I've got an MX-980 and there is a slight rattle inside the remote that seems to be coming from the upper portion of the remote.

Is that the pickup sensor? Do other MX-980s out there rattle as well?

Thanks.

yes, it's the pickup sensor.

In recent years, laws have changed such that mercury switches are illegal in many nations (this, despite the fact that the liquid metal in "mercury" switches hasn't actually been mercury for decades). The alternative is essentially a tiny metal ball inside a tiny cage, and that's what's making the tiny rattle you hear. Accelerometers are starting to creep down in price, so we may eventually be able to switch to those. Right now, they're cost prohibitive for the quantities in which custom-install products are manufactured.

Best regards,
Dale

Uh oh. Sudden vision of "variable speed control" where the further you tilt the remote, the faster it channel surfs... :-)

So what do they do about float sump pumps?

Not only that, but if you gyro stablized the accelerometer, you could throw the remote at the TV and not only would the remote know it's position at any given point, but it would be able to compute it's velocity through the air, AND be able to compute the speed it's traveling over the floor based on any wind currents in the room.

NOW YOU HAVE SOMETHING!

Makes me wonder..........lots of other (non toxic) liquids are conductive (or semi conductive) like plain water. Why rattle balls?

It will be very easy do design a ckt which senses the (assume) high resistance connectivity between the contacts and trips a relay or sends out a "high" or ON signal.

Believe me... this issue has been studied closely by many an electrical engineer. It's more a matter of cost-effective solutions that work every time, rather than "what's possible."

The liquid metal alloy used in "mercury" switches wasn't toxic either. But then, the environmental lobby is sometimes known to overreact and do things like lobby for laws that require compact fluorescent light bulbs, only to later learn that they just forced the populace to use bulbs that are 1000 times more toxic than the carbon emissions of the incandescent bulbs they just forced you to stop using. Don't get me wrong... I'm not all down on the environmental movement or anything. I just know that sometimes, like basically ANY lobby group, they leap before they look.

Best regards,
Dale

That rattle isnt coming from your remote :-/

This and the addition of a thumb wheel could make playing "Big Mouth Bass" my new fav past time....

:)

My wii remote has a 3 axis accelerometer and it's 19.99...

Your Wii remote's accellerometer requires power to function, and can't turn the device on because it must be powered up to work. But more importantly, that remote was designed to be manufactured in the tens of millions. Other than base products like cable box remotes, remotes aren't manufactured in those quantities. The economies of scale drastically affect manufacturing cost when you engineer with high-end components.

My boss continually had to point stuff like this out to me when I got started in this industry, so believe me, I understand how it's easy to mistake the availability of a feature in one product for the universal economic viability of that feature in any product. I did (and sometimes still do) the same thing.

And sometimes, the issue comes down to a simple question: will adding a given feature or improvement increase sales more than it will increase cost? For the pick up sensor, the answer is probably no.

I'm not saying we'll never move to a pick up sensor that's silent... I'm just sort of clarifying why were are where we are now.

Best regards,

Dale

Dale-

I was completely kidding. I have to say that I have had customers shy away from some RTI products that rattled too much thanks to the same type of problem, but that was a different price point.