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Loading ...Readers of the blog first started reporting the problem in this thread. I didn’t think too much of it at the time, but now I’m on the 4th day of my TV turning itself off because of “Air Flow”.
Following my First Incident with getting a replacement and now this White Blooming issue going on I’m starting to get flat out pissed off now.
So far the solution for me with the air flow problem seems to be just letting the TV shut off, then turning it on a number of times until it decides to stay on. I’m going to dig into this on AVS and see what’s up, I will keep you posted.
Update #1: This guy said he took the lamp out, and found dust on the filter and blew it off to fix the problem. I will try that if it happens again. (NOTE: I tried this, it didn’t change anything)
Update #2: All the AVS owner thread issues, and some confirmation that it’s a known issue.
Update #3: Here it is, it looks to be a problem with one of the two temperature sensors on the light housing. Apparently it’s a known issue with Mitsubishi so they should know exactly what to fix.
Update #4: A buddy of mine, Chris Hunkele, has the WD-65831 as well and noticed just about the same time I did that he was getting the “Air Flow” issue as well. He stuck a small fan next to his air intake and a temperature gauge and noticed that it doesn’t start happening until the house is around 77 degress, which is almost exactly when I start to notice it as well. Now I’m starting to think this isn’t a problem as much as a honest-to-god issue that the TV is getting too hot. I had no idea it would be so limiting… hmmm.
Update #5: Well the TV is dead now and won’t stay on for more than 10 seconds before shutting off. I even tried a huge fan right next to it… I think the temperature gauges are shot.
Update #6: Larry just followed up with the official announcement from Mitsubishi that they are extending under-warranty repairs for the defective thermal sensors up to 2 years beyond the original 1 year warranty:
Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America, Inc (MDEA) 2006 DLP® Projection Televisions Models: WD-52631, WD-57731, WD-65731, WD-Y57, WD-Y65, WD-57732, WD- 65732, WD-57831, WD-65831.
As part of our commitment to quality and customer satisfaction, MDEA is announcing an extension of the warranty coverage to replace the thermal sensor for the above referenced models. For a period of two additional years beyond the one year limited warranty, MDEA will cover the cost of the thermal sensor (parts and labor) at no charge. All other terms of the MDEA limited warranty will continue to apply.
Update #7: The comments for this post have been growing, with a lot of conversation around the updated light housing in the WD-xxx35 series of sets from Mitsubishi. For example the WD-65835 and so on.
As reader Bob has pointed out, this light housing got a total rework with housing design, lamp model and with some revised ventilation as well. Bob has been kind enough to include a picture of the rear/side of the WD-65835 for folks to take a peek at, thanks Bob!
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June 14th, 2007 at 3:21 pm
I am glad I am not the only one. I have noticed the Airflow message now on my Mitsubishi WD-65831 65″ Diamond Series at least 30 times in the past 3 months. I let it shutoff and then when I turn it on, it stays on. It started happening only a few weeks after I bought the brand new unit. It even happened when the room was cool in winter. I also believe it being a sensor malfunction issue because it is not triggered by high ambient temperature in my case. I haven’t tried the filter cleaning routine.
June 14th, 2007 at 3:26 pm
Brad you may get mixed results with cleaning the filter. I tried it, and so did my buddy up in Phoenix and neither of us had success with it. We both got our sets serviced and the little sensor that is mounted on the back side of the lamp housing inside the TV, and both of us no longer have problems.
If you do decide to call a tech out, they will take the back off the set (down near the bottom) exposing all the equipment.
The lamp housing is on the right, if you pull the lamp out of it you’ll notice it’s a small square housing with openings in the top and “back” side of it (towards the inside of the TV). If you are staring at it head-on, the back-left corner of the housing (inside the TV) has the little sensor mounted to it, that’s the one we got replaced.
I read a few comments online that there are 2 sensors… but my tech said there is only 1… I’m not sure who’s right, but changing the one I mentioned above seems to do the trick.
June 15th, 2007 at 4:04 pm
Thanks for the directions. I read in some other blogs that the replaced sensors that were sent to Mitsubishi by the techs were examined and all were found to be OK. But the problem was found to be the “mounting” of the sensors. Some have seen the problem fixed by tightening the mounts. Before getting frustrated by calling the techs and explaining to them what needs to be done, I’d put the engineering degree to work tonight and report to you guys in the next few days of my findings.
By the way, thermistors are notoriously unreliable. You may have had hair dryers that stop working after a while; that is caused by the thermistor (thermal resistor) in the dryer being blown. Most of us throw those things away and buy a new one for a part that is no more than a $0.25. Can’t do that with a $4K TV.
June 15th, 2007 at 4:07 pm
Brad, that’s awesome man keep us posted. I’m really curious what is going on in there, but I was too chicken to take the TV apart.
But if it happens again I’d rather fix it myself instead of sticking my foot through the front of it
June 17th, 2007 at 11:03 am
The high-temperature shutdown IS a known issue with Mitsubishi. There is a connector on the temperature sensor which plugs into the set. Mitsubishi has known of the connector problem for at least six months, but has instructed the field techs to take the connector apart at least four or five times to ‘wipe’ the contacts. This worked well for my set six months ago. (It started giving the hi-temp warning ~3 weeks after I got the set) NOW, Mitsubishi is instructing the field techs to physically remove the connector and hard-wire (solder) the sensor into the wiring. [THAT ought to solve their connector problem]
June 19th, 2007 at 9:23 am
Well, I opened the Mitsubishi 65″ (65831) on Friday and ventured in. I took out the backplane to have a good view inside. I found the sensor; it was were Riyad said it would be (see above). The problem was accessing it. The sensor was screwed in from the other side; in other words the direction of the screw was from the front of the TV to the back of the TV and from my point of view, I was looking at the tip of the screw sticking out of the back of the lamp assembly housing. In order to get to the head of the screw, I had to squeeze my hand through an opening (no bigger than my fist) at the back of the lamp housing, and then do a 180 degree turn with my wrist to be able to touch the screw head. Needless to say it was nearly impossible for me to open it that way (I could not even tell if it was a flat of phillips head screw). I did not want to fuss with it too much as there were some glass and optics near it. The connector was a two wire slide and snap kind; the kinds you see on some car stereos. It was on the outside of the housing so you could get to it more easily. I played with it a little and tightened it. Then I took my vacuum cleaner attachment and cleaned some dust that had gathered around the cooling fan. I also vacuumed the two screens that were on the sides of the lamp assembly (the piece that comes out of the housing). I put the whole thing back.
Even though I did not do much, the problem has not happened in the past three days. It is too early to say and what I did was not much, but so far so good.
Brad
June 19th, 2007 at 10:22 am
Brad awesome followup… I can’t believe how sensative the set is… although as Bob pointed out, if it’s really the solder problem then I guess just playing with the connection may have done the trick?
As to where the screw is, it stumped the tech that was here for a good 15mins… cause then he dropped the screw and we spent another 10 trying to find the stupid thing… it’s the most inconvenient mounting orientation possible, given how you have to access it.
June 19th, 2007 at 1:45 pm
So here is my dilemma: my original manufacturer warrantee runs out in September. I can’t rely on what I did to be a permanent fix. I want to call Anderson TV (where I bought this) to have a tech come and repair this problem once and for all even though the problem has so far gone away. But I don’t have the time to argue with the guy and nor do I want him come and go and swap other parts (and possibly break other things along the way). Or worse yet, tell me that there is no problem because he can’t see it while he is there (which is very possible) and he has to take this to the shop under observation etc. I want someone who exactly knows what this chronic problem is, has seen it before and knows what to do with it or at least I can educate him quickly on the background (the sensor issue). For those of you who have gone through this process, what do you recommend? Do you
- have any references to Mitsubishi’s official position on this (or if there has been any recalls) so I can show the guy and cut the conversation short.
- have a copy of your repair bill that shows what actually was done by the tech who repaired your set and maybe you can share the name of the part etc so I can share with my guy.
- any other ideas around how to get the tech do what I want in the shortest amount of time.
I appreciate any insights,
brad
June 19th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
Brad,
If your tech is with an “authorized” repair facility, they have direct contact with the Mits support center. Since your set is still under the 12-month warranty, your description should be sufficient for them to make the on-site repairs. You should mention to the tech that you are aware of Mits issuing a repair bulletin that changes out the connector to a ‘hard solder’ connection. According to my tech, this is an on-site repair.
June 19th, 2007 at 2:30 pm
By the way…
Just because you bought the TV from a facility does not mandate that you must get it repaired at that facility. I urge you to look up an authorized repair site at: http://www.mitsubishi-tv.com/j/i/18349/Support.html and click on SERVICE SEARCH. Simply enter your zip code to locate all authorized service centers in your area. I have been very happy with the level of expertise and knowledge of the Mitsubishi machines with the center near me.
June 19th, 2007 at 4:09 pm
Brad,
In addition to Bob’s contributions (that is how I found my service center as well from Telestar Service, Inc. here in Tucson, AZ) the info I have on the invoice is as follows:
Part #: 299P313010
Desc: “Sensor”
and explanation of the service is “replaced sensor”… no too telling, but that’s what I have.
June 19th, 2007 at 4:39 pm
Bob,
Riyad,
Thx.
Brad
June 26th, 2007 at 8:39 am
I had the same “Air Flow Problem” for over 2 months.Finally got tired of playing with and went to the Mitsubishi site http://www.mitsubishi.com and went to Support, clicked on Service and then clicked on Locate Mitsubishi Servicer. Called the Servicer and he was out in 2 days. He said there were no part problems just bad wiring. According to my invoice he removed the Thermal Sensor & Hard wired the sensor and it’s now working fine. Total time was about 40 minutes. Renewed my faith in my 5th Mitsubishi TV.
June 26th, 2007 at 8:43 am
Bob,
That’s an interesting point… it seems no matter which TV you get, you’ll have problems (they are too complicated these days), but the issue is how good the service is…
I’ll have to admit that my service was fast and worked as well… so as much as I’d like to get my hands on a giant LCD or Plasma panel, it seems RPTV is the only way to have a big set now, and likely into Q3 2008 for under $4k.
June 28th, 2007 at 4:27 pm
I’m having the same problem. Do you guys that had the problem fixed remember how much the repairman charged to fix it?
June 28th, 2007 at 4:31 pm
Nathan,
Nothing it was a warranty call. Although if you had to pay for it, I imagine it can’t be more than $100 for Part ($25?) and Labor ($50-ish?)
June 28th, 2007 at 5:09 pm
Nathan,
Mine, like Riyad, was covered under warranty. If you are out of warranty you might still consider contacting a servicer I’ve read several letters on the internet that indicated Mitsubishi was willing to extend their warranty up to an additional 6 months because of “Air Flow Problems.”
I really think they are working hard to make things right.
June 28th, 2007 at 5:20 pm
Thanks for all the help guys, I really appreciate it!
Nathan
June 28th, 2007 at 6:56 pm
Hi-Temp Sensor AND White Blooming Issues
Recap – My lamp literally exploded shattering glass inside the lamp housing. To the best of my knowledge, no glass made it through the light tunnel or onto the color wheel, but after replacing the lamp, the White Blooming issue reared its ugly head. Replacing the lamp restored brightness, but the picture was fuzzy and ill-defined. Replacing the light engine corrected the white blooming problem. An inspection of the old light engine showed contamination inside the lens assembly. I speculated that the mercury vapor from the exploding lamp may have been drawn into the cooling air stream over the DLP chip and onto the cooler lens assembly. It WAS visible through the big lens ass’y.
Be advised that the new light engine from the Georgia distribution center came with the “HARD WIRING” option already in place. The connector is gone and it APPEARED that the wires had been crimped together using a barrel connector and heat-shrink tubing placed over the supposed solder joint. NOT ! ! ! The techs at Mitsubishi simply pulled the pins (both M/F)out of the plastic connectors and plugged them together. They concealed their botched job with the heat-shrink tubing. The only reason we know this is due to an immediate “TV WILL SHUT DOWN IN A FEW SECONDS DUE TO AN OVERHEATING COOLING PATH” message at power-up. The tech took the heat-shrink tubing off and it revealed the original connector pins still on the ends of the wiring. The tech cut the pins and hard-soldered them together, insulating them with heat-shrink tubing. This cured the hi-temp message at startup and the TV has been excellent ever since the service call. This point squarely to a poor wire crimp on the original connector pins.
Just for grins I asked what the cost of the light engine would have been if it had not been under warranty. He grinned and said “Somewhere around $1200…unless you can get a rebuilt unit.” Considering how many of the sets are beginning to exhibit the white blooming, there may be more rebuilts available soon.
June 28th, 2007 at 9:25 pm
Bob,
Great detail and great post.
I honestly would have had no idea just a shotty connection would yields results like that, but from what you said just eyeballing the connection and it looking “pretty good” wasn’t enough… the dang thing had to be hard-soldered… I’ll keep that in mind if I ever run into that Air Flow issue again.
July 12th, 2007 at 7:03 pm
Great posts! Just the information I needed to fix my “air flow” issue. Took the TV apart last night and just like Riyad said, there is was, a little white ceramic rectangle attached to the side of the light housing with two wires coming out. I followed the wires through the routing channel, and found the connector. Cut it off, soldered together, and put heat shrink over to seal it up nice and put everything back together. Hard to say yet if this will be the ultimate fix, but after two days, no messages yet. FYI – I did clean out the air filter just before discovering this blog. The air filter did not work, the “air flow” message came on about 30 minutes after cleaning it out. While putting the TV back together I did notice a second thermistor attached to the plenum where the filter is at. I did not follow it back, but assume there is another bad connector there. I think I will wait and see if any more messages come up before I take it apart and solder that one too.
Thanks to the internet and those here it appears I have releived at least a little stress from my life.
Thanks!
July 12th, 2007 at 7:16 pm
Dang Bruce nice! I’m not brave enough to do that, but I’m really glad to hear that you got everything squared away with the set. Nothing more frustrating than just sitting at home waiting for a warrenty repair
Out of curiosity did you have any dust in your filter? The guy said the sets are super-sensative… and we have 2 cats but no dust in the system, so unfortunately it seemed to be a bad connection for me.
July 17th, 2007 at 9:55 am
If you are like me and your TV has been doing the whole blocked airway message thing, you’ve probably searched the internet for a fix that avoids having to deal with customer service and waiting for a service technician to arrive in a few days to fix the problem. YOU’VE FOUND IT! After reading through more than 475 posts on this very problem, I have reduced the issue to one thing that is easy enough to fix and will require nothing more than a short phillips head screw driver, common sense, and a little bit of patience. The problem lies in the heat sensor that sits just inside the lamp housing area inside your set. Apparently the technician fix is to clip the faulty connector Mitsubishi used when assembling the set and replace it with a soldered connection instead. My fix is simpler and does not require solder. My TV is a 57831 model so it may differ from others but not much if so. Here is what I did.
1.) Remove the two screws holding the lamp door to the set in the back lower right corner of your set.
2.) Follow the set instruction for removing the lamp assembly. it should be unplugged for an hour prior to doing this.
3.) Once assembly is removed, grab your flashlight (if necessary) and look inside the housing. You should see a white rectangular shaped piece attached to the outer frame edge of the opening. Looking straight on, it is located in the upper left corner of the square opening and is held in place by one small phillips head screw. This screw is inserted and installed from the opposite direction and will require the short screwdriver to remove. Carefully remove it and don’t drop inside the set!
4.) To make room to move around and do what you’ll need to do, you will also need to partially remove the back cover of the set. Mine was limited to just the lower half and was held in place by nearly 20 screws. You don’t need to remove all of them but do need to be able to open up the rear enough to access the connecter that sits on top of the upper left edge of the lamp housing. If you follow the two yellow wires from the white sensor, they track back to a small black connector with two black wires on the other side of it.
5.) At this point, you have removed the screw to the sensor. Now you will need to pull the connector wires free from the routing clip on top to free up space for the wire to move freely. Once these two black wires are pulled from the clip, pull the white sensor down from it’s position to free it from it’s housing and allow the yellow wires to be pulled from the left side of the housing out. If done right, the sensor is free now and can be pulled carefully by the connector at top and out the back of the set.
6.) Squeeze the clip connection where necessary and pull the clip assembly apart. The sensor is now free of the TV entirely and you can work with it separately.
7.) Grab a nail file and work the connector pins a little to roughen the contact points a bit. This is similar to cleaning the contact posts on your car battery.
8.) Push the male end of the clip firmly into the female end until it clicks and then push a little harder to be sure good contact is made.
9.) Do the reverse as done above to put it all back together again and power up!
10.) The message should now be gone.
I would still encourage a technician to perform the solder repair but the above process will at least get you going long enough till the set is fixed properly. Good luck all. By the way, it worked very well for me and was made possible by this forum. Thanks to everybody for their posts and follow up!
July 17th, 2007 at 10:33 am
Craig awesome followup, thanks for taking the time to post it for other folks running into the same issue.
July 17th, 2007 at 11:23 am
No problem Riyad. I wouldn’t have found it myself had it not been for everyone else. BTW, I called the store I bought the set from (Paul’s TV here in So-Cal) and they are coming out tomorrow to perform the soldered connection. They acknowledged and agreed that this was common and the connector/solder fix has been discovered to resolve the problem best in almost all the issues where the airflow message occurs. I hope this helps someone and saves them from having to do the research I did.
August 19th, 2007 at 9:49 pm
Same issue with my 57831. Got it fixed in 45 minutes by local Mitsubishi authorized repair in Akron, OH. A plug-in relay sticks so the sensor thinks you’re too hot. The Fix: Remove the plug-in relay and hard-wire the sensor. The repair tech said they were notified of the problem and given the fix by Mitsubishi. I guess the relay was part of a sub-component from a supplier of some parts to Mits. They recommended removing the relay and not to replace it but to hardwire the sensor. I could tell he had seen and fixed the problem before. I know a bit about electronics and we tested the fix by removing the relay and soldering only 1 of two wires leaving the other one loose like a bad connection — same message on screen about overheating. As soon as the other wire was soldered, problem was gone. I did not buy from super-store. Recommend you all check with local A/V specialty shop for local authorized repair. Please let me know how things go for you all.
If you are interested, here’s the info on my local tech shop:
Dale’s Color TV & Appliance, Inc.
2236 N. Cleve-Mass Rd.
Akron, OH 44210
phone: 330-659-9339
Good Luck to you all
Mike Flasco
August 19th, 2007 at 9:58 pm
Just read Craig’s fix. I can’t imagine how Craig discovered or otherwise arrived at his procedures but, with respect to Craig, it seems risky and much more difficult and uncertain, especially when under warranty. Not in warranty? A tech can do the proper repair in less than an hour. 5 Stars for creativity, Craig!
August 20th, 2007 at 7:53 am
Actually the fix I did wasn’t too difficult and in fact didn’t void the warranty at all. If you are careful enough in following the directions I gave on the fix, any tech would be hard pressed to prove you did anything to the set. Some electronics have a seal or something than when the back is removed, the seal breaks indicating you have opened the set yourself to attempt a repair that you aren’t authorized to perform. Not so in this case. I also explained to the tech what I had done when he came out to solder the connection permanently and he agreed that by doing so I was in no danger of voiding the warranty. I will say the fix required a great deal of observation and patience though and should not under any circumstances be attempted by anyone squeamish about doing any of the actions I listed. Uncertainty or fear only breeds carelessness so please don’t try this unless you are comfortable with the process! I will also note that the tech took less than 20 minutes to perform the solder repair himself and said the issue was widely known and something he had to do daily all over the area. Thanks for the stars Mike, just had to respond back about the warranty item. As to how I arrived at the fix? Well I sorted through hundreds of posts and narrowed the problem down to a common denominator. Additionally, the people who mentioned the connection might be the issue didn’t exactly leave follow up posts which means they were able to fix the problem and saw no need to keep writing about something that was no longer an issue to them. In any event, I didn’t have to wait for weeks for a repairmen as some have and was enjoying my set the next day. Good luck to all!
August 30th, 2007 at 6:57 pm
I AM A outside field Tech, I kan give any info that im alloud to you, there is a verry easy way to het to the thermal fuse, and that isnt the problem, it is the connector, and where it is, if you want to ask any questions, im an autherised tech, for Mits
August 30th, 2007 at 7:04 pm
Wow, nice spelling by me, after i read it again,,lol
August 30th, 2007 at 9:15 pm
Ha, we’ll pretend it’s short-hand… or morris code
September 11th, 2007 at 5:30 am
Many thanks to Brad for Post #2. His suggestion for letting the TV shut itself off and then turning it back on worked! We couldn’t get a tech appointment for 11 days (still a few more days to wait), and were without TV for several days until I saw his post.
September 22nd, 2007 at 9:07 pm
It is neat to see how effectively the people on this site have been working through the temperature issues on the 65″ set. I have the WD-52525 set, and have the TV screen not turning on at all after a few weeks of intermittent operation – overheating and turning off, then being able to be turned on after it cooled down. Does any one know if the WD-52525 set has a similar temperature sensor that might be the culprit? Thanks.
October 22nd, 2007 at 7:31 pm
I can back this up for the wd-65732. It is easier to take the three screws out on the fan shroud to the right of the lamp casing. Once that is removed, you can maneuver your hands to either unscrew the little screw OR leave it in there.
Here is what I did. I removed that shroud and the velcro holding the clip in. Then I unclipped it and jammed a small flat head screwdriver in the male pin end to ever so slightly bend the pins out and crooked and rough them up a little. Once plugged back in and all back together, no more meesage!
weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
I still LOVE this TV. And 7 days till the service man gets here.
October 22nd, 2007 at 8:17 pm
Excelsior, you are a much braver man than I but that’s awesome to hear you fixed it.
Do you think the tech will replace the censor if the device isn’t failing while he’s there though?
November 20th, 2007 at 11:54 am
I successfully got rid of the airflow message by following Craig’s steps in post #24 on my WD-65831.
To make the removal of the small screw that holds the sensor in much easier, remove the airflow duct above and to the right of the lamp cage. It uses the same screws as the rear panel and goes back on easily.
November 23rd, 2007 at 12:55 am
Hi Folks,
I need some help. My Mitsu 52525 DLP seems to have dust particals showing up on light backgrounds (like Sky shots)in the shape of slight dark patches. Plus, the overall screen seems to be darker then before. This is the second time this has happened. The first time I had a BB Tech come out and clean the TV and when he was done the Picture was wounderful again. What can I do to clean the inside of the TV where this dust is being projected. Unfortunately I didn’t see what he Tech did the first time.
Thanks for the help,
Sean
November 23rd, 2007 at 8:29 am
Sean, I’m sure some of the folks that have posted would know better than I do, but the 2 cents I can give you so far is:
* If the first time when the tech came out, he just blew compressed air into the set, and didn’t necessarily dismantle the light engine, you could try the same for the easiest fix.
* Take off the back panel on the rear bottom of the set. Look into the light housing that holds the lamp, pull the lamp if necessary, and try and follow the path of the light to see if you can find your way to the lens somewhere, then use some compressed air in there to see if you can get the dust off of it.
Also if this happened before, and keeps happening, do you have a dust issue you need to take care of? Maybe a cat likes to sleep next to the rear vents of the TV cause it’s warm or something?
Just a suggestion so hopefully you don’t have to do it again too soon.
December 13th, 2007 at 1:18 am
!!!! MITSUBISHI WILL FIX AIR FLOW PROBLEM FREE OF CHARGE !!!
hello all. received the following letter in the mail from mitsu ( http://www.mdea.com/img/514730 ) which states they’re extending all warranties on listed DLP’s that are experiencing the airflow/shutdown message. if your TV is listed (and probably even if not) you can find a service tech via the following location ( http://direct.where2getit.com/cwc/apps/w2gi.php?template=search&client=mitsuservicer#?mid=123656 ) and have them make a field repair on your set. they simply replace the old/faulty air flow sensor with a new one, free of charge. all that was required was a proof of purchase of the set. the main page link is here : http://www.mdea.com/j/i/18312. hope this helps
December 13th, 2007 at 8:01 am
Nick, that’s awesome. Thanks for following up and letting us know!
December 13th, 2007 at 12:46 pm
Here’s a link to the official service bulletin
http://www.mitsubishi-tv.com/img/514730
Mits is giving 3 years coverage on this (additional 2 beyond the 1 year standard.
December 13th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
Has anyone gotten their TV services *twice* for this? I got my TV serviced right near the beginning of the whole ordeal, and they did replace the sensor but I don’t know if that sensor is just gonna fail again in another few months.
(I’m wondering if this is like the OB-fiasco with the Sony SXRD sets and the green blob).
Dave, thanks for the service bulletin link, handy to have around if I have to call a tech and have something to show him.
December 13th, 2007 at 1:06 pm
From everything we have been able to diagnose during my set’s failure last year, the culprit was NOT in the sensor, but in the crimp of the wires to the connector. Somewhere along the assembly line, there was simply no metal-to-metal contact between the wire and the connector pins (both M/F sides). Thus, the “SOLDER” directive solved the many expensive service calls. It remains to be seen if the sensor will eventually fail. But, I am happy the folks at Mits have come through with an extension of the warranty – even if it is limited to only the sensor problem. I have been very happy with the quality of the picture (1080p on Blu-Ray is phenomenal).
December 13th, 2007 at 1:07 pm
Bob,
Agreed on the quality. I don’t know which Blu-ray player you are using (PS3 here), but I love throwing movies on it and sitting back and relaxing.
I did end up turning Dark Detailer off only because I felt it made some scenes *too* dark… then again a professional calibration likely wouldn’t hurt.
December 13th, 2007 at 1:31 pm
Okay, so like many, I got my set fixed by them hard wiring the connector versus changing the crimped connector originally supplied. It worked for a few months now and then slowly but surely I began seeing intermittent color variations ranging to a flickering on the screen. Eventually, it would correct itself and perform fine but yesterday it hesitated to light up. The on lamp would light green but no picture or sound. I turned it off and then 5 minutes later tried again. Slowly but surely a picture began to flicker into place and then it lit up and worked fine. Today, it won’t even light and turns itself off moments after it is turned on.
To make matters worse, the repair company can’t make it out till next Tuesday! This sucks! Anyone else experience this? If I had to guess I would say it’s the lamp and maybe color wheel or both.
December 13th, 2007 at 1:38 pm
Craig that blows.
The first 65831 I got from Costco *immediately* destroyed itself after I turned it on. It looked great, then I heard a whining/grinding sound which I can only guess was the color wheel dying.
After you turn your set off, or when you turn it on, do you hear the color wheel spin up? It sounds like a quiet fan really.
If not, then let’s hope it was just the lamp… did you open the door on the back of the TV and check? Mits will over-night you a new lamp if you can fax them proof of purchase, they use UPS next-morning shipping, is really fast.
But if it is the lamp, the “lamp” red light in the front will usually blink… if that isn’t blinking and you can’t hear the color wheel spinning it might be something worse like you said. Hopefully the set is under warranty (1yr) and the repair shop can just bill Mits for the repair.
December 13th, 2007 at 1:46 pm
It happened to me first last night and as a matter of fact I do remember hearing a strange sound though at the time didn’t think it was coming from the set. I’ve been at work today and my wife reported the problem has now occured with her. She has told me the red lamp is lit solid when she turns it on and while there WAS a sound when she first turned it on this morning there isn’t one now. The earlier symptom of color variation and in some cases even reverting to black and white for a few moments tells me it could also have a color wheel issue. In any event the red light indicates it at least has a lamp issue. I do have the one year warranty by the way as well as the extended 5 year warranty from the store. Meanwhile the set isn’t even quite 7 months old too. We are trying now to find a why of getting it fixed earlier. With two kids wanting to play the Wii, my life will be hell otherwise!
December 13th, 2007 at 2:09 pm
Hah, the Wii comment was funny, sorry.
Yea it sounds like your color-wheel died. That was exactly the behavior my first one went through… that whining/grinding sound, then once it was dead, nada. Wouldn’t stay on, and red light for “Lamp” even though it had nothing to do with the lamp.
Don’t waste the time getting the replacement from Mits, I think your original diagnosis was right.
I don’t know what a light-engine/wheel replacement takes for these sets but you might let the repair shop know you did some research online and *think* that might be it just so they show up with the right parts just in case and don’t have to “go back to the shop”.
Then again, they might want to take the set with them as well… that sucks even worse.
December 13th, 2007 at 2:21 pm
Thanks Riyad. What surprises me is that they think nothing of their repair taking a week. Let’s take their primary sets out of the house for a week and see how well they get along! Don’t get me wrong, we can live without our TV but the fact that the main source of entertainment is not working on top of their flippant response to what they will do about it is aggravating. And a week for the repair is assuming they are able to repair it at that time. Let’s assume the worst and say the part must be ordered in which case we could be looking at another week or more! This really, really ticks me off! Nothing I can do about it though as they have me by the short hairs you know?
Yeah and a 7 year old asking daily “When will I get to play Wii again?” gets old. He’s a good boy and that is the reward he gets for doing well in school. Have to come up with an alternative reward now I guess. Sigh.
December 13th, 2007 at 2:32 pm
That’s brutal Craig and you are absolutely right, I’ve seen sets in shops for a month, but I don’t think that is the norm.
I would honestly pay a few hundred dollars extra for a big consumer-electronic like a TV to have same-day or next-day service/repair/replacement… the shenanigans we go through when the thing goes down is just a nightmare.
February 18th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
Just a recap… Early in June, 2007, the projector lamp literally exploded shattering glass throughout the lamp cage. The superheated mercury vapor from inside the lamp apparently coated the spinning color wheel and created a diffused image on the screen. Result: Replace both lamp and color engine under Mitsubishi’s 1-yr warranty. Today (2/18/08) the lamp exploded once again. Somehow, there seems to be a design problem here…
February 18th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Bob,
Is there anythnig unusual about your environment? Humidity? Temperature? etc?
March 5th, 2008 at 10:16 am
Trouble with 65732 DLP I have had it since Oct and have replaced three bulbs and the last one went out on Sunday. This sucks like the tv love the features but this is a major problem with bulbs costing 350.00 has to be a problem some where. Was told it was my ele causing surges and brown outs bought a 250.00 UPS constant power system to plug it into and it still happen. It seems that maybe it is overheating also not sure. Any ideas or am I the only one with this model having problems?
March 5th, 2008 at 10:22 am
Linda, the good news is that if it were overheating you’d see a message about it, there are a few temperature gauges in the TV to cause it to shut down if it overheats. It is possible I suppose that if the gauges aren’t tripping the TV to shut off, then that would certainly kill the bulbs.
One way to tell is to replace the bulb (again) and put a fan right next to the intake on the side that cools the bulb, and run it. If the bulb lasts much longer than the last ones, then there is something wrong with the temperature triggers in the set.
If the bulb fails just like the others then my guess is dirty power or surges causing it to blow, but you mentioned you already tried a UPS so that sort of rules that possibility out unless the UPS is severely underpowered for the set (which I don’t think it is…?)
Can you call whoever you bought it from and do a swap-out of the TV with another one? Can you talk to Mits about swapping it out for you with a replacement set and you’ll pay the shipping or something?
I think if you have a sufficient support record with them in their computers, it will seem reasonable that you are asking for a replacement.
Try and upgrade to the 833 series, they had some nice additions
March 5th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
The tech who replaced my lamp last week indicated there is a potential problem with the screen that allows cooling air to flow over the lamp. It was comprised of a fine wire-mesh which also limited the amount of air that cooled the lamp. A newer design replaces that mesh with a piece of sheet metal with hundreds of holes punched through it. These holes are spaced very close together which effectively opens the air inlet much more than the previous design. He indicated that he has yet to replace a lamp with this new design. Consistent with this lamp replacement, he also replaced both the ballast fan and the lamp fan. He stated that the air flow over the lamp was not sufficient to keep it from blowing.
Sadly, when the lamp blew the second time, it once again contaminated the light engine. There is a noticeable haze around bright objects that should not be there. A new light engine is on order once again.
The WD-65831 is on a regulated AC source/UPS which is set at 120.0VAC. Sags and surges of plus/minus 2.0VAC cause the regulator to correct the voltage. The room environment is set to 70 degrees F with relative humitidity set to a consistent 40%. The lamp had been cleaned about two months prior to the blown lamp episode. There was very little visible contamination of the filter screens. From all that I can tell, the ‘blown lamps’ were not caused by voltage fluctuations, but more likely were the direct effect of overheating in the lamp itself due to poor air flow. The lamp chamber heat sensors may not detect this type of heat problem since they are far removed from the lamp itself. Those sensors are designed to sense a partial fan failure rather than this type of overheating.
I don’t exactly care to be the manufacturer’s “beta tester”, but I will be happy if I can get the rated 6000 hours of viewing out of a lamp… More to come…
March 6th, 2008 at 1:20 am
Mitsubishi extended the warranty an additional two years for this “air flow” problem.
The repair guy called and told me he was going to take my tv for 3-4 business days because it required a “tear down”. So I think, the repair guy is going to bring two guys to my house to carry a 65″ tv back to their shop, “tear it down”, then load it up and carry it back to my place. I’d be really surprised if his fee from Mitsubishi wasn’t fixed. If I can fix it in 30 minutes on my floor, why would he go to all the extra work…? My vote – no confidence. I’ve read a bunch about this and I figured my tv was better off in my hands for 30 minutes than his for who knows how long. Here’s the fix that’s been working for two weeks.
1. Unplug the TV. Make sure it has been unplugged for at least an hour. You will have to remove the bulb and you don’t want problems if it’s hot.
2. Take off the back electronics plate – 20 something screws (with little arrows pointing to them). DO NOT REMOVE THE LARGE BACK COVER OF THE TV! Just the back plate which is at the bottom of the set and runs the length of it.
3. Once that is removed, remove the bulb/lamp. Look for two silver flat head screws on the right side. Unscrew them and take that piece out (NO TOUCHING).
Look inside that hole with a flashlight. On the upper left side of that framework is a rectangular opening that allows you to see the white thermostat. Note the screw just below it. Also note that the head is on the other side… Here’s the hard part (for me anyway)
4. Using a very short #2 Phillips head screwdriver, remove that screw. I used a 1/4″ offset ratcheting wrench after several failed attempts with a screwdriver. Some people take out more of the guts of the TV and have to fool with adjustments later. Too risky for me. Somehow that seems like more work than a trip to Lowes.
5. Now you can remove the thermostat. I had to remove mine by sliding it down, then over, rather than straight up. Just above and to the left of the bulb/lamp housing are two black wires clipped to two yellow wires which connect to the thermostat. You may find this easier if you unhook the black wires from the harness.
Now we are ready to fix the problem. This brings us to a point of controversy. Some say replace the thermostat, others say clip the wires and solder, I say BEND. IF you have a spare KLIXON 250V/7A Part # YS11A95B-C6 handy, you could replace it. You may not fix the problem though because most of the time we are dealing with a faulty connection rather than a faulty part. If you have a soldering iron and some heat shrink handy, clip the wires and go to town. I think my solution is more simple, equally effective, and risk free. Simply grab each of the two male pins with needle nose pliers about 1/16th” from the tip and give them a slight bend. This will force the male pins to make contact with the female receiver.
#6. Now that you’ve made the bend, replace all of the parts (yes, including the back) and test your TV.
Of course you know that doing any of this voids your warranty. I’m sharing what has worked for me for the last two weeks 0 it may not work for you and I can not be responsible. This “fix” is best left to those daring and impatient individuals who understand the risks and the rewards. If in doubt, call Mitsubishi at 800.553.7278. Again, they are offering free fixes with a two year extension of the one year warranty. Use the words, “air flow”. Good luck.
If anyone wants pictures of the critical parts, email me at greengrassmods@yahoo.com.
March 6th, 2008 at 5:25 am
Heath, not only is the super detailed walkthrough appreciated, but it sounds exactly like what my tech did for me ( but he did a replacement and I like your suggestion of a crimp better )
If my set acts up again I will try this out or get the tech to try it in house and see if it works.
March 6th, 2008 at 8:02 am
Heath,
The bending of the pins will certainly solve a ‘poor connection’ problem with the connector pins. But, in my case, the problem was due to the poor quality of the crimp between the connector pin and the wire itself. It appeared that Mits used connector pins designed to mate with solid-core wire. The crimp cuts through the insulation during assembly and is pressure-fitted to the solid-core wire. Mits used stranded wiring on this chassis which is not recommended with this type of crimp connector pins. This is why Mits is now recommending that all of the connectors be removed entirely and replaced with a hard-solder connection. The tech indicated that about 10-20% of all units with this chassis type were plagued with this problem.
I am at a loss to understand why your techs wanted to take in your set. The sensor ‘fix’ is relatively painless and takes less than an hour on-site.
March 6th, 2008 at 8:07 am
In my limited experience with techs, every single time I have had an inexperienced tech show up they have wanted to “take the set to the shop”, whenever someone senior shows up, they just dive right in.
I can’t blame the newbies… they probably don’t want you hovering over them as they hum and haw and eat up time looking through a manual, making you wonder what you are paying for (or what the warranty is paying for).
I know I’d get really nervous if I saw some guy without a clue yanking and pulling on things inside my TV, so he probably wants to take that “Back to the shop” and beat it to death in private
March 9th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
I have the WD-57732 Mitsubishi DLP. I was having the same problem with my tv until I found this blog. Since it seems it’s a connection problem with the wires to the sensor I thought I would try to fix it. I do have a warranty claim in so I did not want to do anything that would jeopardize my claim. When I got in there I found the sensor and the wires leading from it. I found that the black wires connect to wires on the sensor through
a black connector piece. This piece was hanging down very close to the lamp box. No doubt it was getting heated up. I moved it up and back and then also tried to
make sure the wires connected to the sensor were properly
conneceted by jiggling them. The TV now turns back on and the air flow message is gone. YAHOOOOOO! I am still
having the warranty work done, but it’s working and all thanks to all of you up here. Thanks so much!
Paul
March 9th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
Paul nice work man, I agree that all the posts here have been awesome, I feel like I could take the set apart and put it back together
April 9th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
I’d like to thank everyone who contributed to this thread. My WD-52631 started to shut down without real cause recently, and entering the message displayed by the TV into Google led me to this thread, where I was able to learn that Mitsubishi was aware of this problem and had extended the warranty for it. My TV has just been repaired free of charge, and hopefully that’ll be the end of it. Thanks again, everyone!
April 9th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
Kenji, that’s great news man. Thanks for posting and letting us know.
Out of curiosity did the tech tell you what he did? Did he replace the thermometer or did he just solder the 2 together like a few folks mentioned?
April 9th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
After a long backlog by MITS, the light engine in my WD-65831 has been replaced with a new unit…for the second time in 16 months. The picture is back to its pristine condition. For some reason, when the lamps literally exploded during both previous episodes, something contaminated either the glass cover to the light tunnel, or contaminated the color wheel. I am conjecturing the contaminant was the small amount of mercury that was inside the lamp. Regardless, there is a possibility this could happen to others. Replacing the light engine in the field is about a 15 minute procedure for an experienced tech.
Why do I have a gut feeling that this won’t be the last light engine to be replaced in this set???
April 9th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
Bob, you know what burns my ass? Is that even though RPTV is dead, there still haven’t been *affordable* LCD or Plasma sets to come in and fill the 60+ voice which is why I imagine we all got the Mits in the first place.
That’s more of an aside, but with your light engine problems, and me just waiting for mine to explode… if there were a nice LCD or Plasma in the 65″ size range that *wasn’t* $8k or something stupid, I’d probably consider it.
Ahh well… as long as Mits keeps replacing your light engines I guess it’s not too bad.
April 9th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
> Out of curiosity did the tech tell you what he did?
> Did he replace the thermometer or did he just solder
> the 2 together like a few folks mentioned?
The technician said that he replaced the temperature sensor.
April 10th, 2008 at 6:31 am
Kenji,
Thanks. That is what my tech did as well. A few folks here mentioned it’s actually the connection itself that is the problem (Get’s loose) but it seems that when both you and I got our sensors replaced it helped.
May 16th, 2008 at 6:19 am
Mitsubishi has extended warranty for error flow problems. I got this from their website (http://www.mitsubishi-tv.com/img/514730)
Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America, Inc (MDEA) 2006 DLP® Projection Televisions
Models: WD-52631, WD-57731, WD-65731, WD-Y57, WD-Y65, WD-57732, WD-
65732, WD-57831, WD-65831
It has come to our attention that a limited number of DLP® Projection Televisions are
displaying a false message, “TV will shut down in a few seconds. Please check if the air
flow is blocked,” and then the TV shuts off. This message is being caused by a loose
connection and may be easily corrected through one of our Authorized Service Centers.
As part of our commitment to quality and customer satisfaction, MDEA is announcing an
extension of the warranty coverage to replace the thermal sensor for the above referenced
models. For a period of two additional years beyond the one year limited warranty,
MDEA will cover the cost of the thermal sensor (parts and labor) at no charge. All other
terms of the MDEA limited warranty will continue to apply.
May 16th, 2008 at 7:18 am
Nice, thanks for the heads up Bryan!
August 2nd, 2008 at 8:12 am
i have a mitsu 52631. i had the same issue with that message a few months back, then one day i completely lost the picture but could get sound. i had a tech look at my tv cause i was unaware of these issues, but he told me my lamp was burnt out. now will that whole connector issue cause my picture not to work or am i stuck buying a new lamp too and doing the fix. i have put it off due to money issues but i found the lamp on ebay for cheaper than what a repair shop for charge by quite a bit. the lamp went out like month and half after warranty.
August 2nd, 2008 at 9:44 am
Mike,
If your lamp is dead, you have to replace it no matter what, regardless of wiring or temperature issues.
If you replace the lamp and the issue persists, then you also need to get the repair done on the TV under warranty (free to you, just call Mits).
If it turns out the lamp *is not* burned out, then you might want to get the warranty work done first since it’s free… but you need to be sure it’s the Air Flow issue that is covered, and not some other issue.
August 2nd, 2008 at 10:05 am
In every Mitsubishi DLP set I’ve encountered, a burned out bulb will cause the set to fail its startup sequence. The front yellow light will blink. That is a ‘quick test’ for a burned out bulb. If you are using the built-in speakers from the Mitsubishi TV, that sound should also be mute. If you are handy with a screwdriver and opt to replace the lamp within the lampholder, be aware there are several different bulbs. The lamp housing p/n 915P049A20 is 180 watts, while 915P049A10 is 150 watts. The lamp housing snaps together with three latches. Be careful not to break them as they are flimsy plastic. Once the two halves have been separated, remove the two screws holding the high-voltage connector. Place the half with the lamp face down on a soft surface and remove the four holddown clamps for the bulb. (Note where the “long” clamp is located) The lamp can now be removed from the small pressure clip that extends inside the lamp by sliding it away from the clip. (I ultimately removed this clip permanently as I determined the 180 watt lamp had insufficient cooling airflow through the lamp) Install the new bulb by reversing the above procedure.
The above procedure works for my 65831 set. I have opted to ‘relamp’ a spare lampholder to keep it as a working spare. The track record for this generation of Mitsubishi DLP set is pretty dismal according to the folks who service them locally. With three lamp replacements in less than two years (two of which literally exploded while running – contaminating the light engine which also needed replacement), I will not likely get another Mitsubishi DLP. But…then again, I feel we are ALL beta-testers for virtually all of the manufacturers.
August 16th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
What should I do, I dont want to mess up my tv? this horrible tv took forever to arrive and now it sucks. When I need it the most, its not there! (just like this vibrator I had from this fancy sex shop…) Should I can a technician or what?
August 17th, 2008 at 11:27 am
Sandy,
If you are having the “Air Flow” warning on the TV, you can call Mitsubishi, it is a recognized problem by them and should be in their service records as something that will be serviced under warranty.
They can come out and repair the temperature gauge for you in a jiffy and you should be all set.
August 20th, 2008 at 10:04 am
Well… Mitsubish seems to have a very poor track record on reliability for this model of DLP TV. As an engineer and frustrated electronics technician, I tend to isolate problems more so than most. In my opinion, the WD-65831 has severe problems cooling the intensely hot DLP projection lamp. This problem has resulted in two lamps literally exploding within the lamp cage. One lamp began to “sag” – by that I mean the glass of the lamp cartridge literally began to melt allowing the cartridge to move from its normal focal point. Once that last lamp cooled, the glass in the cartridge began to show micro-cracks which allowed air to permeate into the high-pressure arc chamber. The lamp would no longer strike an arc after this. In ALL THREE INSTANCES, it is speculated that the lamp’s mercury vapor was drawn into the light engine’s light tunnel where it contaminated the walls. Subsequent lamp replacements would reflect off the mercury contaminated walls and diffuse the normally-focused light onto the DLP light engine. The contamination was observed by both me and the technician replacing the light engine. This diffused light from the light tunnel caused a “halo effect” – a bright, diffused glow surrounding very bright objects on the screen. In the previous two occurrences, the solution was to replace the light engine. This third incident has also contaminated the light engine to the point where the picture is barely tolerable. Yet another “service call” had been placed with this symptom identified.
Having purchased an extended (3 yr) warranty on this set was one of the best decisions I could have made. [1-yr factory, 3 yr additional - Total: 4 yr] The warranty company has decided to ‘cut its losses’ and replace the WD-65831 with a new Mits WD-65835. Needless to say, I should have known better than to buy anything with a model number ending in “1″. Having said that – this set will also be coming with a “new” extended warranty on Saturday. Only time will tell on this one…
August 21st, 2008 at 10:20 am
Bob, awesome followup! I wasn’t clear from the post though if the lamp red-lines and melts *with* the fan malfunctioning or without it (and the temp gauges fails to turn the set off)… I’m wondering if this whole time you’ve had a bad thermometer that isn’t shutting the set off so the lamp is overheating while the fan has failed and so you keep having to replace the light housing? (or maybe the housing includes the gauge and the fan and this is just shit luck?)
On a side note, I’m very interested in hearing how the WD-65835 turns out, please keep us posted if there is anything noticably different about it.
August 21st, 2008 at 11:40 am
Yes, the fans were fully operational in all three instances of lamp failure. The hot air exiting the set showed that the fans were working. [There are two fans in the WD-65831 - one is for the lamp while the other is for the ballast power supply. Both fans had been routinely replaced after the first incident. The tech explained to me that the lamp sensor 'triggers' at very close to 300 degrees F. We measured the resistance of the sensor with a meter at both room temp and at about 200 degrees. There was a significant difference in the thermistor's resistance over that limited range. So, it did indicate that the sensor was working. [I cannot attest to the on-board temperature sensing electronics]
The user-replaceable lamp housing and lamp do not have any other components attached. The fan, temperature sensor, etc. are all mounted on the main chassis. Because the air exiting the TV set is a mix of lamp cooling air and ballast cooling air, the extreme temperatures of the lamp chamber are heavily reduced. There is also a bypass channel which allows air from the back of the set to bypass the lamp chamber entirely. While the exit air temperature was measured at 155 degrees, it did not seem to be excessive. There is a diversion baffle at the entrance to the lamp itself which limits air flow. I removed that baffle in my efforts to increase air flow within the lamp chamber. The baffle was being held in place by two very small screws. The exit air temperature actually dropped to 150 degrees, but I am not sure that small difference could have been just a simple case of temperature probe placement.
I will post an update re: the WD-65835 set. I have already learned that the lamp is significantly less expensive ($99 on Mits web site vs. $249) http://www.mitsuparts.com/) This leads me to believe the light engine has also been redesigned to handle a different lamp.
August 22nd, 2008 at 9:54 am
Bob thanks for the extensive detail, also that drastic price reduction in the lamp is surprising… given how simple the lamp was already, I’m almost wondering if the lamp is an entirely different design, different material, size, heat output, etc?
Will be very interested to know. Thanks for keeping us up to date.
August 28th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
I received the new WD-65835 set last week. So far, its operation has been flawless. Outside of the fact the set came with its contrast settings for all inputs at 100%, the picture has been stunning. (Yes – most settings are uniquely memorized for each video input.) The air outlet is in the back of the set now (not on the side as in the 831) and the air exit temperature is 145 degrees F. But, there is considerably more air flow – measured at the exit port at just under 150 cfm. Even with this relatively high air flow, the fans are inaudible at normal viewing distance. You should not place the set closer than 12″ from a back wall. Placing it closer than 12″ will begin to impede air flow, and your back wall will become quite hot. (No warnings from Mits about this issue)
The lamp housing for the 835 has been totally redesigned with much larger openings on both the lamp cartridge, and inlet/outlet ports. This requires a different lamp cartridge than the 831. There is also a deflector which directs incoming air flow directly onto the lamp cartridge. The “filter” on the 831 was a fine wire mesh with air openings across the 1.5″ x .75″ surface of approximately .005″. The new lamp’s filter not only has almost 50% more area, but the air openings across the wire mesh are no less than 1/8″ (.125″). It certainly will not suffer from a “dust buildup.”
At $99 for the replacement lamp/w housing, I could not resist getting a ‘backup’ lamp from Mitsubishi. If I am very lucky, it will gather dust on the shelf.
A SIDE NOTE:
Both the owner’s manual and paperwork with the replacement bulb now have very bold warning notices NOT to tilt the lamp when removing it. I believe this warning is due to the “exploding” lamp cartridges – a symptom I experienced with two out of three lamp failures in the 831. The warning states “…to keep small glass fragments from falling out of the lamp housing.”
August 28th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
Bob,
Very detailed followup, thank you for including those details for those of us here that have been inside our set and these little details are important to.
More than anything I’m really happy to hear the sufficient redesign with regard to the lamp especially given all the headaches you’ve had with the set up until now, I’ve got my fingers crossed that your experience with the 835 will be problem-free from now on.
With regard to the picture quality, input support, etc… do you think the picture quality is on par with the 831, or are you seeing enough of a difference to think that Mits actually got in there and tweaked a bit of the display engine as well? My nerdier “ohhh shiney” side is curious…
August 29th, 2008 at 8:05 am
I do believe that the redesign of the lamp in the 835 and its ancillary cooling system will be sufficient to let the lamp survive to the end of its useful life. Mits did not come out and say it, but several paragraphs in the User Guide imply that lamp life is approximately 8000 hours. I am sure they HAD TO redesign this aspect since so many sets failed in the first year – their limit of liability. (When the lamp cartridge glass in the 831 literally melted and sagged due to the heat, something had to be done to cool it down.)
Re: Picture quality
The physical shape of the “light engine” module in the 835 is significantly different from the 831. But there HAS BEEN a major change in the DEEP FIELD IMAGER (DFI) operation. In the 831, the DFI, when set to ON, made the background portion of video images significantly darker. In the 835, the DFI does a great job of enhancing both contrast and brightness for those areas. While watching a 1080i pre-recorded video of the Olympics in Beijing, I paused the DVR and switched between DFI ON and DFI OFF. The enhanced backgrounds in the images were VERY noticeable. I can only speculate…but I believe that Mits got their DFI logic backwards in the 831. OOPS!
The picture quality on the 831, when operating correctly, was fantastic – it clearly surpassed any other large-screen TVs on the floor in 2006. The picture quality on the 835, in my opinion, is slightly sharper and the colors just a bit deeper than the 831.
The four HDMI input ports (one in front) are all ‘auto-sense’ enabled. The TV automatically senses video on all video inputs. Built in support for digital 3D glasses is a ‘high-end’ option that may appeal to some. Three component video ports (one in front), one S-video port and a front USB port for camera image viewing round out the inputs. All lower-resolution video inputs are up-converted to “Plush 1080p(r)” for display. The TV set also has Net Command with IR Learning enabling it to memorize IR signals for all your other IR-controlled devices. Two IR emitters come with the set.
While there are too many ‘features’ to explain here, there are three pages of “special features” listed in the Owner’s Guide. It is clearly at the top of the Mits food chain.
October 29th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Just bought the WD-65731 on 3-15-08, I was getting the air flow warning, since it’s my first mitsubishi just thought by turning it off and letting it cool down would do the trick. On 10-24-08 the lamp actually blew up. No one was hurt thank goodness but I wonder what really went wrong. The tv is under the 1 year warrant and a replacement lamp/w housing has been sent but now I am afraid that it’s something more than just the lamp. Has anyone else experienced this problem, have you heard of any recalls or class action cases?
October 29th, 2008 at 9:43 pm
Larry,
I don’t think the explosions are happening enough for a class-action to take place, no news I’ve heard about that. But as far as the thing blowing up, Bob’s posts above are fascinating… start with his first one and work your way down, he really tore the thing apart and analyzed the replacement housing as well as what the redesigned housing looks like in the 835 set.
Q: You mentioned that you bought this back in March, did you really pick up the 731? I thought they had revised those up to 732+…
November 5th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Thank you Riyad and Brad. I got the airflow problem yesturday and I did not realize how widespead this problem was. I found the sensor I just removed the lamp and saw that I would not be able to reach it without taking the back off. So before I did I decided to try using compressed air directly on the sensor. I used nearly a half a can. I replaced the lamp and so far so good. I am not getting the error message but I have only ran it for an hour so I am keeping my fingers crossed. Either way I have a technician coming Monday to replace the sensor for free. Hopefully it will work until then. But if this is really all it took shouldn’t this be just under regular maintainence? I mean just cleaning the lamp housing (vacumming or airing it out) whenever you change the bulb only seems to make sense.
November 5th, 2008 at 9:27 pm
Chris,
I’m glad you found us here, I know I’ll go crazy sometimes with a piece of electronics until I find a community online that has experienced (and hopefully solved) the same issue.
As far as regular maintenance, it certainly can’t hurt I just don’t think it ultimately solves the issue of the solder point being bad. In your particular case you might have *actually* had an overheating problem due to air flow, but either way cleaning it out and getting the sensor replaced sounds like exactly the 2 right things to do.
November 6th, 2008 at 7:26 am
Extended Warranty for sensors. MDEA has extended their warranty on the heat sensor by an additional 2 years. This is what they wrote back to me because I was experiencing the warning and eventually the bulb popped.
Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America, Inc (MDEA) 2006 DLP® Projection Televisions Models: WD-52631, WD-57731, WD-65731, WD-Y57, WD-Y65, WD-57732, WD- 65732, WD-57831, WD-65831.
As part of our commitment to quality and customer satisfaction, MDEA is announcing an extension of the warranty coverage to replace the thermal sensor for the above referenced models. For a period of two additional years beyond the one year limited warranty, MDEA will cover the cost of the thermal sensor (parts and labor) at no charge. All other terms of the MDEA limited warranty will continue to apply
November 6th, 2008 at 8:27 am
Larry,
That is great news, thanks for sharing that here for everyone that might run across this. I’ll update the post and add that information as well for folks just finding this thread.
November 6th, 2008 at 8:28 am
Chris,
I am not familiar with the 65731 series as my experience has been solely with the 6583x machines. If history is supposed to teach us, it makes sense that the underlying ’sensor problem’ lies not in the sensor itself, but in the connector on the sensor’s pigtail. Mits used the wrong kind of connector on the 65831 that was designed for solid core wire – not the stranded wire that is on the sensor. As a result, the crimp to the connector pins was not always 100% effective. There is a service bulletin out from Mits on the entire line of xx83x machines which requires the connector be removed and the wires be ‘hard-soldered’. This bulletin should be known to your servicer. There is sufficient wiring from the sensor to allow the removal of the connector. When your servicer shows up, ask if he/she is aware of that bulletin.
PS: The replacement 65835 machine has been working flawlessly except for a 10-12 second refusal to switch input ports to HDMI-1 from HDMI-2 at cold power-up. It switches instantly once the machine has powered up for that time.
November 6th, 2008 at 8:34 am
Bob,
You reminded me… that’s *exactly* what I wanted to ask you about. On my 831 the time-to-switch inputs (comp, HDMI, DVI, whatever) is about 10-12 seconds on a cold start… it’s really obnoxious as I have to set a huge timeout on my Harmony remote when starting an activity. I was curious if the 835 fixed that… looks like it doesn’t.
I can’t really figure out why it needs *such* a long time, and it also seems to be random. When I used to have the timeout down around 3 seconds, it used to work about 25% of the time, switching the input.
Ahh well, atleast the set is looking great and treating you well.
November 6th, 2008 at 8:36 am
Riyad,
I’ve looked again behind my set and it is a WD-65731. Bought it on clearance at my local best buy in March. Since then the lamp has been replaced and the service tech installed a new heat sensor. What is the real average life of a newly replace lamp. I only use the set maybe 2 to 3 hours a day and about 5 to 7 on weekends. I am really considering selling this set and getting an LCD or Plasma. Your thoughts?
November 6th, 2008 at 8:45 am
Larry,
I imagine you got that set for a song, I had a friend do the exact same thing in LA, walked into a BB and saw it for $1300 and picked it up.
Lamp life is a fudgy thing, I can give you a ballpark for the Mits lamps of about 4000 hrs. Some might go sooner due to defect and some might last unnaturally long.
I have a 65831 that is still on it’s original bulb and about 2 years old. I play games, review games, and watch movies. Probably a similar viewing time to yours.
I have another friend in Chicago that has had his 65731 for exactly the same amount of time I’ve had mine and he’s still on his first lamp as well.
When my first 65831 died on me, the set registered it as a dead “Lamp” (lamp light was on). After faxing Mits my proof of purchase, they overnight-express-shipped me a new lamp, I think you get 1 per TV. So even if yours does go out in 2 years, you can just get another from Mits for another 2 years and by then… who knows, TVs will be made out of 8mm glass on the wall
As far as the “been thinking of selling it and getting a LCD/Plasma”, I’ve thought about that about 75x, but they have their share of problems as well… *all* these sets do.
There is no perfect television out there (unless you want to pay like $7k for a 60″ KURO) and I don’t want to sacrifice the viewing size. So until I can pickup a high quality LCD or Plasma in the 65″ range that is competitively priced, I’m really just laying low.
Now, if you aren’t happy with the TV’s quality and the money issue isn’t a big one to you, that’s a different story. The newest Samsung panels are beautiful, and I spoke to Robert Heron over at PCMag (he’s the certified ISF calibrator that does the reviews for them) and he said if you aren’t going to pickup a KURO, then keep an eye on the newest Samsung panels, but stay away from the 650 series and earlier, there were some firmware problems he ran into during testing that pissed him off that were rectified with the most recent models this year.
I asked about the Panasonic plasmas and he says they are pretty nice, especially the 85 or 850 series (IIRC), he just felt like the inky blacks on the KURO and super-bright/high-contrast images the Samsung produced were better all around.
Then again a nice 52″ Samsung is like $3200, so they aren’t cheap… and I imagine that’s more than twice what you paid for the 731, so deciding if it’s worth it or not… if you mostly like the 731 and think it gives a good picture, I think you’ll be disappointed spending *so much* to upgrade, and get a marginally better picture.
If you have any other thoughts, lemme know.
November 6th, 2008 at 9:01 am
Riyad,
Thanks for the advise, MONEY is an issue. I hope my new lamp lasts as long as yours, but we’ll see. I will go ahead and keep the set and not worry about it until something happens, I am not ready to spend the kind of money for a good set. I do enjoy the picture and size Mitsu offers and yes the price was around $1,300. Thanks you
November 6th, 2008 at 9:11 am
Riyad,
I, too, have a very long timeout on the Monster Cable Remote (made by Harmony). I simply added a secondary button command to manually switch to HDMI-1 on my WATCH DVD activity. I also switch back to HDMI-2 (WATCH TV) just prior to shutting down the WATCH DVD activity. This ensures that the correct input port is already selected (memorized) at startup for WATCH TV, our normal activity. The default delay at startup for the 65835 TV device is 4000 ms (4 seconds). This is normally sufficient as long as you don’t have to change input ports. I will be adding an 8-second delay and an additional Select HDMI-1 command at the end of the WATCH DVD activity. This will cause the screen to go blank for a few seconds if I select WATCH DVD directly from the WATCH TV activity. But, that is a minor problem compared to the selected input port remaining on the incorrect device.
January 25th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
I had my thermal sensor replaced under a service plan due to my WD-Y65 shutting down due to high temp. approximately 3 months later started having the same problem again and again had it replaced. The second replacement has worked for a year and a half now. So, if you have the sensor replaced once, don’t be sure it is not the problem.
January 31st, 2009 at 5:21 pm
I have had the same problem with the thermal sensor as everyone else. Rather than calling a repair shop I followed the steps listed above. I removed the Light housing then the whole lower panel. I then removed the fan shroud to gain better access. The screw that holds the thermal sensor is much easier to get to when you remove the fan shroud. I removed the sensor and unplugged the black connector. Instead of doing the cutting, striping, soldering thing, I took the end of the connector that is attached to the sensor and bent the ends of the two prongs a bit with a pair of needle nose pliers. I then reconnected it and put everything back together. So far so good.
One thing I did is when I removed the sensor I noticed the part number nomenclature was facing forward and it had some discoloration from heat. When I reinstalled it I faced the part number to the back. I don’t know if it makes a difference but I thought I would try it. It works fine and I hope it lasts. If not I will cut and solder.
The whole process is not difficult and no one should be afraid to do it. The whole thing took about 20-30 minutes. Look at it this way, it’s already broke what else can you do to it. Plus with the money and time you save on a repair man you can go to the store and buy more beer and chips for the Super Bowl game. Go Cards “( ‘)>
February 4th, 2009 at 11:28 pm
I have the mitsubishi wd 65735 on its way, has the over heating issue ben fixed in the model tv?
February 5th, 2009 at 7:27 am
Keith, I’m pretty sure Mits fixed the issue in their x35 series of sets which are the newest ones… I believe one of the contributors here got a 65835 as a replacement and noticed that the light housing and what not was all redesigned — so your 735 is going to follow suite. You should be fine.
February 5th, 2009 at 7:53 am
I agree with Riyad. The x35 series share the same basic chassis with the new, redesigned light path. Cooling is no longer an issue with the 65835 DLP set. There is considerably more air flow than my previous 65831 set, and the air outlet temp is up slightly – about 3 degrees F. I still recommend that you place the TV set about 12″ from the back wall to allow the hot air to rise. (The exhaust air exits the set from the back, not from the side as in previous models) Good Luck on your new set!
February 5th, 2009 at 7:59 pm
Mitsu is coming out for a repair. My tv just won’t turn on. I’m using an aftermarket bulb. Will they give me grief about it? I’m gonna tip the repair guy to protect myself.
February 5th, 2009 at 8:56 pm
Louisiana Guy, not a bad idea to tip… the aftermarket bulb *could* give them reason to walk away “we don’t control the thermals of that bulb, it could have been the thing that damaged the TV” — BUT, if you just throw the bribe on the table “ok, I’ll give you $50 to fix this thing”, I’ve had mixed luck with that… sometimes they go “oh ok” and do it up, and othertimes they won’t budge.
It’s worth a shot.
February 6th, 2009 at 7:50 am
Riyad, I’m in Tucson too and considering buying the WD-65835. Costco offers it @ $2199 but http://www.digitalcraze.com sells the tv at $2099, no shipping or sales tax.
Has anyone found a prob with http://www.digitalcraze.com or a better place to buy? I can fix almost anything and was considering NOT purchasing the extended warranty.
My thanks to all of the early purchasers who paved the way.
Does the up-convert feature that alleges 1080 performance from standard DISH 480 via component actually work?
I’d appreciate any comments and suggestions.
February 6th, 2009 at 10:39 am
So a lot of complaints on the mitshbishi dlp`s are from older models and not these NEW x35 series??
February 6th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
Keith,
Yes for the airflow thing, it was in the x31 series, then I think they fixed the sensor in the x32 series, and then revamped the light housing in the x35 series — so far for the newest, everything seems hunky doory from what I’ve seen.
February 6th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
Barry, I would strongly urge you to go with Costco. They will give you full return warranty for 6-months and extend the Mits warranty (full repair or replacement) up to 2 years for free… that’s pretty awesome in my opinion.
Just think of something goes wrong with the set, how much will $100 actually mean to you then while you are tearing your hair out with a repair guy standing in your living room telling you the repair will be $1200?
As far as the up-convert, the TV upconverts every signal it gets to 1080p before displaying it… so I’m not totally clear on the question… do you mean how is the actual speed of upcoverting or did you mean something else?
February 6th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
what do u yall think abou the viewing angles of these new dlp`s vs the old back in the day projection screens?
February 6th, 2009 at 7:17 pm
I cannot attest to other sets or models, but the xx831 and the xx835 do have a limited viewing angle in both the vertical and horizontal domains. This is a characteristic of most back-lit projection TVs. For my current xx835, those angles in a normally lighted room are approximately plus-minus 45 degrees in the horizontal domain, and plus-minus 20 degrees in the vertical domain. In a darkened room, those angles can be extended to plus-minus 60 degrees and plus-minus 30 degrees. All of these angles are relative to the optimum viewing angle of 0 degrees to its viewing surface.
February 6th, 2009 at 7:40 pm
well i went into one of the big electronic stores and looked at the 65735 and the off angles were not bad at all from about 5 feet and futher.
February 6th, 2009 at 7:45 pm
i wonder what kind of buld life i will get when i recive my tv, i`m one of those peopl who does not require the tv`s brightness all the way up.
February 6th, 2009 at 7:46 pm
what is the contrast ratio of these dlp`s?
February 6th, 2009 at 9:26 pm
Keith, believe it or not, screen brightness does not have any bearing on bulb life. The bulb is continuously operated at full brightness, and each pixel mirror controls the screen brightness level by varying the on/off duty cycle. There is no reference to “contrast ratio” in the specifications for the xx835. But, the “Dark Detailer” and “Deep Field Imager” features seem to be functional equivalents to “Dynamic Contrast Enhancement” commonly referred to with LCD screens.
The User Guide eludes to an 8000 hour bulb life. Since receiving the set in mid-August, 2008. I have had no problems whatsoever…knock on wood. We have the set on about 12-hrs/day. That would place about 2200 hrs on the bulb thus far. As a precaution, I already have a replacement lamp from MITS($99.00) for the 65835 set…just to have it on hand if/when the current lamp goes out. http://www.mitsuparts.com/
It is ironic to see that same lamp on eBay for $179…the original price before MITS lowered their price last August.
NOTE: This set is awesome with the Sony Blu-Ray player at 1080p.
February 7th, 2009 at 9:38 am
+1 to what Bob said about the viewing angles, those are the angles you’d want to stay in to avoid any image darkening or strangeness… but if you are in the kitchen working and just want to have the TV on for some company and peek at it every once in a while, it’s pretty much on par with a normal TV.
We have a fairly wide sectional setup infront of the TV and you can sit anywhere on it horizontally and enjoy the picture, I also sit on the floor from time to time and don’t have much of a problem with the slight darkening I see along the top.
Really more of a non-issue I’d say.
As far as contrast, no idea Keith, sorry.
February 7th, 2009 at 10:04 am
wow thanks! this has ben the most informative site on mits dlp`s that i have come across.
February 7th, 2009 at 10:25 am
No issue at all with lateral viewing angles for my 57831.
The only real problem I see is visible screen texture. With bright scenes, the screen texture is visible and really annoying to me. It spoils what is otherwise a fantastic picture with great brightness and detail. I would not have bought the 57831 if I had noticed this at the store. If I could replace just the screen, I would spend the money…it’s that annoying.
February 7th, 2009 at 11:23 am
Barry, I am not sure what happened to my previous reply on “up-conversion” of 480 to 1080. But, yes…all lower formats are upconverted to 1080 automatically. It is NOT, however, a simple line-doubler or pixel replication as was the case in earlier HD sets. The video processor has extensive capabilities to interpolate the pixel content between lines in both the horizontal and vertical domains. This process greatly smooths out jagged lines that would normally occur with line/pixel-doubling. The video processor obviously requires a very large amount of computing horsepower. At the set’s 120Hz frame rate and at 1080p, the pixel processing rate is almost 250 megapixels/sec. I have yet to overrun this video processor with ANY input source.
Note: A characteristic of video processor overrun is what I prefer to call “Frame Stutter.” Sometimes lasting for as much as 1/4 second, video frames will repeat on screen giving the illusion of multiple frozen frames. I get this sporadically on my older Samsung HD set.
Re: Mike Flasco – Screen Texture
I also noticed the ‘graininess’ on the screen of the 65831. You probably don’t want to replace the screen itself even though it is available…for a price. MITS is VERY proud of the screen and charges accordingly. The service tech who worked on my 65831 estimated the cost between $800 and $1000 just for the plastic screen. I found (even with the 65835) that shifting your view of the screen a few degrees off-center will noticably reduce the screen grain without any other visible effects.
February 7th, 2009 at 5:54 pm
I have never really liked the rear projection tv`s from back in the day but these NEW rear projection dlp tv`s are a whole new game,
i cant wait to get mines!
I already have my cable tv dvr, 5.1 surround system and magnavox blu ray player, all is missing is my 65 inch mitsu dlp.
qvc is taking forever with the delivery.
February 7th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
Can some one post a pic of the back of the new mitsu wd 65735`s back where the air flow exits the back ( new design )
February 8th, 2009 at 5:46 am
Keith, this site does not seem to allow posting of pictures.
February 8th, 2009 at 7:46 am
ok
February 9th, 2009 at 11:24 am
@Mike, what do you mean the screen texture? You mean that hex/cross-pattern from the screen support matrix or something that you see sometimes? I *barely* noticed that the other day for the first time… had the set for 2.5 years. I wonder if it has to do with lamp life?
@Bob, sorry about that. I accidentally erased it. The blog software showed the post come in for review as a duplicate, so I OK’ed the first one and erased the second… didn’t realize it was a bug and it was the *same* post it was talking about. doh
@Keith, here’s the back of the 835:
(sorry guys had to turn images off because spammers kept spamming the threads with porn — which is sort of a mixed bag
February 9th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
thanks but i wanted to see a pic of the back where the new cooling vents are on the x 35 series please.
February 9th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
well i guess its the same as the wd 65735.?
February 9th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
Ahh, sorry about that.
Bob, if you have photos of that handy I can toss them up here for Keith (and anyone else interested). Just email to riyad.kalla@breakitdownblog.com
February 9th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
so how is everyones x35 series so far??
over heating??
ect.
February 9th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
Riyad, I believe the ‘texture’ that Mike may be referencing is likely an artifact of the front lenticular screen. The grain on the screen is normally only visible on a static, very bright image. If there is any motion on the image, the texture seems to blend in with the rest of the image, and its brightness always tracks with the brightness of the surrounding image. The front lenticular screen is very susceptible to scratching from improper cleaning. These ‘micro-scratches’ are generally permanent and will also be the source for some visible graininess.
Re: Back Air Exit Port
On the 65831, the hot air from the lamp chamber exited to the left-rear portion of the set (when viewing the screen). The 65835 has a totally redesigned lamp chamber and cooling system which exhausts the hot air directly to the back of the set with louvered vent slots directly above the lamp chamber. There are also vents in the lamp chamber cover to increase the air flow. (This cover is held in place with one screw to replace the lamp) The lamp chamber exhaust fan blades are readily visible next to the lamp chamber through these vents.
February 9th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
Bob, thank you for forwarding that picture along. The image is up above in the original post or you can click this link.
Quite a bit more ventilation it looks like compared to my 831… makes me want to call Costco.
Bob, quick question about the 835 — did you ever notice “bleeding” reds with the 831? In very red areas of the screen (most notable in menus of Gears of War or Rainbow Six Vegas) I noticed the red bleeds to the left and right by about a half-inch… it’s not a discoloration issue like a pixel color… it looks like a digital-processing problem, like the color is “tearing” in the image around it… wonder if you’ve noticed that in the 835.
February 9th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
hey riyad thanks for that perfect pic.
February 9th, 2009 at 7:28 pm
Ok is there a dust build up and problem with these new x35 series?
February 9th, 2009 at 7:51 pm
Riyad,
I never noticed any color bleeding surrounding any colors on the xx831 or the xx835. Of course, I did calibrate the colors initially because the factory defaults are way too high in most of the video parameters. Very high Color Saturation and/or Contrast levels could be causing this. Dropping them down could be the remedy for each of the inputs. (Remember: Each input must be set individually. I.E., HDMI-1 settings do not migrate to HDMI-2, etc.) If you are getting this bleeding ONLY on one input, turn down the Color Saturation and/or Contrast levels while viewing that input. The factory default for all HDMI inputs is 100% for Contrast.
February 9th, 2009 at 8:19 pm
I have not yet seen much dust accumulating in the light path for the xx835. But, I have had this set for only six months. I did open up the Lamp Cartridge Access Panel on the back of the xx835 to see if there was any visible dust buildup last month. There was a small amount of dust buildup on the external plastic portions of the lamp, but none was observed in the light tunnel nor inside the lamp. On the other hand, as you might be able to view from the picture of the back exhaust port, dust will settle on anything. The extremely knowledgeable tech who worked on my first xx831 commented, “The fine dust screen on the lamp (for the xx831) only impedes air flow. Anything in the form of dust that manages to get inside the light path will be instantly vaporized.” That premise seems to be true in the xx835 lamp since the screen’s only apparent purpose is to keep your fingers out.
February 9th, 2009 at 9:00 pm
thanks , very insightfull bob
February 10th, 2009 at 7:46 am
Riyad,
RE: Screen Texture visible on 57831. With bright scenes/colors, there is a visible graininess throughout the field. It almost looks as if there is fine dust or dirt on the screen. It has been an issue since brand new two years ago. New bulb in December really punched up the brightness on the set. The ‘texture’ or graininess is visible most of the time but really becomes distracting with whites. Winter olympics will be difficult to watch. I have always bought Mits for the comparative purity of white rendering without tinting but this issue is a disappointment. I am a little surprised I have not read more comments about this issue among Mits XX831 owners.
February 10th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
Ok poeple my new mits. wd 65735 will be delivered 2-12-09, is there anything i should know?
February 10th, 2009 at 9:01 pm
Keith,
The tendency is to hook it up right out of the box and enjoy. Be sure you have an operating source for one of the HDMI inputs. If possible, use a video source that is 1080i or 1080p. Lower sources can be used, but the display won’t have the detail and crispness of a 1080 image. The set will auto-sense the video on any source, but a 1080 image is easier to see the variations with different settings. Play with the setup controls to see what you perceive to be the best for your room. Start with the video menu and cycle through BRILLIANT, BRIGHT and NATURAL. (BRIGHT or BRILLIANT can be used in well-lit rooms. I recommend you start with NATURAL. This is the lowest contrast, brightness and color setting. (The factory default is BRILLIANT) Once the NATURAL level is selected, I strongly recommend turning down the contrast to a level that is acceptable to you. (Factory default for contrast: 100%) Unless you have a calibrated HD color source, i.e., a HD color test disk, I recommend that you not adjust the Perfect Color system. This adjusts the intensity of each of the six colors on the color wheel. It normally should be left at factory default for each input. (Each input has its own separate memory for most of the video and audio parameters)
Be aware that video from a component (Y-Pb-Pr) source or DVI device (through a DVI-to-HDMI cable) is limited to 1080i. 1080p video signals can be received ONLY through an HDMI cable.
I am sure you will enjoy the new set.
February 10th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
thanks bob, i`m even taking off thursday and friday from work just to enjoy my new dlp with out interuption lmao
February 10th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
Bob i`m getting my tv from QVC , do u think i should get the 2 year protection plan from qvc on top of the 1 year warrenty from mitsu.??
February 10th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
it`s only $ 139.00 for 2 years.
February 11th, 2009 at 5:28 am
In light of my past experience with the 65831, I DID get the additional warranty on the replacement 65835. Only hindsight will tell me if that was worth it. The cost you quoted seems to be a fair price.
February 11th, 2009 at 7:16 am
cool
February 11th, 2009 at 8:17 am
Bob how is ur 835 doing?
February 11th, 2009 at 9:00 am
The 65835 is doing very well. I have not had any issues with this set…knock on wood. I should qualify that response with this caveat: When initially starting up, it can take up to 12 seconds for the TV to recognize a “Change Input” command, i.e., Change input from HDMI-1 to HDMI-2, etc. While operating, the set recognizes the “Change Input” command almost immediately. But, I also had this same characteristic in the 65831 set. I negated this effect by acquiring a Sony STR-DG920 7.1Ch AV receiver with HDMI switching. It switches the HDMI inputs very rapidly, and, yes…it does require an additional HDMI cable. But, it also handles the full range of digital audio through the HDMI cable. Since the TV now needs only one HDMI cable, it remembers the last and is active as soon as the TV is started from a cold condition. Now I no longer need a 12-second startup delay before I change input channels on the TV.
February 11th, 2009 at 9:58 am
or who ever has the NEW X35 series how are your sets doing so far??
February 11th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
Bob,
That is my one pet-peeve with the 831 — drives me nuts how long it takes it to recognize an input… it actually changes, anywhere from 8-12seconds after startup. Took me 2 weeks to tweak my harmony remote just right so it would stop trying to change the inputs and get ignored.
I hadn’t really banged around the idea of getting a new receiver (mine does audio-only, no HDMI switching) to remedy the problem… but that’s not a bad idea at all.
Then again, as with anything home-theater related… I could see myself getting a new receiver, wanting to get the 835 and then naturally a new center channel and sub… it might just be safer if I pretend nothing is wrong
February 11th, 2009 at 7:51 pm
With all the ‘new’ digital audio formats, it is unlikely that most AV receivers older than a year or so would handle all of them. Most of the Blu-Ray players simply send multiple audio formats down the HDMI cable and let the AV receiver do the decoding. A few high-end Blu-Ray players will decode the audio directly into 7.1 audio channels.
The logic behind the time lag for changing inputs at power-up seems to make sense when you realize the MITS set has a sizable computer on board. It has to be brought online from a cold start – It cannot change inputs while it is booting up. I jokingly like to refer to its “Windows” operating system which accounts for all of its startup delays.
I tend to agree – it would likely be safer to simply pretend it works fine…for now.
February 13th, 2009 at 10:20 am
hey guys i got my mits wd 65735 on feb 12 th and i love it!
February 13th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
Keith,
Congrats! Now run out and buy a Blu-ray player and a whole library of Blu-ray movies… and a PS3… and then take a week off of work
February 14th, 2009 at 7:08 am
lol
February 15th, 2009 at 9:36 am
i must say that with my new mits. wd 65735 that the colling fan(s) are blowing right on the light source.
February 19th, 2009 at 11:56 am
I just had the tech here for the 4th time. So far he’s:
1. Done the sensor fix (hardwired it).
2. Replaced a bulb
3. Replaced the bulb and a connector (didn’t get details on what connector)
4. Ordered a bulb, ballast and Optics block.
I have the the Best-Buy 4 year warranty and have asked for a “No Lemon Policy” coverage (replace after 3 repairs if a fourth is needed). So now it’s a wait and see. I was promised a call back by next Thursday at 5pm. Can it really take a week to process?
If I’m following all of the stuff in this thread isn’t what he ordered cost about what the new WD65735 costs? An I correct that that would be the closest replacement?
February 19th, 2009 at 1:53 pm
Dave R,
Yes…when it comes to shelling out $$ on an insurance claim, it can (and usually does) take considerable time – sometimes up to four weeks. If your insurance claim agent is anywhere near smart, he/she will realize the fact that the xx831 set is plagued with heat problems. Ironically, some folks have NEVER had any problem. When you last phoned in your claim to have your set repaired, you should have invoked the Lemon clause at that time. (I am presuming this is what you did) Be sure the repair contract for your set has that clause spelled out – some may ‘imply’ they have it, but do not actually specify that coverage in their contract.
If you are refering to Light Engine (Light Block), you probably had a ghastly “halo” around anything that was even remotely bright. In my case, this was caused by contamination of the light engine when the lamps ‘blew’ in the set. The light engine is the single most costly item in your set. In early 2008, the tech working on my set told me that a ‘new’ light engine runs about $1200 plus labor to install it. A ‘rebuilt’ light engine might be acquired for about $600. The only known facility rebuilding the light engines is based in Georgia and is operating round-the-clock to keep up with demand.
Be aware that your insurance carrier will wash their hands of any further responsibility once they replace your set. I purchased additional insurance coverage on my 65835 set on my own. I hope I never need it…
February 20th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
I’ve had my 57831 now for over 2 years.When I first got it it had an incredible picture.I had a replacement lamp covered under warranty in the 6th month.I noticed the picture was slowly fading so I just replaced it.Its much brighter now but I’m not happy with the picture now at all.Its OK as long as there isn’t any white or anything bright on the picture.The Tv is now straining my eyes and its driving me crazy.I can see a haze on the screen whenever there is a bright screen.The blacks have no detail at all now.I’ve tried every setting imaginable and it doesn’t help.Blu-ray looks ok but not anywhere near as incredible that I’ve seen on other lcd and plasma sets.My 37″Magnavox lcd has a better picture with standard dvd than my blu-ray on this Mitsubishi.I’m going to sell this and go for a 50″Kuro or 58″Panasonic plasma.They have an incredible picture especially compared to the way this looking lately.
February 20th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
Tom,
I thought I was going flipping crazy — I’ve been squinting more and more with my WD-65831 to see detail and noticed that I have my contrast turned to 100, brightness to 32 and playing Condemned (1 and 2) and FEAR 2 (all dark games) I ended up driving their brightness up to 75% or so (default is 40-50% in-game setting).
Most scenes are washed out now but with that brightness off I literally cannot see anything — it’s damn frustrating and I thought it was my lamp-life… I got into the service menu that shows the total time on the bulb and I’m just shy of 2100 — hardly impressive and no where near the 5-8000 hrs quoted for the bulb.
Tom, while you might be able to pick up the KURO cheap because Pioneer and Vizio are calling it quites on the Plasma market, Panasonic might give you a better bang for your buck as they are one of the only 2 that are sticking to their Plasma-game.
I think I’d lean towards an LCD because of the light output, but there just isn’t anything reasonably priced with excellent performance beyond 52″ this year… by mid-year and EOY we are suppose to have a lot of 65″ LCD choices, but god knows those will all start off life at $3k+ and not be a bargain until next year.
Your choice with a big, high quality plasma is probably the right way to go here.
Just my 2 cents.
February 20th, 2009 at 8:05 pm
Tom,
It sounds like your light engine has become contaminated and needs to be replaced. Have you managed to look at the previous lamp(s) closely after they failed? The last lamp that failed on my set actually melted the glass to the point where its focal point was off-center. When the glass cooled, it developed micro-cracks in the surface and leaked the high-pressure gas inside. This gas contains mercury and recontaminated a brand new light engine. The symptoms were similar to yours – bright objects surrounded by dark background have a halo effect around the bright objects…poor overall contrast…very poor low level contrast & detail.
February 20th, 2009 at 9:08 pm
Yes I did check the bulb and it did not melt at all.I do think the light engine is contaminated in some way but I really don’t think I want to pay to get it fixed or clean the lens myself.I just don’t think I’ll ever get this TV to look as good as it did or as good as the newer lcd’s,plasma’s look.Man I bought this TV for 3k when it came out and the picture was absolutely incredible.I thought that I was set for at least 5-6 years but when it comes to my HT gear I can’t settle.I guess this gives me a good excuse to buy something new which would probably be the Kuro.
February 20th, 2009 at 10:33 pm
I have the mits wd 65735, how do i get into the service menu??
February 21st, 2009 at 8:29 am
Tom, don’t feel bad… I paid $4k and am in the same boat.
Keith, I had to dig around AVS to find the codes that get you into the service menus (plural)… it’s totally hardcore and unintuitive, I wouldn’t recommend it.
February 21st, 2009 at 1:37 pm
i have my lanp mode on standard, and 12 inches of clearence around my wd-65735, how long do u think the lamp will last?
February 21st, 2009 at 1:38 pm
LAMP
February 21st, 2009 at 1:43 pm
I like this tv
February 21st, 2009 at 3:02 pm
Keith,
The user manual for my 65835 implies an 8,000 hour life for the lamp. Keep in mind this is from the same people who said that the life of the lamp in the 65831 was 5,000 hours. I am already at 2,000+ hours, but my TV is on much more than most. It averages about 12 hours/day.
Remember: This set uses a 180W arc-lamp. That technology converts, at best, only 25%-30% into usable light. The rest of that energy is expended as heat.
MITS reduced the price of their lamp for this set to $99 last August. It is still available on their web site for that price. http://www.mitsuparts.com/
February 23rd, 2009 at 1:08 pm
MITS reduced the price of their lamp for this set to $99 last August. It is still available on their web site for that price. http://www.mitsuparts.com/
Looks like Mits is back to $249 for the 180W bulb according to the link today.
February 23rd, 2009 at 1:21 pm
I apologize for the confusion. The $99 price is for the 65835 set, not the 65831 set.
March 4th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
Hey i have the mits wd 65735, a few days ago i took the lamp out just to see if i could do it, i noticed there was no dust inside where the lamp housing rest, the lamp housing it self has no filter at all just some cooling vents and a wire mesh.
March 5th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
I called mitsubishi to get some info on the lap that is in my wd-65735, (i am not having any problems) they said if i need another lamp , the new one come with the housing ect, so now its very easy to replace, i see having this tv for a looooong time.
March 5th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
( CORRECTION) —–> LAMP
March 6th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
i have the mits. wd-65735 does it have the turbo light 180 and what is that anyway?
March 16th, 2009 at 5:19 pm
Bob…
With your exploding bulb/light engine contamination experiences…did your tech think there was any way possible to clean these rather than replace them??
Surely there has to be a way to save them!…the reason I ask is I just had a bulb explode and am worried about the light engine/color wheel being contaminated…I received the bulb today and am going to install it here in a little bit…maybe I’ll get lucky and will not have the issues you had!
March 16th, 2009 at 6:46 pm
I am certain it is impossible to clean the light engine in the field once it has become contaminated. The nature of super-heated mercury vapor makes it almost impossible to remove from the light tunnel and color wheel. Then there is the ‘heavy metal’ health issue. I had asked the tech your question after my first encounter. His response: “Swap it out with a rebuilt unit. They replace the entire light tunnel, color wheel and light engine at the parts depot.”
If you are fortunate enough to ‘dodge the bullet’ this time, it is only a matter of time until this will come back and bite you… especially since it has happened to you once already. I hope I am wrong in your case…
March 16th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
Just to follow up. Best buy denied the replacement (lemon policy) and fixed the TV.
Here is what they did.
8702399 GEEK SQUAD 30 HT GEEK SQUAD I Complete $150.00 $0.00 $150.00
1682-2009-03-09-903-2882
8702745 GEEK SQUAD 60 HT GEEK SQUAD I Complete $140.00 $0.00 $140.00
1682-2009-03-09-903-2882
938P060010 PCB – LAMP PWR(V33/V33Y) USED $0.00 $178.99
1682-2009-03-09-903-2882
938P059020 OPTICAL-ENGINE 65″ (V33) USED $0.00 $1,757.49
1682-2009-03-09-903-2882
915P049010 LAMP (150w) (V33/V33Y/V3 USED $0.00 $285.49
1682-2009-03-09-903-2882
Total Price
Amount Due $2,684.17
Amount Paid $2,684.17
So for almost $2700 they fixed a TV that they could have replaced for $1500! And they still have to cover it if it fails again!
You would think someone there would have checked these numbers.
March 17th, 2009 at 6:51 am
David R,
I strongly urge you to get Best Buy’s denial of your “lemon policy” replacement IN WRITING – not verbally. If Best Buy is self-insuring your set, they may feel it is in their best interests to deny your claim. If the repair on the TV set is acceptable(for now), you may need to reference the exact repair work. (Some insurers specify “…the same failure for threee times in a row…” Be sure you keep all the paperwork on all your previous repairs. Should this happen again, I would get the name, address and phone # of the manager and fax your “replacement” claim along with a copy of your insurance contract on the set.
Good Luck!
March 17th, 2009 at 7:30 am
Dave, what model is your set? If it’s the 831-835, that should have been a 180w bulb… I don’t remember if the 731/732 and lesser models used the 150w bulb or not…
March 17th, 2009 at 7:54 am
I have the 65-731 model and also one night i just heard a bang and the sure enough the light bulb had popped. Prior to the bang the heat sensor warning kept coming on and shutting the TV off automatically. Since then I have received a lamp under warranty (December 08) and had a technician fix the heat sensor (there was a recall or extension on the warranty for this part). I use the tv maybe 20 to 25 hours a week.
I’ve also purchased an additional 2 years extended warranty through Mitsubishi. (My current manufacturers warranty will expire at the end of this Month)
March 17th, 2009 at 9:54 am
The WD-65835 and WD-65735 use the same 180W lamp. It sells on the http://www.mitsuparts.com/ for $99.
March 28th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
From what I can make from the article and other posts, it looks like I’m a victim of an Air Flow problem. I have the 65831 (2yrs old). I had to replace the lamp once and have suffered from the occasional turn off. However, currently, my set won’t turn on at all. The green Timer light is constantly blinking fast and no matter what I’ve tried, (unplugging, reset) I can’t get the set back on. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
March 28th, 2009 at 8:33 pm
Matt,
Your blinking light sounds like the lamp won’t ignite. The lamp could be defective. That was the same symptom I had with one of my several lamp replacements.
March 29th, 2009 at 8:45 am
Thanks Bob, I’ll give it a try. In parallel, I’ll inquire about the service bulletin. Given the lamp is only 7 months old and at $250 a pop, I hope it’s not the norm. Thanks again.
March 30th, 2009 at 5:34 am
Matt,
Besides what Bob mentioned, I’ve also noticed Mits uses that “Lamp” light for everything. The very first 831 I got killed itself when the color wheel spun itself to death and when I tried to turn the set on it just blinked “Lamp”.
So it’s possible something else is busted as well. So if you do pickup another lamp to test it out, see if you can get a 10-day return policy just incase it’s not the lamp and you don’t have to eat $250.
April 2nd, 2009 at 6:54 pm
Here is a easier fix than removing the temp gauge.
Very hard to remove since you cant see the screw.
Locate the wire that goes to the back of the tempature gauge.
Disconnect the female male plug. Cut both wires at the source.
get a new wire about 7 inches. Splice the new wire to the temp gauge and the power source by passing the faulty connector. Put everthing back together and you should be fine.
April 6th, 2009 at 7:34 pm
I tried replacing the lamp, but no luck, the green timer light still keeps blinking fast and the set won’t turn on. Had a service rep stop out and he said the DM Board needs to be replaced. Has anyone run into this problem? Does this sound right? Does Mits cover this repair? Any info would be greatly appreciated.
April 7th, 2009 at 7:29 am
Matt,
The DM board is the main digital board for the entire 831 set. It handles everything from Analog-Digital video & audio conversion to on-screen menus. Since your set is “2-years old”, I doubt MITS would cover it. If you have an insurance contract on the set, it would likely be covered. If not… I have not heard of a DM board going out, but I have not been in the service loop for the 831 since last August when I scrapped mine in favor of the 835 series.
April 12th, 2009 at 9:44 am
Just tried the “file the connectors” fix and all is well. Thank you guys for this thread. I was getting very frustrated. Just bought a soldering iron to do the perm fix the next time it acts up. Again, many thanks.
April 24th, 2009 at 7:11 am
My Mitsubishi WD-Y65 just shut down – there is no thermal air flow light blinking on the set. Does this mean that the light bulb died? I didn’t notice the picture slowly diming like it did the first time I replaced the bulb.
The replacement bulb on mitsuparts.com is $249.00 – and thats just for the bulb (no housing). I remember it being a pain to replace the bulb the last time – taking that housing apart wasn’t a ten minute job for me. Any suggestions?
April 24th, 2009 at 7:30 am
That could be the crowbar circuit in the lamp ballast triggering due to an overvoltage or overcurrent condition. Try unplugging the set from the wall and wait at least 30 seconds. Plug it back in and try to start the set again. If it works, something could be coming down the power line that trips the crowbar circuit. This is a safety feature that is not explained in the owner’s manual.
The price you quoted seems to me to be for the older style lamps. I just looked it up on the mitsuparts.com web site. It is the 150W equivalent. Yes…they are PROUD of those lamps.
May 11th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
Thank you all for the information. I am experiencing the thermal sensor problem with ym WD-Y57. The service tech is supposed to call me back tomorrow and Mitsubishi will pay the bill. We’ll see what happens. Frustrating.
May 14th, 2009 at 11:43 am
I just contacted the local tv replair shop, I told them the story of the blocked air flow problem, they are aware of the problem. They told me that Mitsubishi is paying for the repair even if the warranty is out. They said that they are going to replace the thermo sensor all I have to do is give them a copy of the receipt and no money out of my pocket, I hope it’s as good as it sounds.
May 18th, 2009 at 7:48 am
Everyone here including me seem to have lamp issues and the fact is that Mitsubishi knows about it…Well I called them at 800-332-2119 opt:5 make sure you let them know that this is a defect problem or they will just get your credit card and hit you up! You will need you model#, serial#, and a receipt. They will give you a case number and will ship your bulb free of charge when you fax them your receipt. if all else fails you can get a bulb on ebay for about 100 bucks…GOOD LUCK!
May 28th, 2009 at 9:10 am
Our Mits 52631 TV has been giving the “shutting down” message for months and has been getting worse and worse. Finally today it just quit working altogether because of this issue. Following the advice on this blog, I removed the bulb, opened the back, removed the fan housing, and removed the thermistor. I then removed the wires from the quick-connect connector that the factory used to connect the thermistor. I noted that if you connected the wires directly, the “grab” between the wires was pretty weak (an unreliable connection). Following the advice on this thread, I soldered the wire ends together (making sure to not switch the wires, although I don’t know whether switching the wires would be a problem). Shrink tubing now provides the new insulation. After putting it all back together and putting the TV back in place, all is well. SUCCESS! No more error messages or frustrations with the TV (which other than this issue is a fabulous TV). Thanks to all who tracked this down!
Art G
May 28th, 2009 at 10:33 am
Art that’s awesome news! For me, that’s the biggest payout for contributing to open discussions like this one (knowing it’s helped people solve hair-tearing problems)
Happy HDTV’ing!
June 18th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
Wow – this is a great thread. I have read MANY posts on this issue as we have a WD-52631 which has the same problem (false over-heating message followed by shutdown). When I saw that several of the excellent posters had cut away the thermo connector and soldered the wires directly, I thought that it was worth a try because we are extremely frustrated with this TV, having gone through this issue many times before (the TV is about a year an a half old).
We started getting the messages again (even after I had cleaned out inside, including both fans, and put a fan flush up against the rear air vent LOL) – and this morning it would not come on stable after many, many tries – even unplugged it for an hour to no avail.
I haven’t searched for these threads for some months now, so I thought that another search was in order, and I was fortunate enough to find this site !! I just finished up the fix (removing the thermo connector and soldering the wires directly) and put things back together (I removed the air channel shroud as some suggested, which did make it much easier to get the little thermo mount screw out) – and voila – the TV started up and has been running for a while now with no shutdown message or shutdown – this is very encouraging because it would not stay on for more than a few seconds every time that I tried it today, prior to applying your fix. This fix also enabled me to use my new Weller digital soldering iron LOL.
Thank you so much for helping us get our TV back – we really like the TV because it has a very good picture – but only when you can get it to stay on LOL.
Thanks again
June 18th, 2009 at 9:04 pm
To be completely honest about my implementation of the fix, the wires were so short on either side of the connector, that after removing the connector is was not possible to put the sensor back in it’s housing.
I left the sensor hanging in a fold of the plastic airflow shroud instead. I realize that this change will effect the sensor’s ability to report legitimate high temperature problems – and I did not think about getting the data sheet on the part while I had it removed from the TV (big mistake – data sheets are available online now-a-days) so I think that I’ll have to open it up again to get the part number, get the data sheet, and then know exactly what I am dealing with due to the shortcut that I took due to the short wire length.
Normally (like if this happened to me at work, (I’m a firmware engineer) I would have automatically checked the data sheet, but I have never had to do this sort of thing with consumer electronics before, so I was a bit flustered with having to do anything to a complicated modern TV. A cooler mind than mine would have done the right thing and checked out the bottom line details on the part. I’m feeling a little stupid now….. LOL (i.e. after having put back 28 screws).
Anyhow, it has been up and running for about 4 hours now without any problem, so I must thank you again for your help with this issue. If I discover anything interesting after reading the data sheet on the thermo part, I will post again – and if it continues to work I will post again (obviously, if it fails I will also post again).
However, if the fire department finds our dead bodies here, then regrettably, I will not be able to send another post.
Since day-one with this problem, I just wanted to rip out the damned sensor and rewire accordingly (rather than leaving it in, as your fix tells us how to do). However, after reading about some of the legitimate over-heating problems that can occur (including explosions LOL), maybe that is not a good idea. They put the sensor in for a good reason – but they screwed up their manufacturing implementation pretty good – otherwise we would not be here.
Thanks goes to you folks for making this fix possible – we are lucky to have found this site.
Cheers
June 19th, 2009 at 4:29 am
Don Mc,
In my opinion, Mits released the xx831 series before it had been thoroughly tested. Many manufacturers do that these days because it costs less to replace damaged parts rather than shut down the production line and retool. (That will teach us to buy the latest & greatest ending in model # …1 The differences between the 831 and 835 series are dramatic. When the “three strikes lemon rule” was implemented and my 831 was replaced last August with an 835, it was like the difference between day and night. I have yet to see anything wrong with the 835. But…Mits had all of us ‘beta testers’ to point them in the right direction.
June 19th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
Bob,
I’ll bet that you are right about that – they let the consumers be the beta testers. Sheesh !!!
June 30th, 2009 at 8:44 am
Don that’s fantastic news, glad everything worked out without needing to call a repair crew out there and pay a service fee.
June 30th, 2009 at 9:00 pm
I have WD77531 Mits 57 inch that I baught in 01-07. Replace one bulb 2-09 always has false starting and I have to restart over and over to get it to stay on. Then today I got the “check for air block and will go off in 45 seconds” to that effect. I read up on your blog here and I wiggled the “white rectagle” after 3 hours of cleaning and nothing happening and NOW it is working again. I will take the time and sodder the connections later. Good night! Thanks for the info!
July 1st, 2009 at 7:36 am
What happened to posts between June 19 and June 30?
RE: My last post about white spots on screen of 57831….
Bad light engine per service guy. Cost me $117 to find that out.
OEM light engine in this set is Part #P938P059030. Anyone know if the engine has been updated/improved in the XX835 series? If so, has the part # changed? Mits says they will pay for light engine ($420) but I don’t want to replace current part specs/problems with same specs/problems if it has been updated. I suspect it has been updated but Mits guy is telling me he is not aware of an updated to the part and that, if it has been updated, it would carry the same Part# — neither of these comments sound right to me. Also — I’m thinking there must be a way to go into service menus and see total run-time in hours for the set. It would be a help to have this info to know how many hours are on the lamp and, in my case, the light engine. Anyone have an idea on whether this info is inside and where to find it?
July 1st, 2009 at 8:46 am
Mike,
There is no ‘runtime’ memory within the V34 chassis’ service manual. With all the other adjustments, you would think this might be something that a service person would care to access and/or reset. …perhaps in a later rendition?
From my limited comparisons of the 831 and 835 chassis, a slightly different design was used on the 835’s light engine. The light tunnel and air cooling chambers were different – likely to improve the cooling capacity.
When I had to replace the light engines on my 831, they were shipping exclusively ‘rebuilt’ units from a plant in Georgia. At that time, they were operating that plant 24/7. At one point, there was a two week backlog. So…MITS had to know that they had a pretty major problem on their hands.
July 2nd, 2009 at 8:58 am
Thanks, Bob. Looks like Riyad has the dope on the service menu run-time thing. Riyad, where did you go in the menu to get the lamp hours?
My 57831 picture is completely washed out too. Also has dead pixels, bleading sidebars, and the left side is darker than the right. Mits is paying for the new light engine…I get to pay labor. Bob, about when did you replace your engine? Mits has updated the engine for the XX835 and I am told by my service guys that they will order the updated engine to put in this set — we’ll see. After 21 years as a Mits fan and 4 tv’s, 2 vcr’s, and a dvd player later, I am about done with Mits. To date, the onwership cost of this 57831 has been $139 per month, not including the extra $300 in electric bill for driving this mini room-heater for the last 27 months. Got a 50″ Pioneer Kuro through a Sam’s Club auction. It’s still in the box. If the Mits works well with the new engine, it will go to the basement for DVD’s only. Riyad, how about that menu access for the lamp-hours? Thanks guys.
July 2nd, 2009 at 11:26 am
Mike,
Be *super* careful if you get into the service menu and start playing around — the instructions are as follows:
==========================
To enter the service menu, press the following keys in sequence on the remote: MENU 2 4 5 7
To see the video test patterns: fast forward, rewind
To scroll through the options, press the VIDEO key.
To change the values, press the UP or DOWN buttons.
To save a change, press the ENTER button.
To exit without saving, just press the EXIT button.
==========================
Reference: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=8758200&postcount=157
IIRC the bulb life info is at the bottom of that first screen, I think you can scroll down there and just select it.
July 2nd, 2009 at 3:11 pm
The first time I replaced the light engine(under MITS warranty), was about 8 months after I got the XX831. This was due to contamination from an exploding lamp (more like a loud pop – then black) The second time the light engine was replaced (under extended warranty) was about seven months later (summer ‘08) when a lamp melted, sagged and developed micro-cracks in the glass. This also contaminated the light tunnel which gave an awful halo around anything in the picture with a bright content. When I called in a subsequent occurrence of the halo effect after replacing the lamp, the warranty company agreed “…this is a lemon.” Hence, the xx835 as of last August. So far – knock on wood – not a single problem.
July 2nd, 2009 at 4:14 pm
Bob, your exploding and melting lamps makes me worry about the “fix” for the false “air flow” issue. I don’t know if there is backup over-heat protection and warning after taking out the faulty sensor and hardwiring. I’m glad the lemon law was there for you. I’m hoping for the same light engine they are putting in the XX835.
July 2nd, 2009 at 8:10 pm
There are additional overheat sensors in both the ballast and the air exit path. In my opinion, the heat transfer to the sensor behind the light cage was never the issue. It was a simple case of the wrong type of connector crimp (for solid wire) being used on the stranded wire from that sensor. The connection was doomed to fail because someone failed to look at the specs for the connector. With the high heat and subsequent expansion and contraction of the crimp, it was not a question of IF it would fail. It was a question of WHEN.
The issue of overheating lamps, again in my opinion, was also an issue of ‘not reading the specs’ for the lamp. It requires a minimum air flow of XX cfm (cubic feet per minute) at sea level through the lamp which was NOT being delivered by the cooling fans. This was aggravated by an air filter cover on the lamp module which would clog in a mildly dusty environment. While the actual cfm through the lamp was about half what it should have been, the engineers further failed to take into account ‘derating’ needed to handle the xx831’s altitude above sea level. At 5000′ ASL, the airflow needs to be increased almost 20% to match thermal transfer characteristics of air at sea level. The fan design along with the air intake and exit channels in the xx831 restricted air flow to the lamp in order to get a fairly quiet fan operation. The calculated cooling airflow in the XX835 is more than double that in the xx831. (Yet they both use a 180 watt arc lamp) The cooling air channels are totally separate for the lamp and the ballast in the XX835. Both lamp and ballast air feeds are mixed, however, at the air exit port in the XX835.
July 3rd, 2009 at 8:35 am
Bob — Great reference information worth saving to my Mits archive. Thank you for taking the time. Your reply leads me to one more question: Would you have any concerns about replacing a faulty, OEM light engine in a xx831 with the updated engine being used in the xx835? Will the updated version operate efficiently in a xx831 given the relatively restricted cooling ability compared to the xx835 design?
In short, should I replace a faulty OEM xx831 with an equivilant rebuilt unit or update to the newer version?
July 3rd, 2009 at 1:12 pm
From my recollection of the XX831 last August, I am not sure that a light engine from the XX835 would be interchangeable with the original in the XX831. Offhand, I would doubt they are interchangeable. Only a tech who works with these MITS regularly would hazard a guess. While your light engine symptoms indicate is is unquestionably damaged, the XX835 light engine may not fit on the XX831 frame. When they redesigned the XX835, MITS did a huge amount of rework on the entire projection system, including the light engine, lamp and cooling system. It is truly unfortunate that so many of us had to be ‘guinea pigs’ in the meantime. I felt that MITS would have been smarter…
While technical info is limited, I won’t even go view the newest MITS box – LaserVue – http://www.mitsubishi-tv.com/product/L65A90 Besides, its $7K price tag is a bit out of my neighborhood.
July 5th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
Interesting aside, it looks like Mits is up to the 837-series of TVs now (Costco link) — anyone seen the inside of one of these to know if they’ve revised the light engine/cooling at all?
July 13th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
Bob,
I noticed during some darker movies (like Batman or Underworld) and some darker moments in games (Xbox 360 or PS3) that the dark detail on my WD-65831 is really bad… I just can’t get the constant high enough in order to not only see detail in darker scenes but just see *anything*.
For about the last year whenever I play a game, the first thing I do is go into the Options menu and blow the “Brightness” or “Gamma” all the way to the top.
I noticed just recently (last month?) that doing that, I am getting to the point where I still can’t see some things.
I have about 3.5k hours on my first bulb (ever) and realize that likely has a lot to do with it, but grinding through mitsubishi-tv.com’s differences from the 831, to 833, to 835 and now to the 837 series I noticed that the Dark Detailer and other picture-enhancement technologies on the sets actually saw multiple upgrades through those series.
I’m curious if you noticed (specifically) any improvement in dark-scene handling on the 835 when you went to it than you saw on your 831?
That would make me much more interested in a 837 at Costco as a replacement.
Odd Sidenote: The 65″ is now the smallest 837 Costco carriers, but disturbingly enough, their 73″ and 82″ all share the same damn 180 watt bulb… given my existing phobia of dark-picture performance, I couldn’t imagine picking up a 82″ screen that was driven by the same bulb output that my 65 is… anyway, just an observation for anyone that enjoys talking Mitsu-DLP-tech
July 13th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
Riyad,
I noticed that the “Dark Detailer” on the 831 seemed to have that function reversed. By that, I mean that turning ON the Dark Detailer seemed to lose contrast enhancement rather than providing contrast enhancement. I switched it off to enhance dark detail on the 831. Turning ON the Dark Detailer in the 835 improves that detail. So…Yes, I believe there were some software glitches in the first implementation of Dark Detailer. I am not too surprised that you would begin to lose some dark detail after 3500+ hrs on the lamp. I strongly urge you to get a replacement ASAP as this is one of the first symptoms that the lamp could be approaching the end of its useful life. There will come a time in the near future where the lamp fill fail to light and you’ll be up the proverbial creek.
July 13th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Riyad,
The 180W lamp is typically throttled way back on the 65″ sets. The DLP chip is reflecting only 40-45% of the light energy for a full-white object on a 65″ set. The 73″ and 82″ sets simply program the DLP chip to reflect more of the available light. The avg screen lumens can be set to be identical across the range of screen sizes. You simply have to adjust the brightness and contrast settings to compensate for the larger screen.
July 13th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Bob,
As always your insightful replies are much appreciated. I’ll get ontop of a replacement lamp ASAP.
As for the 40-45% you gave with the chip reflection, do you have any reference materials I can dig through to get more detail on this? I was perfectly fine not getting an 82″ TV until you said that…
July 13th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
The “40%-45%” figure came out of a discussion with an engineering tech who was sent to my place to take some measurements on the old 831 after its second episode. (That seemed unusual for MITS at the time) He indicated that most of the light energy is dissipated and can actually drive the temperature of the DLP chip quite high. Fortunately, the thermal limits on the DLP chips have been steadily raised so this is no longer a major problem. But…if a pixel suddenly goes black or full-bright, it is likely to to thermal failure of that pixel on the chip.
The tech indicated there is a setting within the Service Menu that allows for setting parameters for a 65″ and 73″ set. This automatically adjusts the brightness, contrast and color settings to match the size of the screen. I never wanted to ‘experiment’ with that, so I am not familiar with them. The Service Menu on the 835 is basically the same as the 831 (MENU 2 4 5 7), but, unless the bulb is the original one that came with the set, the numbers at the bottom of the Service Menu signify the set’s ON time – not necessarily the bulb’s ON time. I am currently showing 3785 hours on my 835 and still going strong with a clean, crisp picture. Perhaps MITS’ projected 8000 hours on the bulb for the 835 set might actually come to pass.
July 17th, 2009 at 5:16 pm
After much searching with no answers, I’ve ended up here. Hopefully, someone will know the answer to these two questions:
1. Can the light engine be moved up towards the mirror to reduce overscan (like moving a flashlight towards a wall–image gets smaller)?
2. Is there some kind of lens or something that can be adjusted to change focus?
July 17th, 2009 at 7:00 pm
joikd,
According to the Engineering Tech, there is no adjustment for focus, per se. The “Focus Lens” is an integral part of the light engine and does not have any adjustments. If your image is out of focus, the light engine probably needs replacing. The light engine nor its lens assemblies cannot be cleaned in the field.
The service manual does not show any field adjustments for ‘overscan’. But, you can invoke a test pattern to show you the current level of overscan. The test pattern can be invoked on the remote control (MENU 2-4-5-7 followed by FF/FWD multiple times) This pattern shows colored borders with:
Red = 4% overscan
White = 5% overscan
Green = 6% overscan
Cyan = 7% overscan
Yellow = 10% overscan
Press EXIT to close test pattern
If, for example, your outer-most visible border shows CYAN, you are overscanning at 7%. On my set, the outer-most visible border is white (5% overscan).
BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN WITHIN THE SERVICE MENU. YOU CAN REALLY MESS UP THE SETTINGS WHICH MAY REQUIRE A “FACTORY DEFAULT RESET” IF YOU CAN STILL SEE THE SCREEN IMAGE.
July 18th, 2009 at 7:53 am
Bob, thank you very much.
So, with the light engine “lens” being fixed and unadjustable, that would mean there is a single point of distance that gives optimal focus. This distance, though, causes a certain amount of overscan. Correct?
I know that many of the older Mits. CRT displays (mine included) arrived out of the box with less than optimal focus. Many guys (including me) actually opened up the back, and adjusted the focus on all three guns with noticeable improvement. So, my next question is: are these DLP’s arriving with optimal focus out of the box? Maybe there is room for improvement by moving the light engine (I read that it is secured by just a few screws, and that there is room to slide it back and forth)?
July 18th, 2009 at 10:00 am
You are essentially correct. But, with no field adjustment for focus or overscan, you are just about ’stuck’ with what MITS ships to you. I presume you have the 65″ model which has its light engine mounting substantially different from the 73″ version.
There are, indeed, only two mounting screws which hold down the light engine to the chassis. But those screws also confine the limits for the mechanical keystone adjustment as well as the rotation adjustment. Any attempt to alter the light engine spacing would likely also alter the amount of light impinging on the DLP chip and the brightness of your screen. There are so many potential “gotchas” that I urge you to reconsider leaving the light engine where it is.
Just as an aside… If you are having a severe overscan issue, are you sure the TV’s FORMAT setting is correct for your source material? Just a thought…
Also… Most 480i and 480p sources will appear slightly out of focus due to the upconversion process. This is because there are no high-frequency components, so the images will not be as ‘crisp’ as those we get used to seeing in HD. My first reaction was “..there is something wrong here.” The upconversion process digitally interpolates the ‘missing lines’ between the 480x source and the 1024p display screen. This will still be the case even if you are using a full-bandwidth HDMI cable. A 65″ screen tends to amplify the lack of bandwidth in a 480x source. Does the video seem out of focus even with a 1080i over-the-air signal?
July 18th, 2009 at 10:13 am
RE: My 7-1-09 post about white spots on screen of 57831. Picture washed out and left side darker…. Bad light engine per service guy. Cost me $117 to find that out.
7-18-09 After three phone calls to Mits and one from Mits to my service guy, Mits paid the parts for rebuilt light engine and new lamp.
I paid total $284 R&R. I give Mits an ‘A’ for this accomodation on a 27-month old 57831. Took the tech 30 minutes to do the job in my living room. Engine slides in and out with only a few screws. I’m told many techs will take the set into their shop for this work. I would really try to avoid their moving the set to their shop. Seems their concern is mainly about cleanliness of the work environment. I suggest that anyone looking at engine replacement do a little cleaning and dust around the set for better odds on in-house fix.
July 18th, 2009 at 11:02 am
Mike,
Excellent followup, thanks for taking the time to let us know what happened. I’m *very* happy to hear that Mits customer service came through there… obviously you had to spend some money for the out-of-warranty set, but sounded very affordible to get the setup up and running again as opposed to heading out and shopping for a new one.
July 25th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
Another followup on the “air flow” error message for a WD-65831. I was able to fix this problem as well, easily and with no cost. On this model, as described in a previous post, the thermocouple sits on the back side of the lamp cage. You will need to remove the lamp cover and the back of the TV to access the wiring. Without going through the effort of unscrewing the thermocouple, find the 2 black wires that run from the thermocouple to the image engine. On my model there is a clip/plug that can be separated/disconnected from the thermocouple. Unplug the wires and on the female side of the clip, put a small shunt, made of a bent paperclip, into the connections and tape. this in effect shorts the connection w/o any difficult work. It appears to have fixed my issue. I hope it fixes it for you as well. If your unit is still under warranty, I suggest you have it properly repaired. If it is out of warranty, this is a quick and easy solution.
July 25th, 2009 at 4:45 pm
Derek,
Your solution is, indeed, a quick fix. But, if you plan to leave that fix in the set, it effectively takes the thermal sensor out of the protection loop. Should an air path become blocked over time, major thermal damage could be done which might force you to scrap the set. Since you have already isolated the probable cause, I still recommend that you hard solder the sensor to the wiring. This is the solution that MITs has adopted in their field service bulletins. The repair shop technicians took about 45 minutes to cut out the connector and splice the wires.
August 11th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
Thanks, again, for your answers, Bob. I don’t have overscan issues (2.5%), but was just hoping to improve.
One issue that I’m having that nobody seems to be talking about is that the two “ISF modes”, ADV1 & ADV2, do not have enough light output. With contrast maxed at 63, and the bulb mode in “bright” instead of “standard”, I only get 29-30 ftL. With Natural, Bright, and Brilliant, I can get from 44 to 66 ftL. Any ideas?
August 11th, 2009 at 7:24 pm
That sounds unusual. What is your video input source? Does it have an adjustable output level?
August 11th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
Well, I suppose I could use my HTPC instead of the blu-ray player (no adjustments) to crank up contrast. But, I’ve always been under the impression that you’re not supposed to let an HTPC mess with anything. So, I may be screwed there. I was thinking that Mits. needs to release a firmware update to fix the problem. The other modes prove that the display is capable of putting out higher ftL, so if they just change the parameters of the ADV1 & ADV2 modes, it should work. Does that sound possible?
By the way, when I said “nobody seems to be talking about”, I meant everywhere–not just here.
Also, blue is way, way, way undersaturated. No amount of cranking color, PerfectColor, or ADV mode blue does anything except crank Y (well, maybe it raises blue a hair). The other colors are okay, though. I read that last year’s models had the same issue with blue.
August 12th, 2009 at 6:43 am
joikd,
What exactly are you referring to with your “ADV” inputs? The 65831 service manual makes no reference to ADV inputs. In addition to the HDMI inputs, the service manual states:
VIDEO IN JACK (RCA Type)1.0Vp-p 75? unbalanced
AUDIO IN JACK (RCA Type)-4.7dBm 43k? unbalanced
S-VIDEO IN JACK (Y/C separate type)Y:1.0 Vp-p C:0.286Vp-p(BURST)75? unbalanced
COMP / Y, Cr, Cb (RCA Type)Y: 1.0 Vp-p Cr, Cb: 700mVp-p
August 12th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
Whoops! Sorry, guys. I thought we were talking about the 65835.
September 5th, 2009 at 7:58 am
Hello all, this is a great forum to find out what happened to my WD57831. Like many on here I started getting an AirFlow blocked message. I used compressed air yesterday to blow out the vents, and it worked. At least until I turned it on this morning. I’m getting the same message, so I took off the back panel to clean out the tv. Same message comes up. I called a repair man, and he is aware of the problem and is scheduled to come out. I thought about fixin it myself, but decided I’ll wait for him. He stated that he wasn’t going to solder the connector, so if this happens again, I’ll call someone else or fix it myself. Thank you to all who posted in this forum for giving me direction on my problem. Although it would have been nice to have an excuse to buy an LED tv if mine required lots of money to fix. I’ll post an update when I get it fixed.
September 5th, 2009 at 9:05 am
Doug,
The connectors that MITS used in the heat sensor path were not the correct connectors. The connector swaging mechanism is designed for solid-core wire. MITS used stranded wire. That essentially guarantees a high failure rate – particularly in a high thermal cycling environment. Knowing what I have found out about this connector, I would insist it be removed and the wires soldered together.
September 5th, 2009 at 10:39 am
Thanks Bob! I think I’ll wait to see if the repair guy solders the wires. If not, then I will pick up a soldering gun and do it myself.
September 5th, 2009 at 10:47 am
You might mention to the repair guy that MITS has a service order published that instructs their authorized service personnel to solder the wires. (Presumably because of the wrong type of clips in the connector)
September 5th, 2009 at 10:57 am
I will do that. And if he insists on not soldering, I’ll call another repair service. Thanks for your help. I appreciate it! If I had any clue on how to solder, I would do it myself. Maybe its time to go to youtube.
September 5th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
Update. The repair guy just left. Took him all of 15 minutes to replace the sensor. I told him about the bulletin from Mitsu, and he said that he used to repair the sensor like that(soldering the wires). He said they figured out it wasn’t a conection problem, but that the sensor would trip the error message because it wasn’t rated very well. He said the updated sensor will not trip the error message. So if it’s true or not, I’m fixed!!! Back up and running!!! Thanks again to all on this site, if it weren’t for you all I wouldn’t have called a repair man in the first place!
October 16th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
Thank you so much for posting this information! I don’t have a Mitsubishi TV, but I do have a BenQ MP512 projector, and it was shutting itself off. I opened it up and started looking around, tried fixing a few connections, but nothing seemed to help. The fans ran okay, so I couldn’t see why the projector was turning itself off. It wasn’t until I dug a little deeper and found the sensor that I found the source of the trouble. When I googled klixon YS11A95B, it led me to this blog. And sure enough, after removing the crimped connector and soldering the sensor wires directly to the PCB, the projector works perfectly!
October 16th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
Rob,
It is a fairly common mistake made by many engineers. They fail to read the note “NOT FOR STRANDED WIRE” in the crimp connector data sheets. Unless specifically designed to penetrate the insulation of stranded wire, most crimp connectors will have poor reliability and will likely fail with thermal cycling. Many crimp connectors for stranded wiring specifically require stripping the insulation and tinning the wires. They also may include a built-in strain relief shroud to minimize flexing at the crimp. It seems a bit excessive for such a small part, but those of us who experienced the failures would not call this excessive.
October 16th, 2009 at 8:05 pm
I am having similar problems with the VS-77707 MITs. Do you think he thermal sensor could be the problem with it shutting itself off?
October 16th, 2009 at 8:06 pm
oops I mean the VS-55707 not 77707( must have had James Bond on my mind)
October 16th, 2009 at 11:00 pm
i have a mitsubishi 62 inch wd62327 it runs fine for 3 hours or so then just shuts off the red status light comes on before it shuts off the fan sounds like its slowing down if i unplug it for for a while then turn it on it runs for a few hours then does the same thing please help
October 31st, 2009 at 1:37 pm
SO I bought a new lamp…my 3rd in like 2 years for my WD-Y65. I have had the lamp for like 3 months, and now my Lamp light is on. My TV will turn on for like 10 minutes at a time then picture goes out and my lamp light turns on again. I do not get the airflow issue message that I have gotten before. After waiting like an hour i can do it again. Which i can watch for like 10 more minutes. I don’t know what the issue is does anyone have any ideas or ways to fix? I wish that I had never bought this TV it has been more trouble than it has been worth.
November 6th, 2009 at 4:52 pm
I had a question about bulb hours for my mitsubishi dlp WD57831 and I figured this was the place to come for answers. Will watching my DLP at the Bright or Brilliant setting make the bulb burn out quicker as opposed to the natural setting? The first bulb I had burned out in 4 months and I figured it was because the factory setting was on brilliant and I didn’t change it. Could someone give me a definate answer. Thank you!!
November 6th, 2009 at 9:19 pm
Doug,
All of the brightness & contrast settings (including Brilliant, Bright & Natural) are adjusted in the DLP chip settings – not the lamp. The lamp is normally operated at its standard setting. There is a service setting to increase the lamp output by about 5%, but the effect is to shorten the lamp life since that increases the lamp’s operating temperature. To answer your question: No – placing the system in Brilliant or Bright mode will not decrease the life of your lamp.
November 7th, 2009 at 6:27 am
Doug,
To addon to what Bob said (he’s the goto-guy around here) I’d also add that a 4-month lamp life in ANY configuration is too short.
Assuming you are a normal watcher of TV (not 10 hrs a day) 2 years would be short and 5 would be long… I’m most of the way through my 3rd year right now with my original WD-65831 on it’s original bulb and so far so good.