Sanyo Pro Projectors + smoke...

[brownie]

Hi there, at a venue im working in, not mentioning names for political reasons, we are putting in smoke for an event, but people are paranoid that their projector will never work again, the projector is a sanyo pro PLC-XP100BKL and will be situated in the air about 15m away from the smoke machine itself (a Jem ZR33), Am I missing something or is just people being paranoid?! (smoke will be used for about 6 hours to create a slightly smokey atompshere, and only gets used in the venue less than 6 times a year..) Interested to here your views!

[David Lee]

Should be fine - it doesn't sound like they will be subjected to long periods of abuse. We use Sanyos on award shows day in and day out. Always hazers and smoke machines around.

[kitlane]

Hi Ian

 

I take it you have finished your dissertation then! 6 hours left to hand it in.

 

Unless you have one of the less common sealed units then smoke will adversely effect a projector. Obvioulsy, the less time it is exposed to smoke or haze the smaller the problem, but it is a real issue. The fluid coats the LCD shutters or DMDs. This isn't too difficult to clean but re-aligning everything afterwards is a bit of a nightmare. The fluid will also find its way in to the lens assembly and this is usually pretty much impossible to fix. You may not notice the gradual deterioration over time but it does occur. The fluid also tends to make the air filters harder to clean as the dust is mixed with the sticky smoke fluid.

 

You've seen the kind of show I do; lots of projectors and lots of smoke. You have to accept that you are going to eventually kill your projectors

 

Having said all that, with the level of exposure you are describing, the LCDs will probably have deteriorated with normal use before the smoke is a significant factor.

 

If you are confident you are not going to damage the projector then promise to pay for a new one if you are wrong. Put your money where your mouth is ;-)

[jason5d]

1 night wont make any difference.

 

best way to deal with preciousness is to swap out the projector for your own if you have one.

[J Pearce]

To update (as I worked the event with Mr Brown), it was an in-house event, so not unreasonable to expect to use their projector...

 

In the end we bin bagged the house projector and put in a portable projector (also owned by the venue...)

[smiley31]

Sorry to bump this thread!

 

I have had a quick search around and this seems to be the only thread I can find on this topic.

 

We just got our Sanyo projectors back after we sent them off for a service after they had patches of dis-colour. The reply we got was that haze had built up inside the units and that we should protect the projectors from haze. Unfortunately we (and the service company) don't know how to protect the projectors from haze.

 

Unlike Brownie, our projectors will be subjected to a lot of smoke and haze, especially for the next 2 months as we start our pantomime at the end of next week.

 

If anyone has any ideas on how to stop the haze getting inside, they would be greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks

Smiley31 :)

[David Lee]

You can't really protect them without building a box around them and filtering the air. You just have to accept that if you abuse them you have to get them regular cleaning and servicing

[AHYoung]

We regularly get sanyo units ruined in a single days exposure to the output of an oil cracker, they go off and someone spends 5 hours cleaning every last drop of oil out of the unit and charges acccordingly. Water based smoke isnt as bad, but will eventually coat everything with a nasty film and need cleaning. Its part and parcel of using projection in a live enviroment , you try and minimise the smoke but just accept that regular cleaning is needed.

If you are regularly using haze, youd be better avoiding lcd units and go for a optically sealed dlp unit like a panasonic as the actual light path within the projector is effectively a sealed box unlike the lcd unit where vast amounts of contaminated air are forced into the panels.

There used to be filter boxes available but they were designed to protect against the kind of smoke produced by fags in smokey pubs rather than smoke machines, and these seem to have been killed off by the smoking ban and the fact that projectors used to cost ten times as much and were therefor worth protecting. You can also look at ducting air from outside into the area of the projector as then its breathing in fresh air as it were, ive seen this done, but it may or may not be practical.

[kerry davies]

Both the above but I have seen projectors mounted in precisely the wrong locations such as in front of extractor fan vents and a little thought on positioning might help.