best deal I could find: $512.00. Really.

Mercy!
 
Ok..note to self...unplug the dang TV during the next storm!

Sheesh!
 
Not surprised. They are expensive. MIght as well replace the TV, Spike. :rolleyes:
 
SCCutler said:
...the lamp in my 50" DLP TV failed last night during a storm.

You know how much a new lamp costeth?

Best deal I could find: $512.00. Really.

Mercy!
Click to expand...

Uh, huh. I did some research online and saw that. A lot of owners had the extended warranties from the retailer. When they wanted $1200 for each call, they stated saying the bulbs aren't covered under the extended warranties.

The more worser part is some bulbs can't be gotten. Some were saying to stockpile the bulbs while you could.

I took DLPs off of my wish list.
 
This makes me all the more glad I paid the money for an LCD. The prices of those are coming down like crazy. No more than three months after I paid $3400, the same Sharp was available for $2800. :rolleyes:

Now, I'm seeing a lesser resolution version but still 46" for $1900.
 
You could make a claim on your homeowners insurance
 
EdFred said:
You could make a claim on your homeowners insurance
Click to expand...
Have you done such a thing? Carriers like to cancel you for the slightest claim any more. Homeowners should be carried with max deductible as it should only be used when it's a major castrophe and you lose full use of the home for an extended period.

Appliances are a write-off. Ya just have to suck it up on those.
 
KennyFlys said:
This makes me all the more glad I paid the money for an LCD. The prices of those are coming down like crazy. No more than three months after I paid $3400, the same Sharp was available for $2800. :rolleyes:

Now, I'm seeing a lesser resolution version but still 46" for $1900.
Click to expand...

LCDs have bulbs, too. But they're rated for a lot more hours.

It will get to the point where he'll be able to get a 54" LCD for less than another bulb for the DLP.
 
Yeah, I think I'll still get the bulb...

...I guess it's the bulb... TV works to pass sound, etc.,

It'd suck to be wrong.
 
I have a flashlight you can borrow.

Uhmm...seriously, if you want me to take a look at it I would be happy to do so. I fixed my Philips HDTV a few weeks ago. It had a cold solder joint on the High Voltage power supply board. After I did some research online, I found that they had a problem with that. I took it apart and got my soldering iron out...it works like a champ once again. U knew I used to be into that stuff in my "tear it apart and see how it works/Amateur Radio days" didn't you? ;-)

Dave
:rolleyes:
 
That's one of the reasons my son runs his DLP set off an UPS. Isolates it from surges due to lightning, and prevents a shutdown without running the cooling fan for a while. Given the price of the bulb, cheap insurance.
 
Ghery said:
That's one of the reasons my son runs his DLP set off an UPS. Isolates it from surges due to lightning, and prevents a shutdown without running the cooling fan for a while. Given the price of the bulb, cheap insurance.
Click to expand...
Excellent suggestion! I completely forgot how I had mine set up. Originally, I put the cable box on the UPS just to keep the guide from going dead with a brief power loss. But, I later set it up to take the receiver and monitor through the non-UPS side so they have surge protection.
 
You should see us when a cell approaches the area. We live/our business is on a flat piece of ground with no tall objects for 1/4 mile. When lightning comes, it is cracking all around the buildings and sometimes...worse. When one is coming, we race around unplugging DSLs, computers, TVs, microwaves, printers, chargers, answering machines. I don't think our surge protectors are rated for a million volts! Then move the vehicles under some hail-protection.
I would like to be able to throw one huge knife switch at the pole and avoid the circus but even that would not be perfect...if lightning can jump 1000' from the cloud, it can jump 4" across a switch! Good luck with the bulb, Spike. Didja try ebay?
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
...Didja try ebay?
Click to expand...

Yeppers, one (1) merchant, and they were about $100.00 high, plus required exchange of the old part.

"Lamp" is an assembly which includes an integral cooling fan and temp monitoring circuit board.

Treffin said:
...
Click to expand...

No doubt I will ask for your help, think it prudent to try a repair prior to dropping the half-yard on it.
 
bbchien said:
Unbeereeeevable!
Click to expand...

You know, even from this great distance, your insight is remarkable, Doc.

Which is to say, I could not believe that any power surge could somehow kill the lamp, yet leave all the rest of the TV set's logic unscathed (it still tuned and passed audio). I figured that since there was clearly some logic involved in the power-up cycle, it could surely not hurt to disconnect power completely then reconnect.

Which I did.

And it is all better now. :yes::D:goofy::blowingkisses:
 
SCCutler said:
You know, even from this great distance, your insight is remarkable, Doc.

Which is to say, I could not believe that any power surge could somehow kill the lamp, yet leave all the rest of the TV set's logic unscathed (it still tuned and passed audio). I figured that since there was clearly some logic involved in the power-up cycle, it could surely not hurt to disconnect power completely then reconnect.

Which I did.

And it is all better now. :yes::D:goofy::blowingkisses:
Click to expand...

Wait, are you saying you re-booted and it works now? :confused:


If so then, "congrats!" :drink:
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
You should see us when a cell approaches the area. We live/our business is on a flat piece of ground with no tall objects for 1/4 mile. When lightning comes, it is cracking all around the buildings and sometimes...worse. When one is coming, we race around unplugging DSLs, computers, TVs, microwaves, printers, chargers, answering machines. I don't think our surge protectors are rated for a million volts! Then move the vehicles under some hail-protection.
I would like to be able to throw one huge knife switch at the pole and avoid the circus but even that would not be perfect...if lightning can jump 1000' from the cloud, it can jump 4" across a switch! Good luck with the bulb, Spike. Didja try ebay?
Click to expand...

Keep in mind that most lighting related damage is not done thru the electrical system but thru the cable/telephone system.

How do I know.....I am an Electrical Contractor and had one TV hit three separate times....all thru the cable system.

Lighting is completely unpredictable. We had one customer who had a wired weather station mounted on the roof of his garage that took a hit. It traveled thru the low voltage wiring and jumped to the high voltage wiring in the garages attic and caused havoc. But only in the garage(which was attached to the house).

Another customer had his chimney hit and it took out the wiring for the recessed can lights near the fireplace but nothing else in the house.

Also as a note to anyone considering a new tv.....I have a family member who owns a tv repair business with six stores and he recommends if purchasing either a plasma or lcd to purchase an extended warranty from the store you buy the set from. His shops are littered with sets less the 2 or 3 years old that are junk. Some of the parts to repair these are as much as the tv is new.

Steve
 
Do you have a part number for the bulb? I priced around and found what the cost was for the bulb "before" I bought my new Sony 60" SXRD, the cost was between $150-200 unless I purchased it from Sony :rolleyes: I'd be glad to help price around for you.

I am also with the UPS crowd. I have 3 desktop PC's in my home, all on it's own UPS. My entire entertainment center is on it's own UPS as well.
 
Spike, you've got me scared now! I was looking hard at those new skinny rear projection tvs, but dang, if they're always burning out bulbs - at $500 a pop!!!

I can't afford something like that! :(
 
Thanks for mentioning this. I used to think getting the bulb replaced on my Sandel every 200 hours was expensive!

Best,

Dave
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
You should see us when a cell approaches the area. We live/our business is on a flat piece of ground with no tall objects for 1/4 mile. When lightning comes, it is cracking all around the buildings and sometimes...worse. When one is coming, we race around unplugging DSLs, computers, TVs, microwaves, printers, chargers, answering machines. I don't think our surge protectors are rated for a million volts! Then move the vehicles under some hail-protection.
Click to expand...

I did some work one time for a radio station in Springfield, MO that had the usual plethora of lightening protection on the towers (ball gaps, inductive loop, DC-grounded feed system, 120-wire copper ground system, etc, etc). In addition, they had installed fast-action gas-gap devices on the feed lines.

Went out one day after a storm, and found the gas-gap devices (which are 4-inch long ceramic devices) completely vaporized. The wires were hanging in mid-air. And the coils were discolored.

Yowsa.
 
wsuffa said:
Went out one day after a storm, and found the gas-gap devices (which are 4-inch long ceramic devices) completely vaporized.
Click to expand...

We manufacture ceramic electronic packaging, and our dielectric strength is ~12kV/mm. So, 4", you're talking about 1.2MV to break down that ceramic.

Yowsa.
Click to expand...

Indeed.
 
SCCutler said:
...the lamp in my 50" DLP TV failed last night during a storm.

You know how much a new lamp costeth?

Best deal I could find: $512.00. Really.

Mercy!
Click to expand...

How do you like your TV Spike? We've had the same Hitachi set for a while now; almost 10 years. When I bought it, it already had 5 years of life on it.

So, we're in the market for a new set... I really like the quality on DLP, but have heard people complain bitterly about maintenance and moving the things. LCD and Plasma are nice; but can be quite $$$.

(any other opinions gladly welcome)

Cheers,

-Andrew
 
Lightning doesn't even have to hit you (or your house) to cause interesting effects.

I worked with a guy at Martin Marietta in the early 80s who lived up in the Front Range. He had home brew lightning strike detectors around his place. Lengths of wire (14 guage?) with a few loose coil turns in the middle. Attached to the top of metal fence posts. Nearby lightning strikes would induce enough current in the wires that the adjacent turns in the coil would repell each other, resulting in a straight wire. Now that's an attention grabber.

I didn't really get excited about lightning until I worked at MMA. The things we studied (and lived through just to get to our cars at the end of the day :D ) made a serious believer out of me.
 
SCCutler said:
You know, even from this great distance, your insight is remarkable, Doc.

Which is to say, I could not believe that any power surge could somehow kill the lamp, yet leave all the rest of the TV set's logic unscathed (it still tuned and passed audio). I figured that since there was clearly some logic involved in the power-up cycle, it could surely not hurt to disconnect power completely then reconnect.

Which I did.

And it is all better now. :yes::D:goofy::blowingkisses:
Click to expand...
During the times I was an avionics troubleshooter for launches of the S-3A Viking, I was amazed at how many times something would be "repaired" by simply cycling power or by pulling and reseating a box.
 
astanley said:
How do you like your TV Spike? We've had the same Hitachi set for a while now; almost 10 years. When I bought it, it already had 5 years of life on it.

So, we're in the market for a new set... I really like the quality on DLP, but have heard people complain bitterly about maintenance and moving the things. LCD and Plasma are nice; but can be quite $$$.
Click to expand...

LCD, with Plasma right behind it, is not so $$$ anymore. The prices will drop more as this year goes on and the new models have more features, beter specs, and more inputs. The 2007 models are just now hitting the pipeline.

Costco is selling a 54-something inch Phillips LCD for $1499. The have Panasonic and JVCs, which I would prefer for around $100 more.

Don't buy Sony. The latest trick they pulled was movie DVDs that have DRM on them that makes them not play in some players.
 
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astanley said:
How do you like your TV Spike?
Click to expand...

Actually, I like it a lot, but do not think I would buy it again... the DLP seems to work just fine, and I bought it from Woot, so I got a great deal, with shipping only $5.00; it came to the neighborhood on a large truck with a liftgate, rolled to the house on a palligator and came inside with a lot of grunting and groaning by the delivery guy and me.

The picture is good, the screen, huge, but it is noisy (cooling fan noise for that high-dollar lamp). I have to go home tonight and see if I can look up the lamp hours, as I think it tracks that internally.

When I bought it, I paid (IIRC) $2k, when most sets with screen sof that size were in the $3500 range. But DLP sets will always be big.

You do not have to worry about buying one like mine new, as InFocus decided not to stay in the TV set marketplace. Here it is, although I do not imagine anyone actually has it for sale now, and I sure would not pay that much for it if they did.

http://www.hometheaterplus.com/inscsp50dlph.html

They also made another one, same basic set-up, with 61". That's BIG. Woot had a few of *those* for sale several weeks ago, for $1500-ish.

the box is bigger in person than I expected. Like I say, I like it, but I doubt I'd go that way again.


astanley said:
So, we're in the market for a new set... I really like the quality on DLP, but have heard people complain bitterly about maintenance and moving the things. LCD and Plasma are nice; but can be quite $$$.

(any other opinions gladly welcome)

Cheers,

-Andrew
Click to expand...

I chose mine for its large screen, but the rest of the unit is huge and, in retrospect, if I wanted home-theatre-type performance, the thing to do is get a projector, hang it from the ceiling and have a good screen (perhaps a retractable one).

I am shopping for another TV now, for another room, and it will likely be a 37" to 42" LCD, at which price point there are lots of good deals. Check at Micro Center; they often have sound deals. So do Wal Mart (really).
 
SCCutler said:
So do Wal Mart (really).
Click to expand...

Beware. One common thing is to have cheapened versions of the same model. The model number might be exactly the same or very similar but the features/chips used will not be up to the same level. This isn't always the place is avoidable by an intelligent consumer (like you) but I have seen it before.
 
Treffin said:
I have a flashlight you can borrow.

Uhmm...seriously, if you want me to take a look at it I would be happy to do so. I fixed my Philips HDTV a few weeks ago. It had a cold solder joint on the High Voltage power supply board. After I did some research online, I found that they had a problem with that. I took it apart and got my soldering iron out...it works like a champ once again. U knew I used to be into that stuff in my "tear it apart and see how it works/Amateur Radio days" didn't you? ;-)

Dave
:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

You know, Spiccolli's dad has an awesome tool kit....:goofy:
 
mikea said:
Don't buy Sony. The latest trick they pulled was movie DVDs that have DRM on them that makes them not play in some players.
Click to expand...

What's Sony Pictures got to do with the Sony Electronics, unless it's a boycott? And, I haven't had a problem with any of the new Sony DVD's . . . trust me . . . they work just as well in my PC and my $69 Sanyo DVD player.
 
SCCutler said:
...the lamp in my 50" DLP TV failed last night during a storm.

You know how much a new lamp costeth?

Best deal I could find: $512.00. Really.

Mercy!
Click to expand...

So how is that unlike losing a picture tube on an old CRT during a storm? Happened to me to the tune of $275 in 1990.
 
Ken Ibold said:
So how is that unlike losing a picture tube on an old CRT during a storm? Happened to me to the tune of $275 in 1990.
Click to expand...

I wish my 32" JVC CRT TV would break so I can buy a new one with a clear conscience. I think it's 12 years old. One repair in that time. It was a floor demo when I bought it for the bargain price of $1250(!) The PIP picture is hosed on it but otherwise it works fine.
 
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