Basic question about projectors for church

[mwoke]

Hopefully this is in the right place. Our church was thinking of getting a laptop and projector, for videos/songwords etc. However as we meet in a village hall, we have to set up and take down every week. The idea of getting a projector was turned down because someone (I don't know who the someone was, I wasn't at the meeting) said that setting up a projector and taking it down each week, and hence all the moving of the projector involved (because we can't fix it to the ceiling or anything), would not do it any good.

 

I don't have sufficient knowledge about projectors to know whether this is true or not, can anyone help?

 

My personal opinion is that it doesn't matter how often you set it up and take it apart, so long as you let the lamp cool down sufficiently, and generally treat the projector with care. If this is not the case then why are there small, easily portable projectors on the market, and do business people wreck their projectors by moving them around for presentations etc?

[dunk_1984]

It may not do it any good, but it won't do it much harm. Providing the lamp is left to cool before it is moved you should have few issues. Obviously keeping it in a suitable case and you're not throwing it off cliffs, running it over etc You should have very few issues.

[DanHerbert]

I know of many churches who set up and pack away their projector each week, one of my last churches has been doing this for the last 5 years!

 

We've also supplied many projectors to other churches who do the same andin my work we're alwaays using portable projectors and have not once had any issues!

[pritch]

At my day job, we have a fleet of several projectors available for meetings or training, which just sit in a locked cupboard in reception ready to be loaned out. Despite being set up and moved around on pretty much a daily basis, they don't seem to be suffering ill-health.

 

Something that may be worth looking for is a projector with a built in battery for the fan, just in case someone decides to just pull the plug instead of turning it off properly. Have had that experience before, and had to put up with a bright yellow splodge in the middle of the screen, where something inside the projector got scorched.

[mwoke]

Thanks for replies guys.

 

You have confirmed what I thought.

 

Interesting bit about the battery powered fan, I've never heard of ones like that before.

[handyandi]

Most smaller/cheaper projectors are designed with portability in mind. Agreed not a good idea to turn off without the fan carrying out its run on cycle, but we have only gone through 1 lamp (which did explode- most likely someone ignored the replace lamp warning) in a 7 year period and this machine gets moved from room to room. One problem we do get is with wild temperate changes since the machine comes out of a cold cupboard into a warm environment & it does tend to take a while to clear the optics.

With a nice padded bag or flight case it should cause no problems.

Type of thing sales reps do daily.

Typical response in a church meeting from a generation with a fear of modern technology & not wanting to spend so much money on something new! Unfortunately all we can do is state the facts clearly with the benefits & hope they will change their mind. Funnily enough someone who voted against purchasing one for our church owns his own now!!

 

Good luck.

 

Andi

[pritch]

Interesting bit about the battery powered fan, I've never heard of ones like that before.

 

Not sure who else does them, but I know Sanyo have several models. Worth bearing in mind if it's not going to be the same person responsible for packing up each time.

[david.elsbury]

Still, bear in mind that if you pack a projector away straight away, if it's hot and it goes into a bag, fans running or not it will still blow hot air out and "sweat" (produce moisture) which is a bad, bad thing for electronics.

I concur with all the other posts, moving them is not a "bad thing" per se, so long as you follow the correct procedures :)

[Andrew C]

Not sure who else does them, but I know Sanyo have several models.

Some of the (quite expensive) Sony models feature this too.

[hounsome]

AV Production Companys have been trucking projectors all over the world for years. just let it cool down and warm up propley it should be fine.

 

I normaly get projector out 1st and put it away last. have never had a problem.

 

if it has been somewhere very cold I like to try and get it somewhere near room temp before I power up.

 

colin

[Pete McCrea]

Damn you Colin I was just about to say that! if projectors couldn't cope with it, my business wouldn't exist, and I wouldn't have earned my keep from hiring them out for the last 4 years.

 

I'd also echo the previous posters comments in terms of making sure the machine cools down properly.

 

I have heard anecdotal stories of people buying two machines, one get bolted in, and on being mobile, with the mobile machine having lower lamp hours before failure. Then we've also had machines bought on the same day, and both bolted to opposite sides of the church, with one machine having popped two lamps while the other has only popped one. So I think it very much depends on the lamp that ends up in the unit.