Projectors for Africa

A few years ago I purchased a bunch of projectors and sent them over to pastors in Africa.  Recently a pastor has been asking me for some more projectors.  So I went on eBay, looked around, and bought eight of them for $160.  That is $20 per projector.  They are Epson EMP-S3's.  The catch is that they all have around 2000 hours on their lamps so they need new lamps that cost at least $50 each.  If anyone wants to donate to this cause it would be greatly appreciated. 

Epson EMP S3 Projectors

Someone suggested that I try to retrofit them with LED's instead.  Well the high intensity LED's are almost as expensive as the 170 watt lamps so the conversion would not save much.  But LED's sure would last a lot longer than 2000 hours.  There are some 10 watt LED's that put out about 1000 lumens at 12 volts.  Those LED's might just do the trick.  I have ordered some to give it a try.

Epson EMP S3 Projectors

The projectors arrived and almost all of them worked.  Two of them needed new lamps.  One would not start at all and one only sometimes started.  The lamp hours on most of them are likely bogus, they are running around 1000 lumens and that is typical of a lamp with more than 2000 hours on it.   The biggest problem I am facing is the air filters.  The projector filters are completely clogged and if you try to wash them out they disintegrate into nothing.  Someone on eBay is charging $20 for a replacement filter but you can buy several feet of filter material at WallMart for $1 and make your own replacement filters.
   

Epson EMP S3 Projector filters

Just cut the filter material to the right size, then glue it along the edges.  It is a tight fit to get it into the projectors, but if you tuck in the leading edge the filter fill fit nicely.