Guide to opening Your Remote Control

Ezra Pound

Well-Known Member
If your Remote Control has become unresponsive, It may need cleaning, I have put together a guide on how to disassemble the remote HERE, Please note it's a bit fiddly so only attempt this if you really need to, e.g. It's not working
 
Good write-up. I have a faulty remote for a Bush TV I would like to take apart - but not been able to figure out how!
 
It may be worth mentioning it is not a good idea to rub away the surfaces of the contacts on the PCB.
I can see why you thought this may be a good idea - I've never seen a remote "wear out" as fast the contacts appear to have
done on my Humax remote before. (assuming thats its problem - its just very unreliable lately - I've not looked closely yet)

Thats a very nice explanatory page by the way.
 
It's very unlikely to "wear out", The problem is usually stuff being added to the contacts rather than being removed, Spill a cup of coffee on it and it will soon stop working. The idea is to clean off any contaminant with Methylated Spirits and a cotton bud (no abrasive) allowing the conductive rubber to make good contact with the PCB
 
Hi Ezra - for "wear out" read "become unreliable" - a better choice of words I perhaps.
No there is nothing spilled in it - the contacts have just become unreliable. I have to press hard for some of them and repeat
sometimes to get a response.

I'm assuming at present its the contacts as they normally coat remote contacts with a material that rubs off very easily and thats
the most likely culprit until I get round to opening it up.
If you rub it off they never work well again. Sometimes not at all. Hence my note above. It is not a good idea to use any sort of rubbing on them
either dry or wet in my experience for this reason.
 
If you rub it off they never work well again. Sometimes not at all. Hence my note above. It is not a good idea to use any sort of rubbing on them either dry or wet in my experience for this reason.

Most keypads I have opened have gold plated contacts and conductive rubber 'buttons', In this case the gold plating is replaced by a hard black conducting substance, I take your point about rubbing off (or removing with solvents) this black substance but the PCB making process would have to allow for some cleaning of the surface without damage. Also it is not recommended to do anything to the Remote if it is already working O.K. So it's just a case of 'How bad do the keys get before you take action'
P.S. Methylated Spirits does not appear to remove any of the contact material
 
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