Regarding home projector bulbs - is it better to leave it on if you are only gone a short time?

Question

I have a mitsubishi HC1500 home theater projector. The bulb will have 2000-3000 hours of life, supposedly.

It seems to be that turning it off and on more often than necessary would be hard on it. At the same time, it's clearly a bad idea to leave it on all the time. Does that mean there's a balance somewhere? that if I go get a pizza between movies I should leave it on? Or - should I save every moment possible if I don't have my eyes glued to the picture?

thanks

Kevin

Answer 1

You are definitely best to minimize on-off cycles. See the article at the link ... it's the most comprehensive one I've found on how to ensure long lamp life.

Answer 2

You have to balance both of them, if you walk to your front door to get a pizza, keep it on, if you need to have a bathroom break, leave it on, if you are doing anything inside your house, and you know when you will be back, it's better to leave it on since repetitive on/off cycles will take life from the bulb (or other electronic parts in the projector)

If you leave your house for anything, it may be a good idea to turn it off, because you never know when that quick trip to the store turns into that long time in traffic due to an accident or rush hour or something, and you are burning unused hours on your bulb life

Answer 3

I was told turning one on & off several times a day diminished the bulb life.  If you are going to been gone 30 minutes or so, leave the unit on.