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Topic:
Remote control rescuscitation
This thread has 4 replies. Displaying all posts.
Post 1 made on Sunday January 20, 2013 at 21:05
zeke7
Lurking Member
Joined:
Posts:
August 2008
9
Anyone know how to safely open the two housing halves of a RM-VL700? One of my three has "died", showing no signs of life after battery replacement, #600 sandpapering unseen corrosion off the battery contacts, stretching the contact springs to increase contact pressure, spinning the batteries around in their housing, swapping out with known good ones, good old fashioned banging the thing, etc.

My next step is to investigate if the internal-memory battery (or capacitor?) has given up the ghost (entirely likely, it's 10 years old), and is in turn 'shorting out' the remote's functionality. I removed the two phillips screws in the battery housing compartment, which definitely freed up the lower part of the housing's halves, but the upper portion (toward the IR-beam business end) remains locked down, presumably by hidden tabs that require a push-release with a fine screwdriver at the precise points. Otherwise it's force the thing open, potentially breaking the tabs or housing and/or marring the exterior with pry scars. I know, I've tried the same with a different, defunct remote just to see how it was done.

I love these guys too much to give up without trying (got three identically programmed ones parked at strategic parts of the domicile), and new ones, although surprisingly still available (old inventory clearance?), are currently going for $100 on amazon -- three times their original retail cost. If anyone knows of posted instructions or has first-hand experience on safely opening up a RM-VL700 or similar themselves, I'd love to hear from you. Mahalo!

Last edited by zeke7 on January 20, 2013 23:25.
OP | Post 2 made on Sunday January 20, 2013 at 22:17
zeke7
Lurking Member
Joined:
Posts:
August 2008
9
Nice! I got [overly] determined after posting this query, and carefully worked my way up each side toward the top of the remote with a small flat-blade screwdriver, quite easily popping it completely open with no exterior scarring (but some decidedly cracked interior plastic-tab housings).

Nicely basic interior parts: the grey rubbery plate housing the remote's individual buttons (which fortunately stayed locked in their housing's sockets), and a circuit board on which the bottom of the black buttons made flat contact. Immediately noticed an oily residue buildup on the buttons' contact area with the board, especially in the lower half of the remote (the remotes reside in a high-humidity marine climate), so in a couple of passes wiped them and the adjoining circuit board face dry with some pedestrian Kleenex tissue, removing a noticeable amount of blackish residue in the process.

Popped the 5-piece son of a gun (two housing halves, circuit board and button plate, and IR beam red-plastic shield) back together, and like Lazarus from the grave, it's immediately and totally revived. Did see only one candidate on the circuit board's reverse side for an internal battery/capacitor, a small 2-contact yellow cylinder the size of half a Contac cold capsule (whatever happened to those?) soldered in place, but the contact cleanup job did the trick.

Moral of the story: humidity/age-related residue built up on the button bottoms' contacts with the circuit board, apparently shorting out the unit enough to render it inoperable [as in no lights/no functionality). Another 10 years' life out of this beauty? I hope so. Even with the broken tabs, the unit snapped back together solidly, and the two screws are holding it in place (until the next time I drop it on a hard floor, perhaps). Thanks anyway, hope this home-repair venture can help someone else in remote-control resuscitation!

Last edited by zeke7 on January 21, 2013 03:43.
Post 3 made on Monday January 21, 2013 at 01:09
edmund
Elite Member
Joined:
Posts:
April 2002
13,838
Took me no more then a minute to open a vl700, with no damage what so ever outside nor inside. Best way to open ANY remote is with an old credit card, once you have it pry apart slightly, slip the edge of the credit card in, and slide around popping the cratches. Works every time.
OP | Post 4 made on Monday January 21, 2013 at 03:41
zeke7
Lurking Member
Joined:
Posts:
August 2008
9
Cheers Ed, I'll give the credit-card trick a try next time I need to crack open a remote; didn't have success googling that up, but now I know.
Post 5 made on Sunday February 3, 2013 at 19:17
Ernie Gilman
Yes, That Ernie!
Joined:
Posts:
December 2001
30,104
1. He didn't say you could call him Ed.

2.Today's technical lesson: "shorted out" means connected together when they should not be. You probably mean "open," which is not connected together when they should be.
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


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