Shared Knowledge
“How to: Get Remote Control
Buttons to Work Again”
If you have a remote control of any type, long enough, one or more of the push buttons will begin to fail to operate. Throw away the remote? Maybe if it is a $10 universal but what if it is unique to a fan or an expensive audio control center or CD changer? Buying a new one of those can be hard to find and probably expensive, so before you pitch that old controller try the following.
1.
Remove
the batteries from the remote and see how it is assembled. Probably there are
some small screws somewhere or the unit snaps together. Either way, take the
unit apart so you can get to the circuit board.
2.
Once
you can see the circuit board from the back, remove any screws holding it in
place and lift the circuit board straight up and out of the remote. Be careful
to not turn the remote case upside down, as the actual push buttons could fall
out.
3.
Once
you have the circuit board out, use “Goop Off” or some similar cleaner to clean
all the push button contact locations on the circuit board. Very often, Coke or
some other sugar-based liquid will be split into the keypad and the pressure
sensitive switches will not make contact like they should. Clean the circuit
board as well as you can with the cleaner.
4.
Put
the circuit board back into the remote control and screw it back in place.
5.
Snap
on or screw down the back of the remote control and replace battery(s).
If
the problem was dirty keypad contacts, cleaning should now have fixed your
remote.
As
with any disassembly, go slow, put all screws and other parts in a box or other
container as they can be easily lost in the process of working on something and
if something does not want to come off or appears to be stuck, back off and do
something else for a while and then come back. Perhaps you have overlooked a
screw, plastic tab or there is some other reason parts will not come apart.
Hard to give advice on how much pull or push to apply to any 2 parts, just go
slow.