Reviving a remote control

hesmy

I have an old analogue satellite receiver which works perfectly,and there's still a lot of stuff out there (mostly foreign channels).Problem is as it hasn't been used for ages,some of the buttons on the remote don't function,presumably because of gunge on the contacts.Can anything be done about this?

alanobrien

Depends on the remote. Most just have a rubber pad under the buttons that contact the switches underneath.

It may just be enough to clean the buttons and pad, never know until you try.

uncle_buck_3

Most of the time when a remote control stops working it because of grease. The grease is from your hands & it stops the remote working.
If you take the remote to bits & have a look it will probably look like it has been dipped in cooking oil…honest!
If you clean all of the crud out of it may work when you put it back together.

I Have revived a few remotes simply by giving them a good clean out.

Some remotes have a carbon type pad on the underneath of the buttons ….when you clean the remote you have no option other than to wipe these pads over….this removes the carbon & even when the remote is nice & clean it still won’t work.
If this is the case just get a pencil & rub the point of it over the pads to replace the carbon….this normally get the remote going again.

HTH.