Monday, September 8, 2008

"Extend" the life of your projector bulb

Say you're about to give an important presentation, but when you turn on the projector you get a warning that says your bulb has exceeded it's usable life and you need to replace it. Typically you'll get at least one warning and then it will go back to normal for a while. However, it could shut itself off while the bulb is forced to cool down. This could be a disaster.

Most projectors have a built-in timer in order to track the life of the bulb. The trick to "extend" the life of the bulb is to reset that timer without replacing the bulb. The method to do this will vary depending on the make and model of your projector, so consult the instructions and documentation. I will warn you that the life-timers are there for a reason, and it's best to listen to them. If you're in a bind and really need to get it working though, you can use this trick to buy yourself some time. This can also be used on printers and various other equipment that typically have life-timers on the consumables being used.

The next time you run into something saying you need to replace a part, but you don't have an extra one on hand, give this a try and it just may help you avoid some unhappy users.

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