Can you extend the life of a TV projector?

Question

Does the brightness control on most projection TV's turn down the brightness of the bulb, or does it just block more of the light from reaching the screen?

I live near a power substation, so my outlet voltage is about 124 vac. Will the higher voltage make the bulb burn brighter and shorten its life? Can I make it last longer by connecting to a constant-voltage transformer with about 110 vac output?

Answer 1

Decreasing brightness will help to extend the life of your projectors bulb.  In fact, most projectors have a economy/power saver mode to help with this.

As far as the voltage, that won't effect the brightness or life of your bulb.

Answer 2

Extending the life of a projection bulb is not related to the current input but rather how the bulb is cooled down.  Here's the current strategy which unfortunately is not published in many projector users guides:

"Begin with shutting off the bulb while leaving on the main cooling fan for at least 20 minutes.  Thereafter, turn off the whole projector using the main power switch."

Observing this cool down strategy will extend most projection bulb to up to 90%.

Good luck!

Answer 3

The best thing you can do is keep the heat down.