So I just moved into my dorm room today and got the pj set up. Before I had anything else plugged in, I fired up the PJ and tested it out. It was doing just fine. So I plugged in my Xbox to test some games on the pj and that went fine.

Then I set up my speakers and fired up the pj. It ran for a while until all of a sudden my LCD turned off and wouldn't turn back on again! The bulb was still running but the LCD wouldn't.

I think I've narrowed it down to the fact that I have very little power going to my dorm room. My computer and monitor are working just fine, but when I try to power on the pj with other appliances plugged in, the eballast just won't strike the bulb. I even noticed that the fans wouldn't continue running unless I unplugged other appliances from the outlet and the fan would magically start running to cool down the pj.

I've tried running the pj from a different outlet than everything else and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Any ideas? Can I get something to plug into the outlet like a UPS type thing to provide good current to the pj regardless of what else is being powered in the room? Or am I stuck with this terrible problem with lack of power for the rest of the semester?

EDIT: The lack of power in this room is terrible! The cooling fans were running on the pj when I posted this and I heard the fans cut out and some static went across my screen. The monitor and the pj are plugged into the same outlet at the moment, so that must be it.

I would definitely go with a couple of APC ups's. At least get one for your computer. Dirty power can make you a very sad person.

I don't know if a ups can power the whole projector, but it might be able to. If you go with a ups, I would recommend definitely going with APC brand. I have tried a couple other ones and they never seemed to work properly. It is worth spending the few bucks extra for. If you get the paper, staples and office max have them on sale every once in a while.

Thanks for the help. I actually have had better luck since yesterday. The bulb would strike the first time every time today and I realized that the connection between the LCD circuit boards is touchy. If I tap it while running it will turn on but shut off a little while later. I then ran the connection a little differently and twisted it a little to keep it tight and it's been on since.

I'll keep things updated.

BUMP

I'm back for a second semester and am experiencing the same problem. Maybe it's just first week bad luck, but I know the bulb/ballast were working perfectly the day before I came back.

So an APC UPS... any other ideas?

It ran fine for four months?

Long extension cord plugged into the nerds room down the hall.

Extension cord Police confiscate it or the new nerd hoarding electrons?

It was apart for about the last month. And I was repeatedly having troubles firing the bulb throughout first semester. But now I have a new bulb and ballast, know the bulb is screwed in all the way, have soldered connections between them, and wasn't having these problems with this combo before moving back into the dorm.

EDIT: 500 posts. Oh yeah!