Replacement projector lamp - general question

[C n C]

It's coming to the point where i need to replace the lamp in my projector - Benq W1210ST, although I don't think the model is particularly relevant to the question.

There appear to be several different options, ranked in decreasing price order:

Replacement lamp and housing - OEM lamp inside OEM housing.
Replacement lamp and housing - OEM lamp inside 3rd party housing.
Replacement lamp and housing - 3rd party lamp inside 3rd party housing.
Replacement bulb - OEM.
Replacement bulb - 3rd party.

I'm only interested in options using an OEM bulb and am minded to stay with OEM housing.

Given an OEM lamp and housing seems to be around £200+ and limited supplies and an OEM bulb around £80 I'm leaning towards just getting the replacement bulb and fitting it to the existing housing. Having seen a few general lamp replacement videos it doesn't look that hard, but is there anything I'm missing?

Is it just a case of taking apart the existing housing, replace the lamp and re-assembly is the reverse of disassembly, or are there any other considerations when doing this (for example do other parts of the housing age)?

Any advice gratefully received.

[tomsugden]

Whenever I change mine I hoover out the dust on the fan with a small keyboard hoover. There will be lots of dust on it!

[C n C]

tomsugden said:

Whenever I change mine I hoover out the dust on the fan with a small keyboard hoover. There will be lots of dust on it!

Thanks for that - will definitely give it a good clean.

Anyone have any thoughts on whether to go for the full module or just the bulb?

As there seem to be quite a number of projector owners on here, what have people done themselves?

[alorotom]

But frivolous but the last 2 I replaced the projector itself. It didn’t seem worth the couple of hundred investment when for a few hundred more I can have the newer upgraded model.

I’ll do the same when my current UST projector bulb goes as I really fancy a nice 4K laser UST.

Unless it’s super valuable I wouldn’t bother personally and you can move it on on eBay etc. for parts

[C n C]

alorotom said:

But frivolous but the last 2 I replaced the projector itself. It didn’t seem worth the couple of hundred investment when for a few hundred more I can have the newer upgraded model.

I’ll do the same when my current UST projector bulb goes as I really fancy a nice 4K laser UST.

Unless it’s super valuable I wouldn’t bother personally and you can move it on on eBay etc. for parts

I think I'm going to stick to replacing the bulb (hence the question about whether the £80 bare bulb option is easily do-able as opposed to the whole module).

The PJ is only 2 years old - it has 4500 hours on the bulb and although HD rather than 4K and not massively expensive (Benq W1210ST), I'm very happy with it. Right now, under £100 for another 2 years is looking a lot more attractive than potentially £1000+ although I can see the appeal of a new 4k+ laser PJ!

[gizlaroc]

I would take the bulb and housing out and see if the housing looks super shiny and factory fresh. Half of your lumens is the reflector.

Mate bought just the bulb after he lost his new bulb and housing somewhere and didn't want to fork out for another. He said although it was brighter than the old bulb, not that much. Then he found the new bulb and housing and put that in and said it was super bright again. He said he would never buy just the bulb again.

Maybe ask on avforums?

[peterperkins]

gizlaroc said:

I would take the bulb and housing out and see if the housing looks super shiny and factory fresh. Half of your lumens is the reflector.

I wonder. Can it be cleaned with isopropyl alcohol, Windolene or something without desilvering the reflector?

[C n C]

gizlaroc said:

I would take the bulb and housing out and see if the housing looks super shiny and factory fresh. Half of your lumens is the reflector.

Mate bought just the bulb after he lost his new bulb and housing somewhere and didn't want to fork out for another. He said although it was brighter than the old bulb, not that much. Then he found the new bulb and housing and put that in and said it was super bright again. He said he would never buy just the bulb again.

Maybe ask on avforums?

Thanks for this - really useful.

[gizlaroc]

peterperkins said:

I wonder. Can it be cleaned with isopropyl alcohol, Windolene or something without desilvering the reflector?

No. Can't touch it at all.

[gizlaroc]

C n C said:

Thanks for this - really useful.

Do ask on avforums, his was a JVC DiLA, so maybe different.

[C n C]

gizlaroc said:

C n C said:

Thanks for this - really useful.

Do ask on avforums, his was a JVC DiLA, so maybe different.

Will do. Thanks.

[Dr Doofenshmirtz]

Not that model, but I've replaced several bulbs (actually they're usually HID Arc discharge bulbs similar to the ones in cars) - They just clip into the back of the reflector housing usually...easy to replace. Some projectors have the bulb and reflector as one unit.

[C n C]

C n C said:

gizlaroc said:

C n C said:

Thanks for this - really useful.

Do ask on avforums, his was a JVC DiLA, so maybe different.

Will do. Thanks.

Just a quick update.
I posted on AV Forums ( link here, assuming this is allowed, if not, mods please remove) and after an initial response that this question gets asked all the time, people did come back with further information, and as is often the way with these things, it's not quite as straightforward as it may initially appear!

There's more info on the AVforums post (if link removed, search for "PJ - replace just bulb or entire module?", but in essence, it appears that a completely original lamp and housing (made by the manufacturer) will have the lamp from the supplier (say Osram or Philips), but to a very tight spec for colour balance, lifetime, known degradation etc..

Apparently if buying what is sold as an OEM lamp in a 3rd party housing, or even an OEM bare lamp, there is every chance that the lamp will indeed come from the OEM (Osram/Philips etc..), but despite supposedly being the same lamp, it is likely to be of inferior quality/compliance to the spec. Having said that, it may well work well, but it's a bit more of a gamble and considerably cheaper.

A parallel was drawn with valve manufacturers for amplifiers, where nominally the valve may be the same but the amp manufacturer may only be interested in a small percentage that fit a tighter spec.

Personally I'm now leaning towards the original lamp and module from the PJ manufacturer, so just thought I'd update the thread for info as this must be something that all PJ owners must go through at some point.