Jerry G. said:
Under some of the labels, and or under the battery, there are probably some
screws. These are also snap fit, and you may have to break the case, or try
to wedge in a sharp blade to get at where it is snap fit. These are not made
to be serviceable, and this is why you are having such a hard time to open
it.
Yea, the trick is to fnd the snaps and determine which way that
they "hook in". Each remote is different. The consolation here is
that once the remote is fouling up, it either has to be fixed or
replaced. Even if a couple of snaps are broken, if you can fix
it, you are still ahead of the game.
A common cause of failure are the conductive coatings on the rubber pads are
wearing out. If this is the case, you will need a new pad. Cleaning the
rubber contact pads will remove more of the conductive coating, thus
worsening the problem.
My experience is quite different. In *ALL* of the cases where
I've fixed these things, it was the oils/emulants in the rubber
pads (i.e., those that make the rubber soft) that leach out of
the pads and create insulating barriers between the buttons and
the circuit board contacts. Once those oils are removed, the pads
work just fine again. However, the oils always come back again as
the pad ages so in many cases you have to clean them again and
again. I've done this many times for remotes, telephones, cheap
calculators, etc, and I've never had an issue with the conductive
coating coming off yet. That doesn't mean it won't happen, only
that I've never had it happen to me. It's always been the oils.
I usually remove the oils with soft (liquid) hand soap and an old
toothbrush with warm water. Not sure if this is the best way to
do it but it's the way I've used for quite a while now.
There is something called a remote control kit that is available to recoat
the pads. This kit is fairly expensive.
Again, I've yet to have the need for anything like this.
- Jeff
