Question about sudden projector shutdown

[lkwetter]

I work at a small college and we have a classroom with a Polycom 7000e/polycom Vortex system with two Panasonic LCD projectors and two plasma screens that work off of it. It has developed a problem in which for no apparent reason the projectors and plasma screens all shut down suddenly. The call stays connected and the rest of the system continues to work. The can all be manually turned on again and it goes for another X amount of time.

It used to take two hours of continual use for this to happen. Now, it's doing it every 20 minutes. It's a problem, because we have an 8 hour long nursing distance ed class in there now. I had it on our list of issues when the tech person came down and he apparently did not fix it (actually he did almost nothing, but I have little say in this).

Can any of you shed any light on where the problem likely lies and some possible causes? :ponder:

Thanks a bunch.
Tish

[mazzarak]

these will sound dumb questions, but here they come anyway.

Have you checked the power cables?
What other control systems have you got in it - AMX, Crestron etc?
When you say shut down, do they go into standby all at once, or does the power go?
Is the Polycom powered off the same power supply as the other kit?
Does it only do it in a call?

[JGC]

You might also want to check and see if there is a motion detector in the room that shuts down the AV system (puts it into standby mode) after a period of time. These are used to save lamp hours on projector bulbs and screen life of plasmas. If the sensitivity on the motion detector isn't set accurately, it won't detect minor motion in the room and may shut down the system even when in use.

[grgross]

You have probably already checked this but you may want to check the screen/power saver functions of your equipment. If it were only Projectors, I would suspect lamps but it is unlikely the plasmas are going simultaneously. Whoever suggested you check control systems made an excellent suggestion. Many program modules contain power or protection routines.

[lkwetter]

It turned out to be related to a power saver function. After some more investigation, I figured out that it is 12 hours off on a timer that is supposed to shut it down at 10:00pm in situations where someone forgets to shut the system down. I had not spent a long time in the room and was going by what others had said was happening. But, I found out that it only shuts down once after spending most of a day in there.

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions.

Tish