Have any of you noticed that your remote control, for a tv or whatever, doesn't work at first, if you haven't used it for a day or two?
I keep thinking the batteries have died, but after a couple minutes it usually works.
I try to warm up the batteries by pressing one button or another 10 or
20 times and that doesn't seem to work but a fwe minutes later, things
are fine.
One complication: I'm not controlling the TV directly. I'm shining the
remote on PowerMid that uses radio waves to communicate with a receiver
in my bedroom that uses a thin cable to send infrared to a little bead
that is stuck in front of the IR receiver on the DVDR. But the powermid
has a red light that goes on when I'm shining the remote at it, and that
does go on. Still, I don't think that is the cause of the delay.
On Friday, September 16, 2022 at 1:06:54 AM UTC-4, micky wrote:
Have any of you noticed that your remote control, for a tv or whatever,
doesn't work at first, if you haven't used it for a day or two?
I keep thinking the batteries have died, but after a couple minutes it
usually works.
I try to warm up the batteries by pressing one button or another 10 or
20 times and that doesn't seem to work but a fwe minutes later, things
are fine.
One complication: I'm not controlling the TV directly. I'm shining the
remote on PowerMid that uses radio waves to communicate with a receiver
in my bedroom that uses a thin cable to send infrared to a little bead
that is stuck in front of the IR receiver on the DVDR. But the powermid
has a red light that goes on when I'm shining the remote at it, and that
does go on. Still, I don't think that is the cause of the delay.
I've never noticed that, no. It seems that with the equipment you have, your lag could be anywhere in the chain and not so much the remote since your powermid is responding to it apparently.
In sci.electronics.repair, on Fri, 16 Sep 2022 09:31:33 -0700 (PDT), "ohg...@gmail.com" <ohg...@gmail.com> wrote:
On Friday, September 16, 2022 at 1:06:54 AM UTC-4, micky wrote:
Have any of you noticed that your remote control, for a tv or whatever, >> doesn't work at first, if you haven't used it for a day or two?
I keep thinking the batteries have died, but after a couple minutes it
usually works.
I try to warm up the batteries by pressing one button or another 10 or
20 times and that doesn't seem to work but a fwe minutes later, things
are fine.
One complication: I'm not controlling the TV directly. I'm shining the
remote on PowerMid that uses radio waves to communicate with a receiver >> in my bedroom that uses a thin cable to send infrared to a little bead
that is stuck in front of the IR receiver on the DVDR. But the powermid >> has a red light that goes on when I'm shining the remote at it, and that >> does go on. Still, I don't think that is the cause of the delay.
I've never noticed that, no. It seems that with the equipment you have, your lag could be anywhere in the chain and not so much the remote since your powermid is responding to it apparently.I know the light on the powermid goes on, but I thought that only meant
it detected a signal, but maybe not a strong enough signal. The
powermid at both ends is plugged into the wall, doesn't depend on
batteries. So it didn't seem like it would require "warming up". Maybe
time will tell what the problem is.
Have any of you noticed that your remote control, for a tv or whatever, doesn't work at first, if you haven't used it for a day or two?
I keep thinking the batteries have died, but after a couple minutes it usually works.
I try to warm up the batteries by pressing one button or another 10 or
20 times and that doesn't seem to work but a fwe minutes later, things
are fine.
One complication: I'm not controlling the TV directly. I'm shining the remote on PowerMid that uses radio waves to communicate with a receiver
in my bedroom that uses a thin cable to send infrared to a little bead
that is stuck in front of the IR receiver on the DVDR. But the powermid
has a red light that goes on when I'm shining the remote at it, and that
does go on. Still, I don't think that is the cause of the delay.
There is a *tiny* window where a digital signal is usable and when it isn't. If the powermid is flashing, it does mean it detected an IR signal
yes, and it certainly can also mean the signal is gibberish from the remote, but I can tell you in over 50 years in consumer electronics, I can't
recall seeing more than one or two remotes that put out an IR pulsed signal that also put out gibberish or the incorrect code at the same time.
IOW, if they transmitted IR, they were generally good. Could the powermid being seeing a signal too weak to reliably get the code read? I guess,
it depends on what the light means. It could mean signal detection or it could mean code readable.
What if you take your remote directly to your DVDR? If it responds immediately, the DVDR and the hand unit are good and the powermid is bad. If
the DVDR doesn't respond immediately, the powermid is good and the hand unit or DVDR is bad.
In article <3806e8b2-213e-4c3d-80bf-979f608c1b1en@googlegroups.com>, >ohg...@gmail.com <ohger1s@gmail.com> wrote:
There is a *tiny* window where a digital signal is usable and when it isn't. If the powermid is flashing, it does mean it detected an IR signal
yes, and it certainly can also mean the signal is gibberish from the remote, but I can tell you in over 50 years in consumer electronics, I can't
recall seeing more than one or two remotes that put out an IR pulsed signal that also put out gibberish or the incorrect code at the same time.
IOW, if they transmitted IR, they were generally good. Could the powermid being seeing a signal too weak to reliably get the code read? I guess,
it depends on what the light means. It could mean signal detection or it could mean code readable.
What if you take your remote directly to your DVDR?
If it responds immediately, the DVDR and the hand unit are good and the powermid is bad. If
the DVDR doesn't respond immediately, the powermid is good and the hand unit or DVDR is bad.
Those IR -> RF -> IR PowerMod relay devices are... well, rather evil, IMO.
The design has a couple of limitations / vulnerabilities:
(1) The IR receiver isn't very selective - it response to
pulsed/modulated IR having a broad range of modulating
frequencies. This is necessary in order to allow the device to
work with a broad range of IR remotes, but it means that the IR
receiver can be "swamped" by IR noise from other devices. In
particular, some compact-fluorescent and LED lights seem to put
out a bunch of modulated IR, and this can interfere with the
detection of IR from a remote control. Worse, it can cause
the IR receiver to start sending gibberish "remote control"
signals via RF.
(2) The RF receiver at the far end isn't very selective, either.
As I recall it's tuned to a frequency in the 433 MHz ISM band,
and the band-pass is pretty wide. As a result, RF noise in
this band (even "hash" from computers, etc.) can cause the
receiver to "think" it's seeing input from the IR module,
and it will start spewing out meaningless IR pulses from
its IR-transmitter dongles.
The combination of these two design weaknesses means that a PowerMid
setup has a tendency to spew meaningless IR pulses into the
A/V components at the receiving end. This can prevent proper
repeating of IR from a remote control in another room, and it can
also interfere with the proper detection of commands from an
IR remote in the main viewing room.
Observe the PowerMid repeater "pyramid" for a while, when you
know that nobody's using the system. If you see the "activity"
light flicker, you have interference problems.
On 2022-09-16 07:06, micky wrote:
Have any of you noticed that your remote control, for a tv or whatever,
doesn't work at first, if you haven't used it for a day or two?
I keep thinking the batteries have died, but after a couple minutes it
usually works.
I try to warm up the batteries by pressing one button or another 10 or
20 times and that doesn't seem to work but a fwe minutes later, things
are fine.
One complication: I'm not controlling the TV directly. I'm shining the
remote on PowerMid that uses radio waves to communicate with a receiver
in my bedroom that uses a thin cable to send infrared to a little bead
that is stuck in front of the IR receiver on the DVDR. But the powermid
has a red light that goes on when I'm shining the remote at it, and that
does go on. Still, I don't think that is the cause of the delay.
I have one remote?? that had buttons that would not work, or I had to
press hard, and wiggle them. When I opened the thing, many buttons were
humid inside. I never found where that came from, and doesn't happen to
any other remote. I cleaned/dried them, close the case, work for a month
or two, then repeat.
In the end, I had to glue small pieces of aluminum foil in the inner
surface of the buttons so that they would make contact. Problem now is,
some of the foil pieces fall down, and the button will not work at all.
The tiny foil can also short some other contact instead.
Someone made a program running on the computer that would connect via
LAN and emulate the remote, so that's what I use most of the time now.
Except for powering it up, that needs the remote.
I have another device that the remote failed yesterday to get a response
at some point. I could see a led blinking in the mode it does to tell
the user that it is getting a command from the IR remote, yet it did not >react. I had to power cycle the device - that button did work. My guess
is that the device had hung.
(1) Gigaset M740 AV
I have another device that the remote failed yesterday to get a response
at some point. I could see a led blinking in the mode it does to tell
the user that it is getting a command from the IR remote, yet it did not react. I had to power cycle the device - that button did work. My guess
is that the device had hung.
On 9/17/2022 2:36 PM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
I have another device that the remote failed yesterday to get aresponse at some point. I could see a led blinking in the mode it does
to tell the user that it is getting a command from the IR remote, yet
it did not react. I had to power cycle the device - that button did
work. My guess is that the device had hung.
I had a similar problem recently with a Roku remote. The batteries were
good but some corrosion had developed at the end of the spring that made contact with the (-) end of one of the batteries. Cleaned it off with a stiff pencil eraser and problem solved.
The Pink Pearl solution! Back when cards were inserted into a connector
on a backplane the first step in troubleshooting was to pull the card
out and apply a Pink Pearl eraser to the contacts.
On 9/17/2022 2:36 PM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
I have another device that the remote failed yesterday to get aresponse at some point. I could see a led blinking in the mode it does
to tell the user that it is getting a command from the IR remote, yet
it did not react. I had to power cycle the device - that button did
work. My guess is that the device had hung.
I had a similar problem recently with a Roku remote. The batteries were good but some corrosion had developed at the end of the spring that made contact with the (-) end of one of the batteries. Cleaned it off with a stiff pencil eraser and problem solved.
On 2022-09-18 16:44, Peter wrote:
On 9/17/2022 2:36 PM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
I have another device that the remote failed yesterday to get aresponse at some point. I could see a led blinking in the mode it
does to tell the user that it is getting a command from the IR
remote, yet it did not react. I had to power cycle the device - that
button did work. My guess is that the device had hung.
I had a similar problem recently with a Roku remote. The batteries
were good but some corrosion had developed at the end of the spring
that made contact with the (-) end of one of the batteries. Cleaned
it off with a stiff pencil eraser and problem solved.
That's what I thought the first time, battery leakage. I cleaned the
thing very carefully, assembled it, new batteries, and soon again it had liquid inside the buttons. Actual tiny drops of some liquid. No
corrosion. I repeated the process. Nothing worked. Ah, the batteries
were dry all the time, and anyway, I changed to rechargeables.
Something in that remote picks humidity from air.
On 9/19/2022 8:52 AM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2022-09-18 16:44, Peter wrote:
On 9/17/2022 2:36 PM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
I have another device that the remote failed yesterday to get aresponse at some point. I could see a led blinking in the mode it
does to tell the user that it is getting a command from the IR
remote, yet it did not react. I had to power cycle the device - that
button did work. My guess is that the device had hung.
I had a similar problem recently with a Roku remote. The batteries
were good but some corrosion had developed at the end of the spring
that made contact with the (-) end of one of the batteries. Cleaned
it off with a stiff pencil eraser and problem solved.
That's what I thought the first time, battery leakage. I cleaned the
thing very carefully, assembled it, new batteries, and soon again it
had liquid inside the buttons. Actual tiny drops of some liquid. No
corrosion. I repeated the process. Nothing worked. Ah, the batteries
were dry all the time, and anyway, I changed to rechargeables.
Something in that remote picks humidity from air.
Is there a rubbery or even plastic material there that could be breaking down? Some can release gooey liquid.
On 9/19/2022 8:52 AM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2022-09-18 16:44, Peter wrote:
On 9/17/2022 2:36 PM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
I have another device that the remote failed yesterday to get aresponse at some point. I could see a led blinking in the mode it
does to tell the user that it is getting a command from the IR
remote, yet it did not react. I had to power cycle the device - that
button did work. My guess is that the device had hung.
I had a similar problem recently with a Roku remote. The batteries
were good but some corrosion had developed at the end of the spring
that made contact with the (-) end of one of the batteries. Cleaned
it off with a stiff pencil eraser and problem solved.
That's what I thought the first time, battery leakage. I cleaned the
thing very carefully, assembled it, new batteries, and soon again it
had liquid inside the buttons. Actual tiny drops of some liquid. No
corrosion. I repeated the process. Nothing worked. Ah, the batteries
were dry all the time, and anyway, I changed to rechargeables.
Something in that remote picks humidity from air.
Is there a rubbery or even plastic material there that could be breaking down? Some can release gooey liquid.
On 2022-09-19 18:00, Bob F wrote:
On 9/19/2022 8:52 AM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2022-09-18 16:44, Peter wrote:
On 9/17/2022 2:36 PM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
I have another device that the remote failed yesterday to get aresponse at some point. I could see a led blinking in the mode it
does to tell the user that it is getting a command from the IR
remote, yet it did not react. I had to power cycle the device -
that button did work. My guess is that the device had hung.
I had a similar problem recently with a Roku remote. The batteries
were good but some corrosion had developed at the end of the spring
that made contact with the (-) end of one of the batteries. Cleaned
it off with a stiff pencil eraser and problem solved.
That's what I thought the first time, battery leakage. I cleaned the
thing very carefully, assembled it, new batteries, and soon again it
had liquid inside the buttons. Actual tiny drops of some liquid. No
corrosion. I repeated the process. Nothing worked. Ah, the batteries
were dry all the time, and anyway, I changed to rechargeables.
Something in that remote picks humidity from air.
Is there a rubbery or even plastic material there that could be
breaking down? Some can release gooey liquid.
Nope. None that I could see.
On 20/9/22 05:41, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2022-09-19 18:00, Bob F wrote:
On 9/19/2022 8:52 AM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2022-09-18 16:44, Peter wrote:
On 9/17/2022 2:36 PM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
I have another device that the remote failed yesterday to get aresponse at some point. I could see a led blinking in the mode it
does to tell the user that it is getting a command from the IR
remote, yet it did not react. I had to power cycle the device -
that button did work. My guess is that the device had hung.
I had a similar problem recently with a Roku remote. The batteries >>>>> were good but some corrosion had developed at the end of the spring
that made contact with the (-) end of one of the batteries.
Cleaned it off with a stiff pencil eraser and problem solved.
That's what I thought the first time, battery leakage. I cleaned the
thing very carefully, assembled it, new batteries, and soon again it
had liquid inside the buttons. Actual tiny drops of some liquid. No
corrosion. I repeated the process. Nothing worked. Ah, the batteries
were dry all the time, and anyway, I changed to rechargeables.
Something in that remote picks humidity from air.
Is there a rubbery or even plastic material there that could be
breaking down? Some can release gooey liquid.
Nope. None that I could see.
The buttons are usually molded into a silicone sheet. The silicoen
starts to de-polymerise and that's where the liquid comes from - it's silicone oil. You can clean it off with alcohol, but that just gives you enough time to look for a new remote control.
Well, that started to happen when the remote was not old, and several
years later I'm still using that machine. It is my only device that
developed that problem. I have (had, I threw them away this summer) TVs
older than that.
No one sells that ancient remote control AFAIK.
In sci.electronics.repair, on Tue, 20 Sep 2022 20:19:24 +0200, "Carlos
E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
Well, that started to happen when the remote was not old, and several
years later I'm still using that machine. It is my only device that
developed that problem. I have (had, I threw them away this summer) TVs
older than that.
No one sells that ancient remote control AFAIK.
On ebay I found someone who sells universale remotes that he has
programmed for specific devices. They aren't univesal anymore and they don't come with instructions how to make them universal or any other
model. I think I found it just by googling the model number, but on ebay where I didn't expect them.
One time I think he wrote me that he was going to stop because he was't making enough money anymore. I said Raise your price. He still would
have been cheaper then new old stock. (It occurs to me now that I only
know about my particular make and model, and I presume he sold many
different models.) I don't know what he decided to do. He had one
location in the USA and one in England, I think it was.
In sci.electronics.repair, on Tue, 20 Sep 2022 20:19:24 +0200, "Carlos
E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
Well, that started to happen when the remote was not old, and several
years later I'm still using that machine. It is my only device that >>developed that problem. I have (had, I threw them away this summer) TVs >>older than that.
No one sells that ancient remote control AFAIK.
On ebay I found someone who sells universale remotes that he has
programmed for specific devices. They aren't univesal anymore and they >don't come with instructions how to make them universal or any other
model. I think I found it just by googling the model number, but on ebay >where I didn't expect them.
One time I think he wrote me that he was going to stop because he was't >making enough money anymore. I said Raise your price. He still would
have been cheaper then new old stock. (It occurs to me now that I only
know about my particular make and model, and I presume he sold many
different models.) I don't know what he decided to do. He had one
location in the USA and one in England, I think it was.
On Tue, 20 Sep 2022 16:08:09 -0400, micky <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> wrote
as underneath :
In sci.electronics.repair, on Tue, 20 Sep 2022 20:19:24 +0200, "Carlos
E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
The Chunghop L336 universal learning remotes work well and are cheap
enough. All buttons programmable and remembered even if battery goes
flat. BUT - you do have to have a working unit to learn from even if its
on its last legs! C+
On 20/9/22 05:41, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2022-09-19 18:00, Bob F wrote:
On 9/19/2022 8:52 AM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2022-09-18 16:44, Peter wrote:
On 9/17/2022 2:36 PM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
Is there a rubbery or even plastic material there that could be
breaking down? Some can release gooey liquid.
Nope. None that I could see.
The buttons are usually molded into a silicone sheet. The silicoen
starts to de-polymerise and that's where the liquid comes from - it's silicone oil. You can clean it off with alcohol, but that just gives you enough time to look for a new remote control.
On Tue, 20 Sep 2022 16:08:09 -0400, micky <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> wrote
as underneath :
In sci.electronics.repair, on Tue, 20 Sep 2022 20:19:24 +0200, "Carlos
E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
Well, that started to happen when the remote was not old, and several
years later I'm still using that machine. It is my only device that
developed that problem. I have (had, I threw them away this summer) TVs
older than that.
No one sells that ancient remote control AFAIK.
On ebay I found someone who sells universale remotes that he has
programmed for specific devices. They aren't univesal anymore and they
don't come with instructions how to make them universal or any other
model. I think I found it just by googling the model number, but on ebay
where I didn't expect them.
One time I think he wrote me that he was going to stop because he was't
making enough money anymore. I said Raise your price. He still would
have been cheaper then new old stock. (It occurs to me now that I only
know about my particular make and model, and I presume he sold many
different models.) I don't know what he decided to do. He had one
location in the USA and one in England, I think it was.
The Chunghop L336 universal learning remotes work well and are cheap
enough. All buttons programmable and remembered even if battery goes
flat. BUT - you do have to have a working unit to learn from even if its
on its last legs! C+
On 2022-09-20 06:03, Clifford Heath wrote:
On 20/9/22 05:41, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2022-09-19 18:00, Bob F wrote:
On 9/19/2022 8:52 AM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2022-09-18 16:44, Peter wrote:
On 9/17/2022 2:36 PM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
Is there a rubbery or even plastic material there that could be
breaking down? Some can release gooey liquid.
Nope. None that I could see.
The buttons are usually molded into a silicone sheet. The silicoen
starts to de-polymerise and that's where the liquid comes from - it's
silicone oil. You can clean it off with alcohol, but that just gives
you enough time to look for a new remote control.
I wonder if that is the degradation process that happens to kitchen
utensils, that have parts made in some kind of non slippery rubber.
After some years, they degrade and leak something like a glue and have
to be thrown to the garbage, unless the rubber part can be removed and
the thing still works.
It is not, apparently, what happened to my remote, as the buttons are
still, apparently, intact.
enough. All buttons programmable and remembered even if battery goes
flat. BUT - you do have to have a working unit to learn from even if its
on its last legs! C+
On 2022-09-20 06:03, Clifford Heath wrote:
On 20/9/22 05:41, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2022-09-19 18:00, Bob F wrote:
On 9/19/2022 8:52 AM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2022-09-18 16:44, Peter wrote:
On 9/17/2022 2:36 PM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
I have not seen this happen to kitchen utensils. I have seen it happen to car radio head units, car climate control centers, and hand tools. I don't know of anyway to stop the process or clean up the mess.Is there a rubbery or even plastic material there that could be
breaking down? Some can release gooey liquid.
Nope. None that I could see.
The buttons are usually molded into a silicone sheet. The silicoenI wonder if that is the degradation process that happens to kitchen
starts to de-polymerise and that's where the liquid comes from - it's silicone oil. You can clean it off with alcohol, but that just gives you enough time to look for a new remote control.
utensils, that have parts made in some kind of non slippery rubber.
After some years, they degrade and leak something like a glue and have
to be thrown to the garbage, unless the rubber part can be removed and
the thing still works.
It is not, apparently, what happened to my remote, as the buttons are
still, apparently, intact.
--
Cheers, Carlos.
On 2022-09-20 06:03, Clifford Heath wrote:
On 20/9/22 05:41, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2022-09-19 18:00, Bob F wrote:
On 9/19/2022 8:52 AM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2022-09-18 16:44, Peter wrote:
On 9/17/2022 2:36 PM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
I have another device that the remote failed yesterday to get a >>>>>> response at some point. I could see a led blinking in the mode it >>>>>> does to tell the user that it is getting a command from the IRremote, yet it did not react. I had to power cycle the device - >>>>>> that button did work. My guess is that the device had hung.
I had a similar problem recently with a Roku remote. The batteries >>>>> were good but some corrosion had developed at the end of the spring >>>>> that made contact with the (-) end of one of the batteries.
Cleaned it off with a stiff pencil eraser and problem solved.
That's what I thought the first time, battery leakage. I cleaned the >>>> thing very carefully, assembled it, new batteries, and soon again it >>>> had liquid inside the buttons. Actual tiny drops of some liquid. No >>>> corrosion. I repeated the process. Nothing worked. Ah, the batteries >>>> were dry all the time, and anyway, I changed to rechargeables.
Something in that remote picks humidity from air.
Is there a rubbery or even plastic material there that could be
breaking down? Some can release gooey liquid.
Nope. None that I could see.
The buttons are usually molded into a silicone sheet. The silicoenWell, that started to happen when the remote was not old, and several
starts to de-polymerise and that's where the liquid comes from - it's silicone oil. You can clean it off with alcohol, but that just gives you enough time to look for a new remote control.
years later I'm still using that machine. It is my only device that developed that problem. I have (had, I threw them away this summer) TVs older than that.
No one sells that ancient remote control AFAIK.
--
Cheers, Carlos.
On 2022-09-21 08:21, Charlie+ wrote:
On Tue, 20 Sep 2022 16:08:09 -0400, micky <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> wrote
as underneath :
In sci.electronics.repair, on Tue, 20 Sep 2022 20:19:24 +0200, "Carlos
E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
The Chunghop L336 universal learning remotes work well and are cheap
enough. All buttons programmable and remembered even if battery goes
flat. BUT - you do have to have a working unit to learn from even if its
on its last legs! C+
Good to know, thanks.
I wonder, if someone could publish libraries of codes to teach remotes
the "language" of some other remote in the library. Would save effort
and time.
I still have a landline through Century. The bill I got today said "Your Federal Universal Service Fund Surcharge rate has changed from 29.00% to 29.20%. I don't know how much more Bidenomics I can stand/
The .20% increase wasn't long before Biden although that pales compared to the rest of the inflation. Note: a lower than expected increase in the CPI does not equate to a lower CPI despite the media trying to wrestle
lipstick on a pig.
But Trump... Yeah, he fell for the covid boondoogle hook, line, and
sinker but Slow Joe is trying to claim credit for fixing the problem.
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