How to replace the color wheel in my Samsung DLP HLR4667

I have an older model Samsung DLP HLR4667WAX/XAA HDTV that I'd like to keep going. The pictures quality is still good, and now that I own a home, it isn't like I can just drive down to Best Buy and pick up the latest and greatest TV set, as much as I would like to.

DLP's generally have three different problems associated with them. And all of them are fixed by replacement:

• lamp - burns out. If the lamp refuses to light up, this is your first course of action to replace it
  
• ballast - refuses to turn on the lamp. If replacing the lamp you still have problems with it lighting, then this is your last restort
  
• color wheel - when your TV starts to make grating whirring noises, or there are colors on your TV missing, then this needs to be replaced
  

The color wheel is about one of three moving parts in the TV. The other two are fans. There's a large fan to cool the lamp, and a small fan to cool the DMD (DLP chip with all the tiny mirrors). A fourth source of noise is the ballast. It may makes noise as electricity arcs across it. Especially when cold.

Replacing the lamp and/or the ballast requires some confidence. If you can do that, then maybe you can replace the color wheel. You'll need some nerves of steel and a bit of determination. Having a camera around to help you remember is a bonus.

Keep a vacuum handy. There will be a lot of dust in there if your DLP hasn't been cleaned recently.

Also, it helps to place the loose screws into the components you've removed so you know where they go when you put it back together again.

PART I

So this is where you want to get to. You want to remove the DMD module completely from the TV so you have access to the color wheel.

 This is how I got there.

Remove the panel

The HLR4667 has a removable back panel to access the lamp and ballast. Then there's a panel around that to access the bottom electronics. You want to remove that entire bottom panel, and not just the access to the lamp and ballast.

Remove the bottom board

You'll need to remove the bottom board (no clue what it does, so I call it the bottom board since it just sits there on the bottom of the TV) in order to access the connectors around it and slide the DMD board out. The only interchangeable connectors are the red-black-yellow ones up front. I believe they provide power to the fans and they always remain on when the TV is on, so it isn't a big deal if you reverse those.

The connectors generally need to be pinched in order to remove them. They don't typically just slide right out. So some pliers or using a screwdriver for leverage helps.

Once the board is removed, you'll have access to removing more connectors, especially this one that would be impossible to remove without the board gone.

Save the clip

When you slide out the DMD board, there is a clip that will get in the way so it has to be removed one way or another.

So you can skip this next step by forsaking the clip and just cutting it out entirely and trashing it. Or you can take a few extra minutes to remove it and save it for use again. You'll want to remove the remaining covered section:

After you remove the screws and lift the cover off it will look like this, exposing the back-end of the clip. The idea is to squeeze the end back down so it fits back into the hole it is mounted in.

I used needle nose pliers to pinch down the ends and push it back out.

Remove the lamp

The lamp sits in a housing to the right of the DMD board. It is pretty much held in by one screw bordering the DMD board and slides out rather easily.

Remove the ballast

Once you remove the lamp, the ballast sits right underneath that. There are two screws that hold it in place directly facing you on the rails that the lamp slid out on. There are a couple connectors that need to be removed as well, and then it should slide right out as well.

Remove the DMD board

There are a couple of screws holding the DMD board to the TV along the bottom. Unscrew those, and after you make a path through the connectors, the DMD board should just slide right out.

There may be a little problem with the top of the DMD board hitting some cables so watch out for that and push them out of the way.

When you remove the DMD board, I would not attempt to clean the large lens. If you must, I'd spray some air (not compressed) with an air bulb dust blower, and use a lens dust brush. That's about it. I wouldn't use any solvents.

PART II

If you got this far, then you are in good shape. Take a break. You deserve it!

Next part we'll be replacing the color wheel.

Remove the top plastic plate

Right underneath this plate is the color wheel. Also remove the connectors.

Remove the baffle box

This box is split in two. You only want to remove the top half. It's held by three screws located halfway down at the three corners.

Lift the fan out

If you removed the connector in a previous step, this fan should just lift right out. There is nothing holding it in place, except the baffle.

Remove the plastic seperator

I think this is there to help control air-flow through the lamp. It's held by two screws on the bottom.

Remove the color wheel window

There are three screws mounting this to the color wheel and DMD board facing us. After that is removed, you'll have exposure to the color wheel.

The color wheel housing

There are two screws holding the color wheel housing down. Remove the screws and remove the color wheel and replace. This is generally the hardest part: placing in the new color wheel in place without shattering the color wheel. It is a tight fit and requires that it be placed in straight down without angling it in.

color wheel with housing

PART III

There are actually two different types of color wheels that the HLR4667 can use. There is an air-bearing color wheel, which also requires its housing to be replaced with it. And there is the ball-bearing color wheel which can be switched out without switching out the housing. You may not know which color wheel is already in your DLP so either get one with the metal housing, or take apart your DLP to figure out which one you have.

An air-bearing color wheel has a longer cylinder in the center of the color wheel. A ball-bearing color wheel would be yellow with a shorter stubby center.

The air-bearing is supposed to be better than the ball-bearing color wheel so upgrade when you can.

If you upgrade (or downgrade) the color wheel, you will also need to either remove or place in a jumper.

Locate the rectangular hole to the left of the DMD fan heat sink in the picture below.

This is where the jumper is located.

• Air-bearing needs a jumper put in.
• Ball-bearing needs the jumper removed.

If you have something different, then the color wheel spins at the wrong rpm's. Typically when this happens, the red and blue colors look reversed.

If you switch to a different type of bearing you may also see problems in low light where the color is posterized. This may require further adjustment through the service menu on your TV.

WARNING: wrong values in the service menu can kill your television. Proceed with caution.

Enter the Service Menu

With the DLP off push button on the remote: Mute-1-8-2-Power

Set the Digital-DMD menu

I personally did not see a difference in this step, but I found it on the Internet and am providing it for completeness sake just in case it may help someone else.

Go into the Option menu.

Go into the Digital-DMD menu.

Press the right arrow key and an Ok should appear.

Exit

Adjust the Index Delay value

This adjustment fixed the posterizing problem that I was seeing.

In the service menu select Service.

Select the Index Delay.

There should be a color spectrum of white, red, green, and blue should appear along the bottom of the screen.

Your color wheel may come with the value to enter here. Otherwise, concentrate on the red. The goal is to get a consistent increasing shade of red across the board.

Here was my original color spectrum:

Notice that the red spectrum turns an orange shade in places.

Here is the spectrum with a better Index Delay adjustment:

That's it! Exit the service menu and you should be done..