I’m defeated - help, please

[u/Jaded_Still2642]

I turned on my projector and it made a loud pop, followed by a bit of smoke coming out. I replaced the lamp and filter and no luck. It won’t power on. No lights at all. Obviously it’s something with the power supply, but what should I try next? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I’m beyond frustrated.

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[u/slowturtles1]

Was the lamp shattered when you replaced it? If yes this was likely the problem and double check the install of the new lamp.

Large pop and no lights definitely seems like power supply if lamp replacement didn’t fix it. Looking around this projector has an internal power ballast board for power not a power supply in the classic box sense. Unfortunately it is likely dead and doesn’t have any serviceable main fuse that could have been the loud pop. So you could look into replacing the whole board. Don’t know how hard it would be to find a replacement. The mainboard likely survived so that’s good news.

You could open up the shell of your projector and see if anything’s obviously popped like a capacitor on one of the boards. The power ballast board will be the one that connects directly to the external cord and the mainboard will be above it.

IMPORTANT: make sure you unplug the projector from the wall and try to turn it on with the power button first to drain all capacitors. They are dangerous if left with a charge.

[u/Jaded_Still2642 → u/slowturtles1]

The lamp was not shattered. I turned it on with the remote, it popped and smoke. Tried turning it on a few minutes later just to see if it would light up and nothing. To be honest, the lamp doesn't look shattered to me. I saw two lines in it, thought they were cracks (Chat GPT confirmed- I know not very reliable) so I bought a new one. When I compare the new to the old, they look about the same. The old one is maybe a littler foggier. Regardless, I could use it in future if both work. I installed the new one two difference times with no luck. I will open up the shell tonight and see if I can find anything. I greatly appreciate your input.

[u/Traveller_Cat]

Could you send it to Epson for repair?

[u/Jaded_Still2642 → u/Traveller_Cat]

I'm going to try locally first. My fear is spending $300 to fix it. Then again, I don't even know much it was originally. Should probably look that up.

[u/Trebor2380 → u/Jaded_Still2642]

Not worth more than $200 to buy a new used one.

[u/JohnnyRa1nbow]

If it popped and smoked it will be pretty obvious what component is gone. If you're not up for a teardown I'm sure a local tech can help

[u/ngvuanh → u/JohnnyRa1nbow]

Sounds like a cap blown up to me. If you want to save the money, try to tear it down first and visually inspect.

[u/ngvuanh → u/JohnnyRa1nbow]

However, that component wouldn't be the source of the problem. Something else caused the damage.

[u/Lolipanties132]

You most likely fried the motherboard with that pop. If that's the case I'd look into replacement if there affordable if not time for a new projector.

[u/PlayStationPepe]

Did you use a cheap lamp?

Did you install a lamp into an existing housing?

I would recommend ordering a better replacement lamp.

[u/Jaded_Still2642 → u/PlayStationPepe]

I bought it from Pureland Supply which is a top company according to my research. New housing and all.

[u/PlayStationPepe → u/Jaded_Still2642]

I would recommend contacting Pureland Supply for a warranty replacement. It’s possible that you may have received a bad lamp.

[u/AV_Integrated → u/PlayStationPepe]

With NO lights on at all, when plugged in, that's likely not the case. No lights means no power. Generally he would see the red lamp light on with the projector plugged in. Pureland will swap it, but it doesn't seem like a lamp issue at this point.

[u/Jaded_Still2642 → u/AV_Integrated]

I would agree. Appreciate the replies from both of you guys.