TiVo Community Forums Archives - I just gave my Tivo remote a shower..

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I just gave my Tivo remote a shower..
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Posted by: henryhank

..on purpose, too!

After three faithful years of service, its been real flaky on some of the buttons - not always registering a push - which can be very frustrating when you are fast-forwarding and it misses the "play" button 5 or 6 times.

So, right before I sat down to order a new one, I figured I would take it apart to see what the problem might be - what did I have to loose (except possibly being tivo-remotless until I got a new one).

As it turns out, there was a thin, gooey film between the rubber buttons and the circuit board contacts. I'm not sure exactly where it came from - nothing was ever spilled into it, and I live alone with no pets or kids, so literally, nobody else has really used the remote in the three years I've had it. Nonetheless, it needed to be cleaned.

So I first took the rubber button layer and washed it with mild soap and warm water. No problem. I then took the bare circuit board and did the same thing - warm water and soap. I used an old toothbrush on both parts to *lightly* scrub the surface and remove the gooey layer. Dried off both parts, washed the plastic case for good measure, put it all back together, and viola - the remote works as if it were brand new. If you do something like this - just make sure all the parts are dry, so when you re-assemble it, no water is trapped inside, which could cause problems down the road.

Posted by: sacherjj

I've seen this in many electronic devices. Whatever coatings they put on the board break down. I've had to do the same procedure on my parent's 3 year old cordless phones.

Posted by: Maui

One of my tivo remotes went out completely recently and I just could not bring myself to spend $40 (after shipment) for a replacement from the Tivo store so I checked out universal remotes and decided to try a $16 Phillips/Magnavox remote that said it controls Tivo. I figured since my Tive is a Phillips model that remote should work.

I was pleasantly surprised as it does everything I used my old tivo remote for from thumbs up and down, replicating the Tivo button for fast jumping between the main menu and now showing, a key to replicate the clear key for quicker deletions.

Sure it is not as cool looking as a real Tivo remote. But when you are job hunting saving $20 or $25 bucks is a good thing. Besides it also allowed me to get the TV and VCR remotes off the coffee table. Shame I could not get my APEX to work with it.

Posted by: rbird

quote:
Originally posted by sacherjj
I've seen this in many electronic devices. Whatever coatings they put on the board break down. I've had to do the same procedure on my parent's 3 year old cordless phones.

Interesting. I've NEVER seen a consumer electronic device that had a conformal coating on any PCB, and certainly the Tivo peanut remote does not have one (I have opened mine before).

Conformal coatings are pretty much required on all military-grade hardware (I see them in my job all the time), but for consumer devices they cut corners everywhere they can. Coatings (and cleaning off excess flux used in soldering) are the first processes to be discarded.

Bob

Posted by: henryhank

FYI, I don't think it was any conformal coating. I'm pretty sure it was a combination of mostly Diet Coke and pizza grease that seeped in over the years. Sure, while I never spilled anything on/in it, I most certainly use the thing alot while eating and watching the tube.

Posted by: Melody Chalis

quote:
Originally posted by henryhank
...Dried off both parts, washed the plastic case for good measure, put it all back together, and viola...

It turned into a violin?

Posted by: lalouque

The remote for an old TV I use in my bedroom wasn't working so well anymore. The sleep button wouldn't work at all, which was highly annoying. So I remembered reading this thread and thought, what the heck. Let's give the remote a gentle bath. Getting the darn thing apart was the toughest part, but it's working like a charm now. Thanks for the great idea.

Posted by: Packy

This technique works great with keyboards as well, especially after beer spillage (not that I've ever done that...). Might have to try it out w/ my spare remote a friend gave me. Works okay, but sticks from time to time.