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Have an old VCR/TV remote ? Fix that hatch/trunk button.

2K views 7 replies 5 participants last post by  amc49 
#1 ·
I got sick of cleaning and trying to repair my hatch button every year or so. I've tried a few hacks now and then. The last time I tried, I destroyed the little rubber piece that makes contact. I had about 3 old remotes collecting dust, so I decided to take one apart. The buttons work exactly like our trunk/hatch buttons. I just cut out the closest size and kept snipping away the rubber edges until it fit. I didn't secure it on the contact piece like the old one. I just set it in place and reinstalled the assembly. It's been working with a light touch for about a month now. As long as it stays in place, it should continue to work with no more problems.

Very blurry pics, but you'll get the idea.




 
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#2 ·
Brilliant!
My solution was no where near as elegant, however, it has worked for the last five or six months. i discovered that the shaft (hollow square plastic) attached to the push button was not traveling far enough into the switch body to make contact.

I filed down the ends of the three reinforcing ribs (horizontal in the attached picture) perhaps one thirty-second of an inch (there may be more of those ribs on the other side of the shaft, I don't remember). That allows the shaft to travel just far enough to make contact.
 
#5 ·
It was just dumb luck that I figured it out. After I destroyed the stock rubber piece. I thought, there's gotta be something around my junk pile that'll work. The only thing I had to do was trim the depth of the new rubber piece. Maybe 1/16th" and it worked. I've tried all the other solutions, but nothing held up.
 
#6 ·
I've been having trouble with video remotes at home, trying to find some adhesive that would hold a very small metal contact disc to replace the carbon coating worn off buttons on backside. No glue sticks to the silicone, disc simply falls right off. Tried RTV silicone, didn't think it would work but stuck pretty good after slightly dremeling the remainder of carbon coat off button to make a virgin silicone to silicone gluing surface. Used .009" thick printing plate (aluminum) to make discs with a leather punch (the home gasketmaker's friend!), the remote now seems to be working like gangbusters. We'll see how well those contacts stay stuck...........some of that might work here.

Under certain temp and humidity conditions there is some sort of oily exudation that occurs from the silicone I think, that oily residue does not conduct electricity, simply cleaning it off both the PC board and the button rubbers with alcohol can make remote go back to functioning properly as long as you still have the black carbon backing surface on the buttons. Once that black carbon layer is worn off then more problematic.
 
#7 ·
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