Repairing Remotes

[GadgetmaNZ]

I wrote this Instructable a while ago and it is on top of the Google search after Youtube links,
https://www.instructables.com/id/Rep...mote-controls/

[bigdozer]

Re: Repairing Remotes

Great write up. I've done this many times.

[mariushm]

Re: Repairing Remotes

Nothing about getting buttons working again? Any way to put some of that conductive material back on the soft plastic of the buttons?

[SIDMX]

Re: Repairing Remotes

Nothing about getting buttons working again? Any way to put some of that conductive material back on the soft plastic of the buttons?

I haven't used any of these but read somewhere that it can be done using "Conductive Silver Pen" or "Bare Conductive".

[kc8adu]

Re: Repairing Remotes

i repaired a keypad in a kenwood th-75a ht with defogger grid repair.
called quickgrid by loctite.
so far its fine.
if you clean the keypad in a remote,ht keypad,ect use only soap and hot water.
strong solvents take off the conductive coating.probably what happened to the kenwood.

[ratdude747]

Re: Repairing Remotes

Moved out of site suggestion.

[Longbow]

Re: Repairing Remotes

Since you asked, here are the problems most often encountered with simple remotes. We'll forget about the programmable touch screen do-everything remotes for now. From most likely to least likely:

1) Dead batteries, use of rechargeable batteries (insufficient voltage), batteries inserted backwards, broken battery terminals, corroded batteries and associated corrosion damage to pc board.

2) Loose parts on pcb such as loose crystals and CR's, loose IR diodes, pulled up traces, other loose connections, etc.

3) Worn out carbon contact surface on rubber buttons. Volume up/down and channel up/down will be the most likely. Repair is tricky and a number of temporary fixes can be tried. Nothing guaranteed.

4) IR emitter diode burned out (faulty).

5) Remote has been accidentally set to an alternate control channel, or main unit has been set to a child-lockout mode.

6) All other mystery problems that might include a faulty remote IC or other unusual failed part.

7) Remote is OK. Remote receiver is faulty.

[redwire]

Re: Repairing Remotes

The funniest remote fix I did, I asked the guy if anything happened to it, "yeah I had a fight with my wife and threw the remote at her, it hit the brick fireplace"...

I find the main problems are:

1. Loose connection on pcb, usually battery holders/led.
2. Spilt something/food in the remote
3. Worn conductive keypad

I gut the remote and throw it in dishsoap and water, and clean them up with a toothbrush, and then compressed air to dry them.
For bad keys I use, rubber keypad repair kit but it's expensive.

[lti]

Re: Repairing Remotes

The only problems I've seen with remotes were dirty or bad button contacts and random loss of programming on universal remotes.

[japlytic]

Re: Repairing Remotes

One time, I had a client where some functions for the TV would not work with the original remote, and I pointed out to the client that it was a universal remote becuase it can also operate other devices of the same brand.

[redwire]

Re: Repairing Remotes

MG Chemicals Rubber Keypad Repair kit 8339, $30 "Guaranteed to work over 500,000 keystrokes under normal using conditions" - didn't last a year

Their "pure silver" is mostly silver colour and rubbed off onto the PCB. The dispensers dried up, so....

Any other suggestions for repairing remote buttons?

[stj]

Re: Repairing Remotes

wipe them with pure IPA, the thin shiny top-layer comes off leaving them working with a nice matt finish again.

and check the soldering on the resonator and make sure neither of the leads has snapped at the resonator casing - pretty common if they arent glued down

[Chungalin]

Re: Repairing Remotes

If after cleaning rubber pad with water and soap there're buttons that aren't still working (and it's not due to failing traces on PCB) I usually fix it by rubbing hot soldering iron tip for some seconds. Remove excess of solder from tip before proceding and re-tin afterwards.

I do this on most used buttons (power, volume up/down, program up/down, menu, ok...). It evaporates silicone oil that has resisted soap cleaning. Improvement is immediate, but I'm still experiencing how long it lasts. I've had some returns after a few months...

Over years I've tried other methods, like silver paint or gluing aluminium foil patches. None of these lasts long. Aluminium patches get loose when new silicone oil builds up from the rubber.

More remote issues: if you shake the remote PCB near your ear and hear a subtle rattle noise from the resonator, it'll be damaged for sure. They're weak to remote falling to floor.

Sometimes battery leaks go under IC and produce intermitent failures. I detect it by heating some legs of the IC with solder tip. If after a second you hear some frying crackle from underneath IC, even some bubbles within legs, then some thorough cleaning is required.

Some cheap remotes have bridges between copper traces that are made of carbon, like the contacts. If these bridges are near a place that can suffer from battery leaks, they'll be very likely weakened and develop high resistance, specially on the point where they make contact with copper. Replace them by soldering wire bridges.

[redwire]

Re: Repairing Remotes

There's no conductive rubber on the Sony TV remote keypads, just some conductive paint they use. That's why they don't last, cheap stuff. I might glue a thin piece of conductive rubber on the keys.
I also found a bypass cap installed backwards. 47uF doesn't mind -3V must be china's revenge

[stj]

Re: Repairing Remotes

why not put those metal discs under the buttons that flip inside-out when you press them.

[redwire]

Re: Repairing Remotes

Follow up- I found a better way to repair remote control keypads.

The MG Chemicals remote control repair kit did not last. The conductive silver paint just rubbed off as the first two pics show.

What I did is glue conductive plastic, AKA Velostat/Linqstat to the buttons. Got a small piece on eBay.
Velostat is a carbon impregnated black polyethylene film, paper thin 4mils. Used for ESD bags. But glue does not stick to it at all. I had to use two-part cyanoacrylate.

After the glue dried, I used side-cutters and trimmed each piece.

To disassemble this Sony remote (RM-YD029), do not pry the silver side-trim out at all. It has interlocking fingers between the top+bottom pieces.
You have to pry the top and bottom clamshell apart using a metal guitar pick. Start at the mini keypad end and work to the other end.

Hope this works for others.

[redwire]

Re: Repairing Remotes

OK so that repair did not last long. The problem is no glue really sticks to polyethylene and the pads fell off.

Next, I tried a USD $7 rubber pad kit from fleaBay "keypad repair KIT for IR remote controllers - 100pcs conductive pads ，1.5mm~10mm"

These glue onto the keypad, I used silicone glue, you can trim excess off after it's dried using small side-cutters. Hard part is just using a tiny bit of glue and keepiong it centered and squished a little (put a weight on it) until it dries.
The key travel is much less now - but it works for years now.

[sam_sam_sam]

Re: Repairing Remotes

I tried a USD $7 rubber pad kit from fleaBay "keypad repair KIT for IR remote controllers - 100pcs conductive pads ，1.5mm~10mm"

These glue onto the keypad, I used silicone glue, you can trim excess off after it's dried using small side-cutters. Hard part is just using a tiny bit of glue and keepiong it centered and squished a little (put a weight on it) until it dries.
The key travel is much less now - but it works for years now.

Thanks for posting this

[Agent24]

Re: Repairing Remotes

The most confusing remote repair I did was on my Sony STR-DE545 amplifier.


The remote stopped controlling the amplifier.

The remote had a red LED on it to show when commands were being transmitted. The LED was not working. I straight away assumed the remote was bad and not sending any commands to the Red indicator LED OR the IR LEDs.

I opened the remote and found the Red LED had cracked solder joints. I reflowed it and it began working. I then checked the IR with a webcam and found they were also working. So I had tricked myself with the non-working indicator LED... the IR transmitters were working all along!

It turned out the IR receiver in the amplifier was dead. I replaced it with a generic one from Jaycar and modified some decoupling capacitor values to match the datasheet otherwise the new receiver was unstable. Still works great now!