Has anyone experienced this problem?

Recently, our RU890 seems to need a cuddle before it will operate properly. Here in the UK temperatures are still around 18c, so it's not exactly freezing.

If I try to change the satellite channels it doesn't work. And although the screen shows it is sending a signal, for some reason the satellite is not receiving it.

However, after about a minute of so of warming up the Pronto with my hands and breathing warm air on to it it starts to work ok. We've had it about 7 years now and I am wondering if this is a sign that it is on its way out.

My husband suggested it could be the Panasonic satellite receiver, but why should warming up the Pronto make the receiver work properly?
Any opinions would be welcome.
Thanks Caroline

First guess is that the problem is in the battery rather than the electronics.

I don't have an RU980 (or other Pronto for that matter) so I assume (but don't know) that it is a rechargeable battery pack) and I don't know how practical it is to replace a battery pack on speculation that it is at fault for a problem.

BTW, I haven't turned on the heating system in my house yet this season despite indoor temperatures well under your 18c. My remote controls are working just fine but the florescent overhead light in the kitchen won't go on when we first want it (slightly before dawn) each morning. It is only willing to turn on later in the day. I wish I had the choice to copy it.

This message was edited by johnsfine on 10/25/05 14:51 ET.

Like John said, if you're using the rechargable battery and docking station, that's the first thing to check. Substitute some fresh AAA's in place of the rechargable and see if the problem continues. If not, probably time to replace the recharable. If it does, the remote is probably dying a slow death.

These remotes are suseptible to temperature. Note how the screen darkens after you hold it in your hand for awhile. What you describe is excessive however.

The viewing angle and contrast of any LCD drifts with temperature. Many designs have built-in compensation for that effect to detect the temperature and adjust the LCD accordingly.

The symptom you describe sounds like you're getting that temperature detector and the LCD itself out of sync with each other during a temperature change. Or maybe it just isn't compensated at all.

Anyway, that LCD effect is not a symptom of anything else wrong or temperature sensitive in the remote. It's just a visible not functional issue.

But back on topic: If I had known that you have the choice to swap in ordinary batteries as a temporary replacement for the rechargable, that would have been my first suggestion.

Thanks guys, I had forgotten that the rechargeable could be swapped for ordinary AAAs. I would imagine it takes four AAAs which I will get tomorrow as it is now 9.25pm as I input this.

If it proves that the rechargeable battery needs replacing I'll have to decide whether it is wise to go that route or bite the bullet and invest more cash in a new unit as I would hate to replace the rechargeable and then find that the Pronto fails in another area not too far in the future.

Once the batteries are installed, I will probably have to wait until Thursday evening when the unit will be cool enough to test this theory out.

Watch this space

Cheers
Caroline

Thanks for the technical information, I wasn't aware of the exact causes. My guess is that it's not compensated at all, because ALL 1000/2000 remotes darken significantly as they warm up. Still, it's not a SYMPTOM of a problem, it's normal operation of these remotes.


I was just using an obvious example of the effects of temperature on these models. You're right, it's not a cause or even related to Caroline's problem. However, it can be a functional issue when you have to keep playing with the contrast wheel to get a usuable screen display.

The remote takes 4 AA batteries -- not AAA. There should have been a little plastic shield with the original packaging of the pronto which will slide into the base of the battery compartment and properly center the batteries -- you don't NEED this, but it makes it a little easier to get the batteries in properly.

You should also be able to check the battery status in the setup menu -- push down and hold your finger on the pronto icon in the top center of your screen. If the battery is >= 50% it should be OK (there is a problem with the battery pack where it doesn't recharge 100% -- there are work arounds, people have hard-soldered the battery pack to the motherboard -- but this isn't operationally necessary unless you leave the remote off the recharger for extended periods of time).

I have an RU890; have not had problems of this sort (I do have the recharging problem, but have not had to do anything about it). You also may want to try relearning the codes in question -- if it is a corrupt learn just on the edge of not working, I wouldn't be too surprised to learn that it might be unreliable while the electronics was warming up (the sat receiver would be more likely than the pronto), and more reliable after that.

Joe

This message was edited by DrJoe on 10/26/05 09:21 ET.

At least in the US there are some reasonably priced (around $2 a battery) high capacity NiMH rechargable AA batteries available if you shop around. So if you replaced the built-in rechargable pack with loose rechareable AA's you would only occasionally have the inconvenience of recharging (inconvenient because I assume such batteries must be rechared outside the remote). That may be a more practical purchase than a new battery pac or a new remote.


I really doubt that the Pronto electronics do a decent job of measuring the battery condition. It is quite a hard thing to measure. Knowing the charge level in a healthy battery is hard enough. Knowing the health of a well charged battery is much harder.

Due to age and/or cold the battery may have unstable voltage during the strong shifts in load caused by trying to send an IR signal. The unstable voltage may then distort the IR signal so the device can't understand it. But under the lower and stable load when not sending IR the same battery may have voltage and other characteristics that look just like those of a healthy battery.


I guess any aspect of the process MIGHT be marginal and any combination of factors MIGHT push you over the edge from working to not working. But I would bet against the two factors mentioned above being relevent. I don't think either a marginal learn or a warm up issue in that sat receiver are involved in this symptom.

double post

This message was edited by Caz on 10/29/05 05:27 ET.

Well, I got the four AAAs and guess what. Doh! I should have removed the battery cover to check. Still, we already have some AAs and these will go in tonight.

I suspect the rechargeable battery needs replacing and I will probably do this rather than use NiMH rechargeables which will have to be changed over on a regular basis.

I'll also re-learn the codes which may well have been a dirty read. It certainly won't do any harm. Thanks for all your help, guys, it's nice to know you're there.

Caroline
I'll let you know what happens

Sorry on the batteries, my fault, I should check before I rely on my over 50 memory.

Well, I'm not going to argue with John Fine regarding any of the above -- it would be like facing down a bazooka with BB gun *grin*.

I will say, though, that the battery packs can be problematic without the batteries themselves having problems. The _typical_ symptoms seem to be:

1) Set the pronto on the charger and the green light does not turn on or turns off after only a few minutes

2) Battery charge level (as shown by internal indicator) never greater than 50%

3) Pronto charge lasts much shorter than you would expect for fully charged batteries (typcially the pronto goes from working directly to dead when the charge runs out).

I haven't heard of a lack of IR signal reliability.

The problem seems to be in the clips that make contact to the battery pack. It seems that taking the pack out and scuffing the clips and the batter contacts with sandpaper, and bending the clips carefully out to make better contact with the battery terminals helps for a short time, then you have to do it again.

A more drastic fix which seems to be "permanent" is to disassemble the pronto, solder wires to the circuit board in place of the above clips, and then solder the wires (and a jumper) onto the battery pack. Subsequently, the battery pack charges to full strength again.

If you are somehow able to determine that this is your problem, I have instructions/pictures of how to do the above modification (I haven't done it myself, but have coressponded with someone who has).

Joe

Yep, these problems were common on the 1000, and maybe the 2000 (can't remember). In any event, buried somewhere in the forum archives there is a "trick" to get the pack to work correctly. It was originally published (I think) by a user named alpha2data if anyone wants to search. Basically, the voltages are different between the AA's and the pack. The remote has "sync" problems when going from AA's to the pack. I remember having to remove and reinstall the pack 4 or 5 times before problem #1 above went away.

As for #2 -- the meter isn't particually accurate even on the newer models. But solving problem #1 usually meant that the meter would show full strength after a full recharge.

.. double post

You're forgiven BomberJim, but really I should have just slipped the cover and checked for myself.

Now, here's the thing. I don't think it's the batteries. New batteries did exactly the same thing as before.

I did wonder if it was dirty codes or because I have the numbers macroed so one button gets me to the desired channel. Checked all the codes (several times) and they seem clean.

I then dug out the old satellite remote this morning and discovered it was doing the same thing with that. I am now beginning to think it may be the satellite receiver itself, but that is weird if it is.

We leave the satellite switched on all the time so, when we want to start viewing, the only thing that needs switching on is the TV. So there's no question of the receiver having to warm up!

The Pronto can control the TV perfectly from the word go, but try changing the satellite channels and for about the first 20 seconds or so the Pronto (or the original remote) cannot seem to communicate with the Satellite receiver. Then it seems to accept part of the number.

For instance, if I have pressed the button for Sky One (I'm in the UK), which is 106, it might only get the 6. Sometimes it might get the 06, or just the 1 and not the rest of the number. This happens with any channel.

Then, after about a couple of minutes, everything is fine and the Pronto (and the original satellite remote) can talk to the receiver with no problems.

I've tried cleaning the glass door on the TV cabinet and the perspex on the Satellite receiver where the IR eye is, and even leaving the cabinet door open makes no difference.

So it would seem that there is some sort of mysterious gremlin in the Panasonic TU-DSB30 satellite receiver.

So cuddling the Pronto had no effect whatsoever, it was just the time it took for whatever is the problem with the satellite receiver to sort itself out.

So it looks like the trusty old Pronto lives to fight another day and we will just have to learn to live with this glitch on the receiver or buy a new one.

Again, thanks for all your help. You're all fantastic!

Caroline

This message was edited by Caz on 10/29/05 17:23 ET.