Article written by Roger Ewald
Projector lamps cost around $300 dollars each and last about 2,000 hours on average. Projectors consume about 300 watts with the lamp operating. The service life of a projector is directly related to its operating hours. Projectors last about 4 years on average before they fail and cost about $1,500 to replace.
This Summer we will begin deploying the Global Viewer Enterprise (GVE) network management system in most of our electronic classrooms. Software of this type would easily cost $10,000 for an institution our size, but we have received it as a grant.
GVE will enhance our ability to remotely view the status of a projector and diagnose equipment control problems. It also provides greater reporting functions. For example, we will generate reports on the number of hours a particular classroom projector is powered on, its lamp hours, and the number of times a VCR or document camera is selected for use. GVE can also alert us if a lamp is burned out or if there has been an attempt to steal a projector.
You can do your part. About 120 classrooms have an Extron control panel that has a “display mute” function which leaves the projector lamp operating but mutes the light on the screen. When you are finished using the project be sure to actually DISPLAY POWER OFF and unmute the screen.
Together we will save energy, and extend projector and lamp life cycles.
Last Updated June 7, 2012