TV Remote Push Buttons

Milan

Member
The remote control for the TV that I watch farm related shows on, well the buttons were becoming erratic, sometimes would work, sometimes did not.

I took it apart, used rubbing alcohol on a Q-Tip to clean the traces on the circuit board and the backside of all the buttons.

Worked like new.

For about two weeks.

Now some of them need to be pressed really hard to get them to work.

A two dollar calculator laying here on the desk that is probably 10 years old works fine, all the buttons work fine.

Frustrating.

What do I need to do to the buttons on the TV remote?
 
You can generally buy a replacement remote control for less than $10. There is a chart with each remote that has a code to set up for your brand of TV.
 
1. Cheap universal remote.

2. Open it up again, clean the contacts that the buttons touch when pressed. Use the eraser end of a pencil to lightly burnish the gold or tinned contacts. Reassemble.
 
As Rick mentioned gently use a clean pencil eraser to clean the contact area on the circuit board, then use a "lead" pencil (which is actually graphite) and coat the rubber on the bottom of the buttons. That should help for a while. There use to be a renewal kit available, but I haven't looked for one for at least a decade.
 
Bought a brand new Samsung remote for an aunt in August for $6.25 on ebay! didnt think it was possible till I did it! Some of those remotes run very cheap!
 
My cable remote was acting erratically so I called Mediacom and they said "Sure a new one is in the mail". I opened up the bad one and saw it had the original batteries. I replaced them and now it is like new. I hope I don't put Mediacom in financial distress if I keep the new one. TDF
 
The underside of the buttons lose their conductivity. I have a calculator that did that and 'fixed' it by taking it apart and gluing small bit of aluminum foil on the worn underside of the buttons. Now, this has been almost 20 years and it STILL works.
 
The problem with getting a universal remote, the ones that I have seen, will not get into the menu functions. You need the original remote to scan the channels which you will need to do again. Some TV's you can do it from the buttons on the tv some not that has been my experience. I have a kit to rejuvenate the button contacts but that hasn't been all that successful. I replaced a shop door lock yesterday with the same problem. I cleaned the contacts and it worked fine until I reinstalled it. So new lock. I like the idea of putting foil on the buttons. I might try that on the door lock. My wife takes the remote away from me so the buttons do not get used much.
 
I usually use dawn dish soap (straight from the bottle) and wash both the rubber and the board, rinse well under water, and then dry with a papertowel and then a can of air. Seem oil from fingers migrates through the rubber (or the rubber degrades) coats everything with oil (non-conductive).
 
Haaaa ha. Good luck with that. Every single TV repair shop I knew is long gone. Everything is throw away. Actually electronic equipment advances so quickly that if you have a seven year old wide screen it is almost an antique. Just go on Ebay and match it up. They are cheap enough.
 
I replaced my remotes with RCA units from Amazon (approx. $10 ea.). The one for my dish was $45 ea. (have 2 receivers). The bedroom TV is RCA (the main TV is Samsung) and wouldn't program to the dish unit (so 2 remotes flopping around on the bed). Anyhoo, the new RCA remotes have a 'self programming' system and work better than the original TV and dish models on both. HTH
 
After reading the post I ordered two original manuf remotes as backups for my TV and DVD player. I use the mute button a lot since I don't listen to those stupid commercials. They are inexpensive on Ebay. 2.99 and 6.79 w/free ship.
 
For the time and materials you're expending fussing with that old remote, you can buy a brand new remote and be done with it until the new remote decides to do the same thing.

I've found that a mid-priced universal remote seems to last much longer than the originals, to the point where the one I have is on its second TV. The first TV was 8 years old when I replaced it, new one is going on two years old now. Didn't even have to reprogram it for the new TV as both are Samsungs.
 
After mine get to be old and worn, lotta years heavy use, I just buy a new one. ebay has them and they are surprisingly cheap.....just like what came with your provider's tv service installation.
 

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