FixYourDLP.com Forums

Hi All,

I've dug around these forums a bit and it seems like my WD-73831 may have a bad ballast.

Here's the symptoms:
- The bulb died last week, not sure how many hours it had on it. This was bulb #3 in 3 years.
- Installed a new bulb today (Philips bulb, in new housing).
- The TV powers on, sound works, but no video. The normal on light ("timer") is green.
- There's a clicking sound (5 clicks or so) about every 10-15 seconds. After 2 of these "clicking" rounds, I turned off the TV.
- Pulled out the bulb housing, seated it again to double check. Turned the TV back on, same scenario - clicking sounds.

So - sounds like the ballast is bad?

If it's the ballast, is this something I can do myself provided there's a guide out there? I'm a technical minded person, rather handy, good at following directions - but I'm not an electrician.

Any ideas are welcome.

Thanks,
Darian.

Hello darianw.
From the sound of things, it all indicates that it’s the ballast, how ever there is one other thing you can try before you go out buying new ballast.
Have you reset the lamp timer when you replaced the lamp? Here is a post that addresses that issue for the exact TV model.
http://www.fixyourdlp.com/forum/viewtop ... =12&t=1348
As for replacing the ballast, its fairly easy, its just unscrew, unplug & replace. The hard part for most people is getting to it, it’s located near the lamp, but the difficulty varies from model to model.
Keep me posted on any new developments.

I did hold down the reset (using a paper clip), but that didn't work.

I'm not sure how to reset the lamp timer when the video doesn't work? i.e. I can't see any of the on-screen menus.

I called a few tech guys in my area and have gotten all sorts of different feedback.
- One guy told me it's the bulb, not the ballast. So I tried both new bulbs to no avail. Now he says maybe it's the ballast.
- One lady told me the OEM bulbs won't work with this TV.

Also, I wasn't able to find anywhere to actually buy the ballast for my model. I tried this forum's parent site, where I bought the bulbs, discount-merchant, but they didn't have it. Google results didn't turn up anything either.

Ideas?

Not that there's any traffic or help here anyway, but just in case...

So I found out it's NOT a ballast issue. (Even though the little help sheet from d-m made it sound like it was.)

The OEM bulbs from discount-merchant do not work with the WD-83731, despite what their website would like you to believe.

I tried the manufacturers bulb (granted it's $250, not $130) and it worked just fine, as 3 different local service repair dealers told me it would.

Now I get to lose 25% (yes, 25%!) of my purchase for a "restocking fee" because the rude customer service rep at discount-merchant.com told me it was my fault, and not theirs. Despite the fact that no where on their website does it say "may not work with your WD-83731, even though we say it does".

The old saying, you get what you pay for, definitely applies to d-m.com.

For those who don't know, this forum is owned by d-m.com, so expect their advice to be slanted - that's if they let the post go through at all.

HI!! darianw

the OEM for your tv is OSRAM, so the phillips lamp which is better quality than OSRAM is not the OEM in most mitsubishi tvs the OEM is OSRAM so there is a phillips lamp with the same especifications fot that lamp but there is a small posibility that the compatilbe lamp in this case the phillips could not perform as well as the OEM, this applies in most scenarios, let's say that a guy with a sony, samsung, hitachi etc.. purchase an OSRAM compatible lamp not the OEM phillips lamp, there is also a small posibility that could not perform as well as the OEM regardless it has the same especifications, so basically this is what hapend in your case i think that the phillips lamp is compatible for your tv model but didt performed correct.

hope this helps.

Johnrot:

Err, I think I understand you.

Basically, my particular model doesn't "work" with the Phillips bulb, and for some reason requires/needs the Osram lamp (or whatever it is that Mitsubishi robs you for $250 to buy).