Panasonic PT-RW330 LED/Laser Projector Redux | UV Source Replacement
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 24 ก.ย. 2024
- A few years ago, I worked on another PT-RW330 for a gym. They had never cleaned it or bothered to do anything aside from run it and that led to its UV source dying. The cost of the replacement source was prohibitive so the projector was not repaired. While trying to find parts, I located this particular PT-RW330 on eBay with a description saying the picture was good. I had even emailed the seller to verify it was not purple. he said it was not.
When this unit arrived, the first thing I noticed was the post-it left on the bottom that clearly said," Purple Tint".
I ended up getting most of my money back after the guy tried to argue with me until I sent him a picture of the postit and I left this on the shelf to lookat "someday". Where as most "someday" things end up as "never day" things, this one was different.
Most of the parts I buy come from Time Electronics in China. They are a great resource for me and they have helped many viewers I have sent their way. I talked to my friend Crystal who works there and I mentioned that I was trying to find a source for this projector to make a video but the costs were just too high to justify it. These sources are $300. That would mean it would cost $300 to fix a $300 projector.
Crystal offered to send me the laser source for free! I could not thank her enough. Time Electronics really helped me out and because of them, I can share this repair with you.
Give Crystal a shout at
Gydz@timeprojectorlamp.com
for any parts requests. She also deals in lamps, so if you are not in the USA and need a reliable source for good quality, reasonably priced projector lamps, get in touch with her. Let her know I referred you or that you saw her info listed here. She's super helpful and knows her products very well. They take paypal for payment and will ship DHL. It's very convenient.
Of course if you are in the USA and need a projector lamp, check this link and use code YT50 on checkout for 5% off. www.purelandsupply.com
Check out Circuit Secrets / @circuitsecrets Very cool content. Well produced too.
Thanks for watching!
\o/
Oh Frank, what a joy it is to watch your videos. They really are wonderful!! 😁
I have a Panasonic PT-RW330EA and the picture has been dimming over time. I bought it secondhand for my Mum who watches 10-15 hours of sports and game shows per day, she is 90 years old and can't move around like before, so having a big screen makes her day much more enjoyable. Our satellite tv is broadcast mostly in 720p so the Panasonic matches with that resolution nicely.
I had a chance to buy the Panasonic at an auction and thought that 3500 lumens and 20,000 hours of life would be a win. The previous projector, still have it as a backup which is a Mitsubishi HC1500, worked well, but is only 1600 lumens, and we had to close some curtains during our many sunshiney days here in Johannesburg in South Africa. Yes, your videos have been enjoyed and appreciated half way around the world!! 😁
I wish I had found and seen your video before I had bought it, I would have thought twice about getting it. And I only found your video after I had done a major teardown of my RW330 projector to give it a good clean and see if there was anything patently wrong. A lot of dust, but nowhere near as much as the first RW330 you did from the gym. Put it all back together and she is working okay, but not much improvement in brightness, which is sad.
In this part of the world, prices for parts are so crazy expensive, that my RW330 projector is very uneconomical to repair, even doing all the labour myself. I wonder if you can tell me where to buy the individual diodes and the part numbers. I would replace them one by one myself, now that I am familiar with stripping the projector. I certainly cannot afford $300 for a new laser unit, as you got in the video above.
And I wonder if there is a case to be made to the manufacturer of these replacement units? Rather sell plenty at say $100/unit than sell very few at $300? Most of these RW330 are uneconomical to repair now and will become scrap. The cost to produce the LED panels must be a small fraction of $100. And the more time goes by, the less inclined people will be to repair their RW330s, they will be old technology and newer higher specification projectors will be around the same price as the repair part.
In any case, thanks again for your videos, they really are superb. Cheers for now, Alastair Gray.
Oh man, this is an excellent repair. Older machines deserve to be repaired. Even if some people think that 720p is obsolete, it really is not. I just replaced my XGA projector. Yes, XGA. Used it for 4000 hours and really damaged the blue polarizzer during cleaning (clearly my error) or I would be using it till now.
Will mail Crystal about a replacement part though. Thanks for all the lessons!
She is so nice. I consider her a friend. She really went above and beyond to help me make this video.
Its quite simple to change the laser source on this model, thanks to this video. My model is the Full HD version PT-RZ370, luckily mine works fine and was £150 off eBay with 8300 run time hours. Thanks for the links for parts. Good to know. Cheers Frank, spoiling us again with two long videos. Take care buddy.
I am keeping my eyes out for one of those. I want one for the basement shop so I can use it for a computer monitor. When yours starts to show purple(if it does) let me know! I am going to look at rebuilding these sources now that I know the diode type.
The laser/LED stuff had me skeptical for a while. I'm coming around. I still see the place for lamp based projectors but I will happily admit I see the benefits of solid state. I can turn on my bedroom projector for 5 minutes just to show my wife a youtube cat video and then turn it right off.
Thanks for the support Karl, it really means a lot.
@@FixitFrank If mine goes faulty then you will be the first to know. 😃
Cool that you can now repair these laser diode units and know where to get spares from. I do like the quick start up and cool down times of these laser projectors. I'm sure a faulty rz370 will turn up for you soon. 👍
I just bought a 370 off Ebay with like 570 hours or so, and runs good, I'm hoping nothing is wrong with it when I get it, lol
@@FixitFrank can you share the diode type?
You're a good one frank! Thank you for the videos :)
Thanks for watching!
Thx mate, all the laser stuff is completely new to me ^^.
Im glad you like it Ricky. More coming!
Just found your channel today and man u rock and give me hope for humanity with your kindness and expertise. 2 days ago I bought a optoma hd28hdr for 75 dollars great steal! Seller said fan came on but lamp light would show and no picture. Lastnight I took out color wheel and cleaned up but still no avail. And now not even fan is turning on. Is sequence color wheel then fan or fan ten color wheel? Have you ever seen one wher fan worked when you got it then all of a sudden didn't? Also I've seen people say that you can use black tape on color wheel to help make contact with sensor is that true? Does sensor and black are in color wheel need to line up in order for system to fire kind of like top dead center on a car? Any who hope all is well God bless you!
The usual start up is colorwheel, lamp then fans. Check to see if the lamp cover is in place or the safety switch will keep the projector shut down.
The color wheel sensor is actually an optical sensor. It emits an infrared beam to the shiny hub of the color wheel. When the black mark rolls past, it interrupts that signal and causes a blip, telling the projector where the color wheel is in its rotation. You dont need to use black. Its just that black tends to absorb the IR better. Electrical tape is hit or miss, mostly miss for me. One thing I want to try is black wood stove paint or engine paint. As long as its matte or satin finish it should work.
For $75 that is a steal!
What were the LEDs flashing when you got it?
Why not replace the ondividual diodes? I'm planing the same intervention in two pt rz370, would the laser array be similar?
I can see why that would seem like a good option but unfortunately It's a waste of time and money. The remaining operating diodes are not to be trusted. When the other diodes fail they expose each neighboring diode with high current briefly. It means the old diodes will start to fail shortly after you replace the already bad diodes. You will end up replacing all of the diodes eventually and it will cost 3-4X as much not even accounting for your time or labor.
I would replace the entire module on the 370. If I hadn't gotten this array for free, I would not have bothered with the 330, but since the 370 is 1080 native it would be a good idea. I am pretty sure its the same exact array. Another way to look at it is, the diodes that failed failed for a reason. The other diodes were exposed to that same situation. If you were fixing it just to get rid of it, then maybe replace the bad diodes but let the person it's going to that you did that. But if you can do the whole array it would be the best way to go.
Do you have a part number for this replacement part? My RW330 is losing its light after 30k hrs and I’d love to replace the module to bring it back.
I don't have the exact part # but I will be blunt and tell you its a waste of money to replace. I got this module for free but if I had to buy it, they are $350-400. you can buy a working 370 which is 1080p for the same price. As much as I hate to not repair things, your money would be wasted. One other option that might be worthwhile is to replace the discrete UV laser diodes. They might be cheaper than buying the whole laser module and I know that not all the diodes in the array go bad.
Your hand scratches cat 🐈 😻 🐈⬛️ Right?
Hah! yes!
what would cause one to start up and soon after have the light indicator start blinking red 3 times
Do you offer repair services to public?
Hi, Yes I do. I have an email listed on the about page if you want to get in touch.
Hi Frank when I used a dvi to HDMI adapter it says signal out of range and no picture. What does that mean exactly.
usually it means the resolution on the source device is not compatible with the destination. If you use a laptop and the resolution is set above what the projector can accept that will cause it. Sometimes you can leave it plugged in a reboot the source and it will match up. Check your resolution settings and try changing them to lower settings than they currently are or match the output resolution to the projector native resolution.
@@FixitFrank thank you for getting back to me. I picked up a few cheap projectors from goodwill and am learning lots about them.
Frank, I wonder how difficult is to remove and replace the lens on one of these? I have one with a bad lens and one with a good one. Basically, a swap over. I had a brief look and it freaked me out. Looked complicated. Once I swap the lens I will have one for parts if you need anything out of it let me know.
I don't think it will be too bad. Of course panasonic will probably hide a screw that makes you have to take all sorts of parts out to get to it... I'll be curious to hear how it ends up.
Must have said temp wire goes under the heat sink m8 more than 10 times.. I gave up 😂
oh man, me too when I was editing this