Super8ball

[Sadik J Haidary]

Hi. I just bought two light bulbs for my GAF 3000S super 8 movie projector which I have not used in years. But after installing them they burned almost immediately one after the other. Now I’m not sure if it was the bulbs being bad or something is up with the projector which is causing a voltage surge or something. I did a voltage test on the light socket and it gave me 120 v so I know that’s ok. I ordered the exact same bulb types mentioned on the projector so I know the type and ratings are correct. Any suggestions? Thanks

[Martin Baumgarten]

I suspect something is going on with the projector, perhaps some tiny short somewhere in or to the lamp socket.  A quick fix is to run a separate power lead to the lamp socket with an inline switch and by pass the projector.  Or you could try using a much lower cost LED equivalent lamp, they often cost in the $9 to $15 range and see if that works.  Sometimes they are a bit longer and thus you'd have to allow the socket to float on the rear of the bulb since the bulb holder keeps the lamp in position.  Those replacement lamps for your projector will eat up money rapidly and you're not getting any use from them!   Thus my suggestions here.  Or, consider another projector for now, unless you're able to do repairs and tests yourself since sending it to anyone to fix is just too costly; you can usually just buy another projector, either the same or better for much less than what all that would cost.  Good luck though.