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3 Remotes dead in a week, and the only common theme is that I have touched them.
This thread has 8 replies. Displaying all posts.
Post 1 made on Thursday August 10, 2017 at 15:09
Old Man River
Long Time Member
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A client came in to his vacation home last week for the first time since I did an upgrade on his Elan system (new controller, 2 HR200s to replace RTI T2C handhelds, and a tp4 touch panel). I went there and gave him a quick tutorial on the system and everything was fine. 2 days later, he calls to tell me that the living room hr200 had just quit working, screen was black, buttons wouldn't light up. I was certain when he called that he'd just moved the charging cradle to a switched outlet. When I got there, it was just as he said. I dropped it on the bedroom remote's charging cradle, waited, and nothing. I put the bedroom remote's battery in it, and it still wouldn't power up. I RMAd the remote, showed him how to change rooms so he could control the living room with the bedroom remote, and told him I'd be back in a couple days with a new remote.

Today, I took the new remote over. He had gone back to his primary home, but had family using the house for the week. The guy says he picked up the remote this morning, and it was completely dead, just like the last one. So, a few minutes of checking to see if it was the exact scenario as the last one, I call tech support and get an RMA. They had put it in the same charging cradle, plugged into the same outlet the living room remote had been on. That was the only connection I could immediately make, and plugged the new remote's charger into the same panamax unit that the living room AVR and components are plugged into, showed them how to switch remotes, and left.

I got home about an hour ago, and was going to finish a proposal after a quick bite, sat down in front of my TV, picked up my HR200, and it was completely dead. The girlfriend said it worked this morning for her.

Haven't called tech support to see if I can RMA another remote for the same problem as the 2 I just RMAd at a different location yet, but I'd sure as hell like to know what is going on. The customer's house has hardwood floors throughout, and my house has hardwood in the living room, though I did walk through the carpeted bedroom, but I'm ruling out a static charge mostly just because I can't see anything that would have built up a charge capable of frying a remote. Any ideas? Or am I just developing some weird superpower to kill remotes? By the way, the customer's remotes have been functioning fine since October of last year. I periodically do system checks for them. My remote has been fine since I installed it 6 or 8 months ago.
Lord loves a workin' man; don't trust whitey; see a doctor and get rid of it.
Post 2 made on Thursday August 10, 2017 at 15:30
Fins
Elite Member
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June 2007
11,627
In the past 6 months, I've had more bad Elan remotes than I think I've had since the HR2 came out. I suspect they had a bad run and didn't say anything.

I had one that after turning the switch off under the battery cap, a few days later when I tried it again, it came back on and has been fine. But the others didn't do that.
Civil War reenactment is LARPing for people with no imagination.

OP | Post 3 made on Thursday August 10, 2017 at 15:35
Old Man River
Long Time Member
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February 2008
372
I've only been dealing with Elan for a year and a half, but other than one remote with a bad radio out of the box, this is my first problem with an HR200. But 3 in a week, 2 at the same house, and the third right after servicing the house with 2 bad ones just seemed like the most bizarre coincidence, or the worst luck possible
Lord loves a workin' man; don't trust whitey; see a doctor and get rid of it.
Post 4 made on Thursday August 10, 2017 at 15:37
Fins
Elite Member
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June 2007
11,627
Btw, when you call tech support for the third remote, make sure you tell them it's for your personal system.
Civil War reenactment is LARPing for people with no imagination.

Post 5 made on Thursday August 10, 2017 at 18:47
westcojack
Long Time Member
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July 2009
90
gloves?
Jack Goldberg, PE
Post 6 made on Friday August 11, 2017 at 02:34
Ernie Gilman
Yes, That Ernie!
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December 2001
30,104
Hey, it coulda happened while you were on vacation: [Link: remotecentral.com]
A good answer is easier with a clear question giving the make and model of everything.
"The biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place." -- G. “Bernie” Shaw
Post 7 made on Friday August 11, 2017 at 06:36
thecapnredfish
Senior Member
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February 2008
1,397
The way it is with today's junk.
It worked this morning. Yup, everything works before it breaks
If it's man made it's going to break, just a matter of when.
Post 8 made on Friday August 11, 2017 at 07:01
jrainey
Active Member
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September 2010
632
Have had a couple of bad HR2/HR200's over the years but cant say that we have had a trend. They don't love being dropped on hard surfaces though.
Jack Rainey - Full disclosure...reformed integrator, now mid-Atlantic manufacturers rep for: Integra, Paradigm, Anthem, Parasound, Atlona, LG TV's and Metra Home Theater...among others
Post 9 made on Friday August 11, 2017 at 07:38
buzz
Super Member
Joined:
Posts:
May 2003
4,366
If there is a problem with one of the components and there is tight production control, a fraction (possibly 100%) of these components could fail in a tight time band. We've had these sorts of issue over the years.

In one case a normally reliable product started failing, shortly after purchase. The replacement parts also failed. Typically, the replacement parts arrived already failed. It took a few weeks to sort this out, but the problem was traced to a single employee on the production line who was not following surface prep procedures. All parts that he produced during that period would fail and the replacement parts came from that batch. After a certain number of days, the part started to physically break down. To my knowledge, all prior and subsequent (to the bad batch) units are still working.


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