The remote control showing the rubber function buttons.In my bathroom I have a remote controlled heater light and exhaust fan. It must have been installed after the hard wiring had been done. It works well!
On Sunday evening I came home from Helen and James' place after helping them with their fish pond and having a few beers. A few??
After eating some supper I fell asleep in a chair waking at 10.30pm. I went to my en suite bathroom and turned on the fan and the heater light and then dropped the remote controller on the floor damaging it so that it would not turn off the fan and light. Damn! I tried turning off the mains lighting circuit and turning it on again...no go, the heater light was still on. I figured that I could get a ladder and remove the heater bulbs, but the fan would still be running.
So I dismantled the remote and found that a battery contact had fallen out of the circuit board. How can that happen? I repositioned the battery contact and it worked well enough to turn everything off. The next morning with steadier hands and a soldering iron I re-soldered the contact back in place and it is back in good working condition.
Underneath of the circuit board showing the re-soldered battery contact.
This is not the first time I have repaired remote controls and I thought I should pass on to readers a little info on fixing a problem which often presents as remotes get a bit old. On the remote are the rubber function buttons which when manufactured have a metallic pasted-on surface which when pressed, contacts a corresponding part of the circuit board completing a circuit for that particular function. When the remote gets old and has been used lots, that metallic surface on the rubber button deteriorates. I have glued small pieces of aluminium foil where the metallic paste is/was and if the glue is one which will stick to that rubber surface, things are back to normal. Fiddly work, but most rewarding when you are finished. Don't be shy about having a go....there is nothing inside the remote to bite you. If your remote isn't easily opened (secured by screws) then it is a bit of a fiddle getting inside it....see here http://www.ehow.com/how_5834201_open-tv-remote-control.html
The rubber buttons with alfoil glued on...it works! These fixes are born out of a need to save money and it is hard to change that attitude in old age.
3 comments:
Kev, I don't belong in this world of technology.It is far to complicated. I didn't mind chopping wood for my wood stove when I got married. Sewing by hand , baking a cake with my hand beater , Outside copper and troughs for the washing when the children were born, Shows just how old I am, Having the latest tools for operations and dentistry and eye operations etc. heart operations organ transplant etc are wonderful improvements, and that makes it all worth while as long as I don't have to mend the remote, Thank goodness people like you understand it all Marg
Hello friends,
A remote control including a plurality of function indicators made of a semitransparent material that allow light to pass through, a light source, and a light pipe placed behind the function indicators allowing the remote control to be operated in a darkened room. Thanks!
we should end up with a lovely, low maintenance garden to enjoy.fence installation aurora co
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