Many projectors have the option to play at full power or at an “eco” mode.  Full power allows for the full brightness your projector offers but generally you will get the rated average lamp life – or less.  The “eco” option means the brightness of the images will be lessened but your lamp life often will go up to an average of 3000 hours

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Depending on your projector, the brightness on “eco” mode is 10 – 30% dimmer than at full power.  In most instances, and depending on what you use your projector for, you may not even notice any significant difference in the brightness.  If you do not notice a major difference in the brightness, using the “eco” mode is definitely a great choice for getting more hours out of your projector replacement lamp.

Some projector manufacturers, such as Panasonic, offer an extended life lamp.  However, these lamps will last the same amount of time as a regular lamp when operated at full brightness/power.  To get the benefit of the extended lamp life, these special lamps need to be operated on “eco” mode.  When purchasing an extended life lamp, look for an “x” at the end of the model number.  The “x” is the clue that this is the extended life projector lamp.  The good news is these lamps are usually not much more expensive than the normal projector replacement lamps.

No matter which mode you use to run your projector, there are things you can do to extend your projector replacement lamp’s life and hours.  Check out Projector Lamp Maintenenace for the top tips on maintaining your projector lamp’s life.

Or to sum up here, the most important things are to use common sense and be careful when using your projector.  Allow for the projector to properly cool down and don’t let the projector or lamp to get overheated.  Make sure your projector gets plenty of airflow and isn’t knocked around or banged up.  Also dust and water are deadly to your projector and the lamp.

When in doubt on how to treat your projector always turn to the projector’s user’s manual for guidelines. 
With a little bit of tender loving care, you should be able to make your projector replacement lamp last its expected lifetime.