Remote Control Rehab ~ Repairing Remote Controls

Remote Control Rehab:  a cheap and easy solution  to your Big Screen addiction?

Send a surrogate to Betty Ford in your place?
Sorry. . . . “…that dog won’t hunt…”

This rehab is for everyone out there who has a remote with a button or two that are either cranky or don’t work, offering solutions that have bought at least another 3 years of life for this 16 year old TV remote.

The main problem with a dead or dying button is that the carbon contact on the underside of the well-used button has worn out (dying = you really have to mash it really hard or wiggle it “just right”).

Since the “Power” , “Volume”, and “Channel Up & Down” get the most usage, they can be the first to go. If you can turn on the TV with the buttons on the TV, but you can still change TV channels by entering the Channel Numbers, then the “Power” button’s carbon contact is worn out. Occasionally the problem might be pop or food residues inside the remote, but usually it’s a worn-out contact. You can also test whether the remote is working by pressing a remote control’s button while aiming it at a video camera, web cam, digital camera, or cell phone camera, and taking a foto while pressing a button (The remote’s IR LED shows up as a little light by the camera’s light sensor.)

The Solution:
Super Glue a small piece of aluminum foil onto the underside of the failed button, renewing the contact, & wipe the old carbon dust off the circuit board button contacts.

16 yr old TV remote

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Take your old remote, find any screws on the back, or under the batteries, or under a label, or under one of the little rubber feet.
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Like the taped-on cardboard cover securing batteries?

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Remove any screws and remove the batteries.
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Now comes the challenging part. . .

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It’s time to gently pry the remote’s plastic case open. Remote cases are like a clam-shell with a top and a bottom. You might either use a dull putty knife or the dull-backside of a typical table knife. The goal is to pry the case open without scratching or scarring the plastic.

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A successfully opened case looks like this
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Hey, look!

Someone has already glued little pieces of aluminum foil onto some previously “dead” buttons”.

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I guess our work is done here…
Actually, opening the case can be the hardest part, but here are some tricks. Many remote cases have little latches/catches: tab & slot affairs, where a little plastic hook clicks into a slot. Gently pressing inward into various points of the groove around the sides of the remote with a wide bladed blunt screwdriver or dull putty knife can often flex the plastic enough for the case to open. Most cases require inching along, releasing one catch, moving on to open the next catch, sequentially releasing all the catches until the clamshell opens. Sometimes there are only screws at the battery end of the remote and plastic catches holding the other end together.

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Once opened, the back-side of the rubber button pad assembly will look like this.

The next operation is obvious: gently prep the offending button’s carbon contact by cleaning it with a little isopropyl alcohol and a Q-Tip or soft cloth – make it residue free – test for residue by gently wiping the button with a bit of white paper; cut out little carbon-contact sized pieces of shiny (thick?) aluminum foil to make new electrical contacts; apply a small drop of Super Glue to back-side of the dead button (where the carbon used to be); use your finger to gently smooth the foil to make it very flat and unwrinkled; using tweezers place the foil, shiny side UP – greyish-non-shiny side down onto the glue on the dead button’s carbon contact.

Once applied, very gently smooth out any wrinkles in the foil, so it appears just like the foto – and to help it make a good bond to the button. Let the glue dry for 5 minutes – you may have to blot up extra glue off the rubber button base with the corner of a bit of paper towel – but don’t disturb your new foil contact.



Note the shiny 2 year old aluminum foil contacts.

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Now that the Super Glue is dry, gently clean any visibly dirty carbon contacts with a Q-tip and alcohol, or wipe/polish scarred contacts very gently with a bit of white paper. Paper is slightly abrasive and it grinds off a little of the carbon contact with every rub – so, you can easily wear off the carbon by rubbing too much with a cloth or paper.
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It’s time to clean the remote control’s circuit board.



Screwdriver pointing to circuit board

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Just like with the button’s carbon contact cleaning, use a Q-tip and some rubbing alcohol (Isopropanol / Isopropyl Alcohol), clean any residues of gunk off the electrical contacts that are opposite the buttons. You can also use white paper to gently wipe the contacts clean.
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Almost done.
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All that’s needed now is to gently touch (use a very clean finger) your shiny new aluminum button contacts to be sure that the Super Glue has cured and that the aluminum foil is secure. If your glue job didn’t hold, try again. Try not to get too much glue on the rubber – or it will look like this remote – grey and oxidized.

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Final Re-Assembly:

Make sure the rubber button assembly is positioned properly in the top half of the remote cover, then snap the two-halves of the remote’s cover back together. Re-install screws gently. Reinstall the batteries (cleaning the electrical contacts on the remote’s battery compartment, if they are oxidized); and you’re done.

(Hint: if you damaged the case getting it apart, you might have to use some custom-cut pieces of invisible Scotch tape to secure the 2 halves of your remote.)

(Or if like our 16 yr old remote, it lived a hard life with 3 teens, then you’ll definitely have to get out the tape.)



Re-Assembled 16 yr old TV remote - looks as good as when we started!

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Feel free to copy with proper attribution:
YucaLandia/Surviving Yucatan.

© Steven M. Fry

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Read-on MacDuff . . .

My apologies to everyone who read this article hoping they could go through re-hab without going to a clinic -