Color wheel/ Samsung

OK - It took a little doing but the new color wheel is install and my television is working as good as ever. To answer your question regarding if the color wheel can be replaced by a "non-tech", I would have to say that on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the most difficult - this job was around a 7. I am a field service tech on industrial printers and could see where someone might get run into some trouble installing this part. I summons the assistance of a co-worker/friend who was more than happy to assist me in the installation of the part.



I will try and lay out some steps for you to make it easier. I am not a television repair-man so I am going to use terms like "that blue thing" or "the who's-it-called" to describe the things I saw when I was inside my baby. This was for a Samsung HLR6167WX/XAA color wheel L3 Chassis.



1- Remove the Fan cover (4 screws) located towards the right of the television. Pay attention to note that you can see the lamp and also a blue switch that touches the cover you just removed. The television WILL NOT TURN ON if that cover is removed and not making contact with the switch.

2- Remove the back cover of the television. There were around 10 screws holding them on. You now have access to everything you need.

3- Using a small screw driver, disconnect the big white cable that runs is on the left side of the circuit board in the middle. You only need to disconnect the one side that is facing to the left.

4- Disconnect the white cable that runs next to the previously removed cable. It pulls right out and runs up towards the top of the TV. I tucked mine up to the left so it was not in the way.

5- On the bottom right circuit board there is a power connector with both a blue and white wire. Just use ur screw driver to ease the tab and the plug comes right out.

6- There was a silver metal bracket on the bottom right side that needed to be removed as well. That was held in with three (3) screws.

7- Once these things were removed I was then able to pry the base unit from the television. When pulling the entire unit towards you, you need to be aware that there is a cable run on the top that may need to be pushed up higher to make room and also a cable run hook on the left that rubs against the unit as you remove it. I was able to push down on the cable run holder (its plastic) and carefully slide the unit out. When the unit was free, I swung it around to the left to gain access to the color wheel.

8- You can see the color wheel from the top because it has these gray fins with two separate wires coming from it. I am pretty sure the fins are for heat dissipation but that's just a guess. Follow both cables from the color wheel and you'll notice they go to the top of a circuit board sitting side by side. One connector on the circuit board is a white connector with a 4 wires (blue, white, white, white). To remove this connector use a small screw driver to pry up from the holder and it should come right out. The second connector is a flat ribbon cable that slides into a connector. This one was a little difficult to remove because anytime I have seen these types of connectors there was a release for them. This on did not have one as I could see. With a quick tug on the connector then cable was free. You may have to use a small pair of needle nose plyers to remove this cable.

9- Before removing the color wheel I needed to remove the fan cover that was blocking the color wheel. There are four (4) brass-like screws holding this fan in place. Three are along the base or floor of the unit while one sits a little higher up near the color wheel.

10- Remove the two screws holding in the color wheel. These are two pains-in-the-**** screws because they where phillips head screws that had a wider base than a standard phillips screw driver. We needed to pay attention when removing these because we did not want to strip the screws out. You need to push down on the screws while turning because if you don't you take the chance of slipping and stripping the screw. The screw on the top is easy to grab but you may need a pair of needle nose plyers to get the second screw that sits a bit lower on the opposite side.

11- There was no question my color wheel was bad and I was a little relieved to find that mine was shattered into a million pieces once the color wheel was removed. I had that "gee - I'm glad I didn't take this apart of no reason" feeling. It took a little time but all that glass needed to be removed. We used a vacuum and some canned air to clean the area up. MAKE SURE YOU CLEAN UP ALL THE GLASS!!

12- Installing the new color wheel is a little tricky because of a couple different reasons. First thing is that you need to treat this new color wheel like it's nitroglycerin because if you break it while installing it you be you that certain creek without a paddle. Secondly is that you need to make sure the rubber gasket that runs around it stays snug when screwing in the unit. Notice that the one ribbon cable coming from the middle of the color wheel is running between the color wheel and the gasket. There is a notch in the color wheel for the cable to run through.

13- Once the color wheel is in place - carefully screw in those pain in the **** screws. While doing this we made sure the gasket did not move while we screwed it down.

14- Reinstall the four (4) screws holding in the fan cover.

15- Reinstall the base unit into the television. Make sure to slide it back in as far as it will go and avoid the over head cables you had to deal with when removing the unit. Also take a finger and hold that cable run holder out of the way when sliding it back in.

16- Reinstall the power cable on the bottom right.

17- Reinstall the white ribbon cable (the one to tucked up and out of the way).

18- Reinstall the big white plug connector.

19- We then checked all connectors just to make sure they were snug and verify we did not knock anything loose.

20- After that we put the back cover back on and tested the television. Everything worked fine with the exception of getting a "check the fan #1" that flashed on the bottom of the screen. We took the back cover off and reinspected fan #1. It is located right behind the fan cover that has that contact switch I mentioned earlier. My friend held the switch while I turned the TV on and the fan was spinning. In my best "Poltergiest" voice I need to let you know "DO NOT LOOK INTO THE LIGHT". That thing is so bright you'd think God himself was talking to you. When I checked the screen the error was gone. We assumed that the cover may have hit the plug when reinstalling it to the back of the television.



I am now watching television and my picture has never looked better. Good luck! OK - It took a little doing but the new color wheel is install and my television is working as good as ever. To answer your question regarding if the color wheel can be replaced by a "non-tech", I would have to say that on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the most difficult - this job was around a 7. I am a field service tech on industrial printers and could see where someone might get run into some trouble installing this part. I summons the assistance of a co-worker/friend who was more than happy to assist me in the installation of the part.

I will try and lay out some steps for you to make it easier. I am not a television repair-man so I am going to use terms like "that blue thing" or "the who's-it-called" to describe the things I saw when I was inside my baby. This was for a Samsung HLR6167WX/XAA color wheel L3 Chassis.

1- Remove the Fan cover (4 screws) located towards the right of the television. Pay attention to note that you can see the lamp and also a blue switch that touches the cover you just removed. The television WILL NOT TURN ON if that cover is removed and not making contact with the switch.
2- Remove the back cover of the television. There were around 10 screws holding them on. You now have access to everything you need.
3- Using a small screw driver, disconnect the big white cable that runs is on the left side of the circuit board in the middle. You only need to disconnect the one side that is facing to the left.
4- Disconnect the white cable that runs next to the previously removed cable. It pulls right out and runs up towards the top of the TV. I tucked mine up to the left so it was not in the way.
5- On the bottom right circuit board there is a power connector with both a blue and white wire. Just use ur screw driver to ease the tab and the plug comes right out.
6- There was a silver metal bracket on the bottom right side that needed to be removed as well. That was held in with three (3) screws.
7- Once these things were removed I was then able to pry the base unit from the television. When pulling the entire unit towards you, you need to be aware that there is a cable run on the top that may need to be pushed up higher to make room and also a cable run hook on the left that rubs against the unit as you remove it. I was able to push down on the cable run holder (its plastic) and carefully slide the unit out. When the unit was free, I swung it around to the left to gain access to the color wheel.
8- You can see the color wheel from the top because it has these gray fins with two separate wires coming from it. I am pretty sure the fins are for heat dissipation but that's just a guess. Follow both cables from the color wheel and you'll notice they go to the top of a circuit board sitting side by side. One connector on the circuit board is a white connector with a 4 wires (blue, white, white, white). To remove this connector use a small screw driver to pry up from the holder and it should come right out. The second connector is a flat ribbon cable that slides into a connector. This one was a little difficult to remove because anytime I have seen these types of connectors there was a release for them. This on did not have one as I could see. With a quick tug on the connector then cable was free. You may have to use a small pair of needle nose plyers to remove this cable.
9- Before removing the color wheel I needed to remove the fan cover that was blocking the color wheel. There are four (4) brass-like screws holding this fan in place. Three are along the base or floor of the unit while one sits a little higher up near the color wheel.
10- Remove the two screws holding in the color wheel. These are two pains-in-the-**** screws because they where phillips head screws that had a wider base than a standard phillips screw driver. We needed to pay attention when removing these because we did not want to strip the screws out. You need to push down on the screws while turning because if you don't you take the chance of slipping and stripping the screw. The screw on the top is easy to grab but you may need a pair of needle nose plyers to get the second screw that sits a bit lower on the opposite side.
11- There was no question my color wheel was bad and I was a little relieved to find that mine was shattered into a million pieces once the color wheel was removed. I had that "gee - I'm glad I didn't take this apart of no reason" feeling. It took a little time but all that glass needed to be removed. We used a vacuum and some canned air to clean the area up. MAKE SURE YOU CLEAN UP ALL THE GLASS!!
12- Installing the new color wheel is a little tricky because of a couple different reasons. First thing is that you need to treat this new color wheel like it's nitroglycerin because if you break it while installing it you be you that certain creek without a paddle. Secondly is that you need to make sure the rubber gasket that runs around it stays snug when screwing in the unit. Notice that the one ribbon cable coming from the middle of the color wheel is running between the color wheel and the gasket. There is a notch in the color wheel for the cable to run through.
13- Once the color wheel is in place - carefully screw in those pain in the **** screws. While doing this we made sure the gasket did not move while we screwed it down.
14- Reinstall the four (4) screws holding in the fan cover.
15- Reinstall the base unit into the television. Make sure to slide it back in as far as it will go and avoid the over head cables you had to deal with when removing the unit. Also take a finger and hold that cable run holder out of the way when sliding it back in.
16- Reinstall the power cable on the bottom right.
17- Reinstall the white ribbon cable (the one to tucked up and out of the way).
18- Reinstall the big white plug connector.
19- We then checked all connectors just to make sure they were snug and verify we did not knock anything loose.
20- After that we put the back cover back on and tested the television. Everything worked fine with the exception of getting a "check the fan #1" that flashed on the bottom of the screen. We took the back cover off and reinspected fan #1. It is located right behind the fan cover that has that contact switch I mentioned earlier. My friend held the switch while I turned the TV on and the fan was spinning. In my best "Poltergiest" voice I need to let you know "DO NOT LOOK INTO THE LIGHT". That thing is so bright you'd think God himself was talking to you. When I checked the screen the error was gone. We assumed that the cover may have hit the plug when reinstalling it to the back of the television.

I am now watching television and my picture has never looked better. Good luck!