Cleaning Remote Control Contacts

[DoveDesign]

What do you recommend to clean conductive rubber pads used in remote controls?
Also, the corresponding pc board contacts that are shorted by the conductive
pads to activate the remote functions.

 

[.]

Greetings..

I've had some experience with this very same thing with Sony's remote
controls with the black (underside) rubberized pad.

Symptom:
Harder and harder pushing of the various buttons to initialize the
function. It eventually became quite annoying.

Initial fix:
I cleaned the small little PCB in the remote which the rubberized pad
mates with during the button being pushed which improved the situation a
bit but NOT like it was when it was new.

Ultimate fix:
Called Sony parts and ordered a new rubberized pad for the remote (not a
cheap alternative). Again, carefully disassembled the remote and
installed the new rubber pad and re-assembled. The remote worked as new.

The solution these days though is to inquire about a remote from your
sets manufacture at locations like Circuit City, Best Buy or any
department style electronics store that carries the original
manufactures remote control. I've seen remotes, for example, with Sony,
RCA, Toshiba and others marked right on the package. They're
"generalized" remotes BUT marketed from the original manufacture. Mind
you, it won't match (verbatim) ALL your functions on your original
remote but most of the functions will be available on the remote.

Incidentally, this is also quite an aftermarket. Some of the more exotic
remotes now have an LCD touch screen and are fully programmable
function-wise. Obviously, the price reflects the sophistication that is
built into the remote.

Good luck..

Cheers,
G.

 

[[email protected]]

What do you recommend to clean conductive rubber pads used in remote controls?
Also, the corresponding pc board contacts that are shorted by the conductive
pads to activate the remote functions.

I use a q-tip with Naptha to clean both the board and the rubber pad.
It works quite well> I find Naptha to be a great general purpose
cleaner,

H. R. (Bob) Hofmann

 

[[email protected]]

Had a JVC remote, used alcohol to clean the rubber pads and the board.
This worked 5 or 6 times, although remote never worked as well as when
it was new.

When cleaning stopped working well, bought a bottle of conductive paint
from a local electronics supply house, and re-coated the rubber pads,
cost something like $10. This worked amazingly well at first, like-new
performance. But this stuff apparently is not as durable as the
original conductive coating. 3-4 months and I was having problems with
the remote again.

Finally gave up, went to the JVC website, and ordered an exact
replacement remote. $21 plus shipping. Should last another 3 or 4
years. Probably be wanting a new TV by then.

Hope this helps,
Jerry

 

[James Sweet]

I use a q-tip with Naptha to clean both the board and the rubber pad.
It works quite well> I find Naptha to be a great general purpose
cleaner,

H. R. (Bob) Hofmann

I use liquid dish soap and scrub the board and the rubber by hand then rinse
with warm tap water and dry it out well with a paper towell. If you have
hard water it would be wise to rinse it with filtered or distilled water
though.

 

[Terry Lane]

What do you recommend to clean conductive rubber pads used in remote controls?
Also, the corresponding pc board contacts that are shorted by the conductive
pads to activate the remote functions.

In Australia there is a product by CRC called CO Cleaner which works well. I
find that if you spray it into a sheet of standard photocopy paper and then
rub the rubber pads back and forth on the paper, they come up like new.

Metholated Spirits (alcohol) works as well, but the CO Cleaner is probably
better on the pc board contacts.

Hope this helps,

Terry Lane