On Sun, 08 Jan 2017 17:03:47 -0000, Mr Pounder Esquire wrote:

Harry Bloomfield wrote:
alan_m was thinking very hard :
On 08/01/2017 11:57, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
A simple remote control which uses the conductive rubber for the
contact across the PCB has failed/ become too high resistance to
work - what is the latest wisdom for fixing them please?


I've 'repaired' many by just dismantling, washing all component
parts under a cold running tap, drying with paper towel and then
just leaving the dismantled parts in a warm place (on top of a
radiator/airing cupboard) for a day. Re-assembly is the reverse of
dismantling. You may find the high resistance is from crud (contaminated
sweat
from hands/food/drink) migrating by capillary action between the
rubber key membrane and the pcb. Usually its only one or two keys
that stop working reliably.

You have replaced the batteries?

I have tried washing it out before. It is an old one, little used and
with all the current 10mA passing through the button contacts.
Resistance was up in the 400K range, but the remote works if the
contacts are shorted properly.

I have super glued cooking foil over the rubber contacts and it is
working again. Easy way to check is to shine the remote at a camera
and view the image.

The cooker hood fan seems to have failed now, in the middle of cooking
Sunday dinner - something else to fix :'(

Bit late for me to comment:
We have a Sky remote that was playing up. I took the rubber out and cleaned
it with nail varnish remover.
The remote has been working fine for over a year now.

I thought you were supposed to use KY Jelly with rubbers?

--
The sailor does not pray for wind, he learns to sail -- Gustaf Lindborg