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Technicians Blame The Lamp

Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2009 5:52 pm
by Eddie
We get a lot of calls about this. Technicians who blame the lamp because

1. it's not OEM
2. it's not a mercury vapor lamp
3. it's not the right kind
4. it fails continuity tests with a multimeter

FAIL.

1. Check to see if the company you've purchased from is an authorized dealer. If they use a company's logo and they aren't authorized, they'll be in big trouble. Tell the company you're going to call the manufacturer to check. If they're authorized, you can then call the manufacturer of your television to see what's OEM. Or research online to see what's OEM, what's not... Google "Lamp Research"

2. I've heard this from techs who don't know what the hell they're talking about. I just laugh when I hear from people that say the tech has told them it's not a mercury vapor lamp. Obviously they didn't go to tech school long enough to learn that Philips lamps are mercury vapor lamps. I read a wikipedia article about it and it said it's a metal halide lamp--I laughed. Don't believe everything you read from non-primary sources. I've talked to Philips--they use mercury vapor in their lamps. Dispose of the lamps properly.

3. It's not the right kind? Check with the supplier. They should know, but if they don't.. ask another supplier. Get second or third opinions. This will help you get the right part and help you save money down the line.

4. If a tech knows what they are doing, they'll know UHP lamps will fail continuity tests. Why? Here's another nifty graphic I've found:

arc-gap.jpg
arc-gap.jpg (24.28 KiB) Viewed 20746 times


These UHP lamps don't have filaments. They have a "burner" that ignites gas in a quartz tube. It's not a complete circuit and if someone tells you different, they're lying to you.

Re: Technicians Blame The Lamp

Posted: Sat Mar 28, 2009 1:02 am
by jeffyb
No way, I didn't know they worked like that! Kind of like a car's spark plug with the electricity gap.

Re: Technicians Blame The Lamp

Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2009 11:58 pm
by ServicePro
Nice explanation, couldn't have said it any better. It's also worth noting nearly ALL rear projection TV (RPTV) lamps, with the exception of some Toshiba and AKAI lamps are Alternating Current (AC) lamps. This means the polarization of the power connectors does not matter.

Re: Technicians Blame The Lamp

Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2010 4:36 pm
by Eddie
Awesome

Re: Technicians Blame The Lamp

Posted: Sat Sep 25, 2010 9:03 pm
by madtech
Your TV problem is not as hard to fix yourself as you may think
Repairing it yourself will save you hundreds of dollars.
For the parts and instructions to repair this problem go to this link.
http://www.tvrepairkits.com/xcart/home. ... er=madtech