DPSS temperature testing advice please

[norty303]

HI all

On friday night I was helping out on an opening night gig where I put in 2 of my projectors.

Over the course of the early part of the night (between about midnight and 2:30am), one of my DPSS 532 modules dimmed gradually until if stopped producing any light at all.

The projector was allowed to rest for a couple of periods (one time about 20mins) due to laptop/software issues.

However, upon plugging the projector in at home on Sunday, switching it to CW output caused it to come back on fine.

Tonight I'm going to test it for 4hrs+ continuously and see what happens.

However, I have a feeling that it could be heat related, the venue was at capacity (4500+) and it was incredibly hot (for humans at least!) and I wonder if it could be the module is very heat sensitive. I have an identical module in the other projector which was fine, but the cooling setups in the cases are slightly different.

I was thinking of putting a temp probe in the case and applying heat from a hair dryer to the fan inlet gently to warm the insides and see what happens to the output. Can anyone think of a reason why this wouldn't be a good idea? Obviously I'll be careful of too localized heat (melting plastic fan blades, etc)

Otherwise I'm at a bit of a loss why it would dim so gently over time. Both projectors were on the same DAC, so I know there was nothing wrong with the green channel

[dnar]

I assume it is TEC cooled? Check the fan that removes heat from the TEC, is it spinning? Dust blocked?

[Doc]

Do you have any idea what temperature your projector chassis got to (estimate)?

The green in my 5W RGB fades a bit under heavy use in a hot club, but the brightness comes back after a 15 minute break.

Bearing the above in mind: At the end of the night after the house lights have come up to brightness, I case up my laptop, collect all my other schinizz together and pack it in the car, then last job is drop the projectors (so probably half an hour since the show has finished). The offending projector is still at least in the high 30's °C so fook knows what it's at when it fades.

This is with 2 x 120mm fans and a good airflow (fans suck air in the bottom rear of the case and it exits top front).

[norty303]

Looks heat related for sure at the moment, have been exploring some things with Rob tonight, perhaps something going weird/weak with a TEC. Will see what Rob has to say tomorrow when he reads my string of other emails!