WAYNE CHIRNSIDE wrote JAMES BRADLEY on 04-11-06 08:45

 -> I have to rejuvenate some of those carbon impregnated
 -> latex-rubber type push
 -> buttons, found on almost every remote control on the
 -> planet these days. One was
 -> acquired that had vodka, and orange juice spilled in it, where I figured I
 -> could at least pour some H2O over it, to dislodge most
 -> of it, but the remote is
 -> unusable now.

 -> Is there a contact-improving electrolyte that is used on
 -> the contact pads? I
 -> understand the acid, and alcohol may have bitched the
 -> one remote, but I've a
 -> few devices that could use some encouragement.

 WC> Two bits of advice, one I've done several times
 WC> and one I've merely heard of.

 WC> First if you act FAST get a gallon of distilled
 WC> water, place in bag with remote, batteries
 WC> removed first, shake vigorously and repeat.
 WC> Saved two remotes this way.

 WC> Second and I've only heard accounts of this is
 WC> it appears Radio Shack sells ( or sold) a pen
 WC> that allowed you to paint on short traces to
 WC> repair circuit traces that'd been cut. That's my
 WC> two cents. --- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer

Pocketed...

If I was the fool that spilled the screwdriver in it, I may have been able to
flush it - sort of speaking. 

The traces are not the problem, AFAICT. I think there's electrolyte that
comes smeared on the contact buttons. Now that that got washed off... It's not
the first time I've seen it either. I had one lazy unit, that I squirted a bit
of contact cleaner on, but just the faulty spots, which made it go from bad to
worse.

Again, I suspect that there is a chemical problem between the rubber push
buttons, and the wire traces that those buttons are supposed to contact.
Either, it gummed up by the tap water salts, or a layer of conduction was
removed, but from the composition of the rubber. As if there was a membrane
there, but the rubber must touch the wire traces to provide the conduction.

Clear as mud?

... James
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