Bleeding/sweating rubber problem (TV remote)

[IdahoMan]

Both remotes for our TV (Sony) and DVD player (Panasonic) remotes have this problem. They are starting to not work at all. Taking them apart you can see that there is liquid forming on the rubber sheet that makes up the buttons.

My guess would be that it is sabotage by the manufacturer to make the product stop functioning after a time and/or Made-In-China, but I've never seen this problem before. If anyone here knows of a solution/exact-cause please feel free to comment.

[sleemanj]

Do you live alone?

If not, then my expectation here is that somebody has "washed" the remote, either intentionally, or accidentially in who knows what.

Wipe it down with some alcohol and dry it off.

[Ian.M]

http://www.michaelshell.org/gadgetsandfixes/keypadsiliconeoil.html

Blot off as much of the silicone oil as possible with paper towel, then clean as suggested in the above article, with detergent and hot water.  Do *NOT* use harsh solvents as they are likely to soften the carbon loaded contacts on both the buttons and PCB (if the manufacturer has cheaped out by using a single sided PCB with screen-printed carbon ink crossing traces and contacts). 

N.B. the carbon contacts of the button mat may go high resistance.  If you find some buttons fail to respond, try moving the mat to try that contact in a different, known working switch location (with the remote disassembled), then you need to clean the face of the contact pad under the button to expose a fresh carbon surface. To clean the carbon loaded contact pads, I use cartridge paper (or heavy copier paper).  Put the paper on a flat hard surface, and push each button in turn down so its contact pad is flat on the paper while pulling the whole mat sideways for an inch or two.  You are doing it right when the contact pad leaves a dark streak on the paper.   

[Gyro]

Don't rule out the lady of the house (or yourself!) using moisturising hand cream  - this can get in through the button apertures and eventually migrate all the way to the contacts given time. I've found the same problem on cordless phones.

[Valden]

Hello all.

My TV remote control was working poorly, with very inconsistent and/or poor performance across many buttons. I pulled it apart to clean it and found that the rubber button pad and the circuit board were wet. To me it looks like the rubber has hydrolysed. The 'wetness' was oily.

I spottested a few solvents for cleaning, using cotton buds: ethyl alcohol, then isopropyl alcohol, then CRC Contact Cleaner. None were particularly good. My good wife found this thread, which suggested washing the rubber several times in warm (it was hand-hot) water and detergent. Three washes and rinses and the rubber is clean. I dried it with wifey's hair dryer. I cleaned the circuit board with IPA a few times and vacuumed and brushed out the shell. Reassembly. It now works like a new one.

Thanks for the suggestion to wash the rubber in hot water and detergent.