Instructor: In this lesson,
we're going to talk about projector issues.
Now, a projector is a special type of display,
that is normally used in large environments
when you're trying to share an image across an entire room
for everybody to see.
For example, if you think back to when you went to school,
you probably had a projector in that classroom.
This allowed the teacher to share their computer screen
so everybody could see it across the entire room.
When you're using a projector, often these will be
either a portable projector,
or a permanently installed projector,
that's installed from the ceiling,
and therefore, there's cables running from that projector
through the ceiling, down the wall, and into a wall-jack.
Usually, using something like HDMI or display port.
Now, when using a projector, especially one,
where the cable is going up and through the walls,
you do have to make sure
that the connectors are properly connected
between your system and that projector.
If anywhere along that connection
from the back of the projector, all the way down the wall,
and then into your computer is broken, missing,
or not properly connected,
this will cause a projector to not be able to display
the image from your screen.
So, you need to make sure
you're always looking at all the cabling
from a physical standpoint to make sure
it's working properly.
Now, in addition to the physical cabling issues
with projectors,
there are three other issues that you may come across
when you're trying to support projectors in a classroom,
or conference room environment.
These include dim images, no images,
and the projector shutting itself down intermittently,
without any warning.
Now first, we're going to talk about dim images.
When you're looking at an image,
and it looks very washed out or dim,
normally this is an issue with the bulb
reaching the end of life.
As the bulb in the projector starts wearing down over time,
it's going to get less and less bright.
So, when you have a brand new bulb,
it's going to be very bright.
Maybe it's going to be three or 4,000 lumens,
but over time, it's actually going to dim down,
just like a light bulb.
Now, this dimming is your warning,
that it's time to start replacing that projector bulb,
otherwise it could end up failing completely.
Now, when the projector bulb fails completely,
there's going to be no light,
and therefore, you cannot send the image
from the projector to the big screen, across the room.
This is what we call a burned out bulb.
In either of these cases,
you want to replace the bulb on that projector.
Now, when you're dealing with projector bulbs,
these are usually rated in hours,
and these can be anywhere from 500 hours to about 2000 hours
depending on the make, model, and brand of the bulb,
and the projector.
So, if you've been asked to help select a projector,
this is one of the factors you want to consider
when buying a projector.
Some projectors are going to be lower costs,
but they're going to have a shorter bulb life as well.
And this means, you're going to be changing out that bulb
much more often.
And these bulbs are not cheap.
They can range anywhere from $50 up to $500 or more
depending on the make, model, and brand, to that projector.
So, it is something you want to think about ahead of time,
as you're picking out the projector you want to use
in your classroom or conference room environment.
Now, because these projector bulbs are measured in hours,
there's actually, a counter on the projector,
that's going to count up how many hours
that bulb has been used.
This will allow maintenance staff to go in there,
once a week or once a month,
and check the status of that counter.
So, if you look at the projector,
and it says, you're at 450 hours,
and you know that normally, this is a 500 hour bulb,
you want to make sure you order a new bulb,
and have it on hand so you can replace that,
as it gets up to 500 hours or when it fails.
Now, once the bulb starts reaching its end of life,
it will start dimming, as I said, but normally,
once it starts dimming, you'll probably,
still have about 50 to 100 hours worth of use.
This would be a great time to ensure
you have an extra bulb in stock so that
if and when that bulb fails, you can replace it,
or you can preemptively,
replace it once the bulb starts dimming
to make sure everybody's getting the brightest,
and clearest image possible.
Now, once that bulb burns out completely,
it is going to go completely dark,
and at that point you must replace it
to be able to bring the image back.
When you're replacing one of these bulbs,
many of them are actually very sensitive to our hands,
and the oils in our skin.
So, you want to make sure using a glove,
not necessarily to protect yourself,
but to protect the life of that bulb,
because the oils in your hand can break down that bulb,
and cause it to have a premature end of life,
faster than it normally would.
And again, these bulbs are expensive
so you want them to last as long as possible.
In addition to wearing gloves to protect yourself
when handling the bulb, you also want to make sure,
you allow the projector time to cool down
before you try to replace the bulb.
These bulbs can get to be extremely hot,
and so, if you try to remove the bulb
right after you turn off the projector,
you will end up burning yourself.
So, you want to make sure,
you let it cool down for at least 15 to 30 minutes,
before trying to remove that bulb.
That way, it has time to cool itself down naturally,
and you can touch it safely without burning yourself.
Now, the other major problem you may have
when dealing with projectors is that
sometimes they will just shut down or restart
all by themselves.
This problem is very similar to your computer
when it shuts itself down
to protect itself from overheating,
and that's usually, what the cause is,
when a projector is intermittently shutting itself down
without giving you any warning.
Generally, these projectors are going to heat up
because of that really hot bulb,
and they have cooling fans that are there
to be able to start dissipating that heat.
But if you have the projector hanging from the ceiling,
most of the time people don't think to actually,
clean out those air vents on the projector.
And this can lead to the projector's fans
getting clogged with dirt or dust, and making them overheat.
So, if you start having a projector that is intermittently
shutting down on you for no reason at all,
most of the time, it's because, it's overheating.
In these cases, you want to check the projector's fan,
and make sure it's working,
and make sure that its air vents are properly cleaned,
and clear of any dust, or dirt, or debris,
to be able to make sure that
the air flow is going through that projector properly,
and cooling down that system.
Now, if you go and look at that projector
after it's shut down and you've noticed that
the fan was working and that the air flow is being able
to go through it properly because it has clean vents,
then it may be a different issue.
And in this case, usually it's going to be that
the projector didn't detect a source input.
If the projector doesn't get a source input,
most projectors will shut themselves down after one minute,
two minutes, or five minutes,
depending on how it's configured.
The manufacturers have configured these projectors
to do this automatically,
in order to save more of the bulb's life,
by turning off the projector and saving that.
This also helps with energy savings,
because you're not using electricity
if the projector shuts down.
So, if the projector is shutting down after a minute,
two minutes, or five minutes,
and it's always the same amount of time,
generally, this is going to be because of the setting
inside of the projector,
and the projector is not identifying the source.
But if you are using the projector,
and you had a valid picture on the display,
and it shuts itself down, most of the time,
this is going to be an overheating issue,
and you're going to need to go back,
and make sure that all the system's working properly,
and that the projector is getting adequate airflow
to keep itself cool.