In alt.home.repair, on Sun, 30 May 2021 11:40:21 +1000, "Rod Speed"
wrote:

micky wrote

Someone on Freecycle gave me a nice tv, pretty old,
but comelete with owners manual and remote control.

The remote works fine except for the buttons used the most,
volume up and down, channel up and down, power, and muting.

That's pretty common with older remotes.

I took it apart and expected to find oxidized contact points,

They are normally gold plated so don't oxidise.

They weren't that either. Everything was black, but not solid black.
Lines in some pattern that filled the cirular area that matched the
button.

but no. Instead those buttons, on the circuit board
and on the buttons, are shiny and a little bit sticky.

Likely someone managed to spill something on the remote.

I forced myself to taste it, but I don't taste anything.

I didn't like tasting it, expecially since I was sick two nights ago but
I figured a little bit couldn't kill me. The guy who gave it to me
seems like a very clean guy!

Likely because it has been there a while.

3 other buttons have a little of those,
but no more than 4% of any button.

What is this, how does it get in there,

Likely someone spilt something on the remote.

and [what do I do about it}?

Wash it off.

I went back and put that in brackets after I figrued out what to do. ;-0

I have DeoxitIT, what I've read is the best, but I guess I've
never used it before, and it didn't remove the stickiness.

Not surprising that it didn't.

Before I took it apart, I figured DeoxitIT was what it needed, and I was
a slow to change plans.

But as to something spilled on it, I don't see how that could be since
the buttons affected were at 4 corners of the remote with lots of
buttons in between, unblemished rows and columns in between.

Only the controls people use a lot, plus Mute, were dirty. It must
have to do with normal use.


Not only that, these contacts aren't copper-colored,
and as the name impplied, it's really to remove and
prevent oxidization, so I switched to isopropyl
alcohol and that did a good job.

So I know what to do about it, but what is that stuff? Finger oil?

More likely spilled drink. Finger oil isnt sticky.