DIY Remote Control Repairs

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I tear down the remote and toss the keypad in scalding hot water with a lot of dish soap and scrub it with a toothbrush. I find they release some heavy oily substance that really breaks conductivity. The board cleans good with soap and water followed by a wipe with Ronson lighter fluid. If the rubber keypad still feels greasy or sticky lighter fluid will also work well to get rid of this. The graphite pads I like to touch up with a pencil. I like these really cheap carpenters pencils from China. They have really soft graphite that works well.

For testing an AM radio works great to check for activity. Just hold the remote within a foot of the radio and you will be able to hear it transmitting. Also some cameras can also pick up the IR well.

I have only had one or two that were completely dead where the IC was bad out all the ones I've worked on over the years. Most of the time it's dirty keypad contacts, bad battery contacts, and on a rare occasion bad solder joints.

Good luck