3UPS

Source: Lighting&Sound America, June 2008. Reprinted with Permission

When Good Projectors Go Bad

THE PAIN...“The New Copper Penny is serviced by Brownell Sound, a Portland-based audio, video, and lighting installer. The first order of business was to determine what was causing the unusual projector problems at the club. ‘In one case, I had to replace a Viewsonic projector that I had just installed after it took out a bulb in only 175 hours,’ says Kurt Bevers, owner of Brownell Sound. ‘That is very unusual. So I brought the projector in for testing and found nothing wrong with it. But I knew something had to be going on, so I went back to the club for more testing.’ Bevers tested the signal line and the AC voltage, both of which were fine. He just couldn’t find the problem. When he was explaining this to the owner’s son, John, he asked a critical question: ‘Have you installed anything new recently?’

THE CAUSE...With a big smile, John answered that yes, they had recently installed neon signs that displayed the club’s logo. Bevers asked John to turn on the lights and tested the voltage again. This time, Bevers discovered that the neon fixtures were releasing voltage onto the load neutral that was oscillating between 2 to 30VAC, eliminating the digital projectors’ ground reference for bulb circuits and leaving them exposed to damaging transients.

THE SOLUTION & RESULTS...With the proper power management in place, the service calls stopped and the bulb life (projector) was not only restored, it was significantly extended. The bulb life of all the projectors increased by a minimum of 40%. ‘With the AC-215 (The AC-210 A E’s 120V equivalent), the Viewsonic projectors that are supposed to last 2,000 hours have been going for 2,900 to 3,000 hours,’ says Bevers. ‘The NEC projectors that have a projected bulb life of 4,000 hours in economy mode have been lasting about 5,400 hours.’ This translates to an extra six months of use for eight video projectors—each running for eight hours per day. It also translated to huge money savings for the New Copper Penny.”

If you are seeking solutions to fix similar power issues, please click here to tell us more.

Furman  Purify Your Power 

  Case Studie & Application - New Copper Penny

“As an event hire company, (Image Group NZ) we work in many different venues and in the past have experienced issues with the power supply.It doesn’t happen often, but even once is one time too many!"

more detail

In addition to live music and dancing, sporting events are a big part of the scene at the New Copper Penny in Portland, Oregon. For off-track betting and televised sports such as basketball, football, and boxing, the club utilizes eight digital projectors. The units are an integral part of the club’s atmosphere, and it is important to keep them up and running at any cost