Logitech’s Harmony Remote is a really nice remote. I’ve had mine for a couple years but now the most commonly used buttons are wearing out. Since I have a Tivo the most used buttons are the forward buttons that I use for skipping commercials. These buttons are pretty much unusable now, they will work some of the time but only if you press really hard.
It seems stupid to buy a new Harmony remote every couple of years just because the buttons wore out. So here is how you can fix the buttons. These instructions are for the 676, but should work on most other versions too:
- Open the remote by removing the four screws at the bottom (two are under the battery compartment.
- Pry the remote open.
- Remove the two screws that are holding the circuit board on.
- Take the button piece out and flip it over too see the backs of the buttons.
- On my remote the buttons that were broken had some kind of shiny liquid on them. I’m not really sure what this is or where it comes from, all I know is you need to get rid of it.
- Take a Q-tip dipped in rubbing alcohol and scrub the keys and the contacts on the circuit board.
- Put the remote back together, it should now be working.
After I performed the above procedure the remote buttons started working perfectly.
Update 4/8/2010: The buttons stopped working again so I tried the cleaning process again. The buttons look very clean but for some reason the buttons still don’t work. I’m not sure why it would work great the first time but have no effect the second time.
I was looking around online and found a product called CaiKote 44. This product is designed for exactly the type of button repair that I needed. It is a paste that you put on the bottom of the buttons and it restores the conductivity. Application is pretty easy, using the included swabs just spread a thin layer of CaiKote on the button and let it dry for a few hours. Once I put the remote back together it was working perfectly again.
The problem seems to be finding CaiKote. The only physical store that I know of that carries this product is Fry’s Electronics. They sell it for $5.99. It was difficult to find, it took two workers a while before we finally found it. If you go it is located in the electronics parts department near some LCD screen cleaning products.
I haven’t found a good place to buy it online. You can but it from the manufacturer, but they have a $25 minimum order. It is also sold on Amazon here, but as of right now the price is very high, maybe it will drop to a more reasonable price in the future.
#1 by help on November 11, 2008 - 5:16 pm
I’m having problems with the remote freezing and not working. Do you by any chance know how to fix that?
#2 by Patrick on November 12, 2008 - 8:58 pm
Sorry, I’m not sure how to fix a problem with the remote when it is freezing. You might just have to buy a new one.
#3 by RJ on December 8, 2008 - 8:19 pm
Hi Patrick
I have a 676 and the LCD display died on me. Want to open it up to see if I
can do a simple fix. Is it possible to share pictures of your dis-assembly.
BTW, what type of screwdriver did you use?
#4 by Patrick on December 13, 2008 - 5:02 pm
RJ, sorry I don’t have pictures of the disassembly. That would have been a good idea, next time I’ll take pictures.
I used a Phillips screwdriver from a jeweler’s screwdriver set. The screwdriver says 0x20mm on it.
#5 by PK on January 17, 2009 - 6:40 pm
This works very well. I was about to toss my 676, but this method brought it back to full functionality. Works like it did right out of the box. I’m content knowing that I’ll know exactly what to do if this problem crops up again. Cheers to Patrick. This guy saved me another c-note.
#6 by MBOYLE on January 23, 2009 - 11:57 am
Did this to the xbox harmony remote, worked like a charm. getting the remote apart was the hardest part, almost broke the face bezel several times, take your time and go slow, it will come apart. Works like the day I bought it!
#7 by Adam on February 19, 2009 - 2:01 pm
Just did it on my Harmony 676, and it worked perfectly!
Thanks for the post, it certainly saved me some money.
#8 by Rob on December 17, 2009 - 6:44 am
This technique seemed to work on all the buttons except my skip forward button. Which is the button I use most of the time. All the other buttons are now fixed and are very responsive. I don’t have the push the buttons as hard anymore. Any ideas why it didn’t work on the skip forward button?
#9 by George on May 23, 2010 - 6:38 am
I was able to fix my 520. Several buttons required me to hold them for 1+ seconds before the connection was made and the signal was sent. I didn’t clean away any of the existing conductive liquid with alcohol or anything. I just flexed the rubberized keypad enough to “scrape” up any extra conductive gel (there was some gel on surfaces that didnt require it) onto the backs off the buttons that had stopped working. I didn’t have to buy any conductive liquid at all!
#10 by Kyle on August 21, 2010 - 5:19 pm
Thanks for posting this blog entry. A little caikote44 on my skip forward, play and pause buttons and they work like new.
#11 by Joe on November 20, 2010 - 1:57 pm
Thanks so much for posting this, especially the tip about CaiKote 44! Bought the small kit from allelectronics.com for $10 plus shipping, followed your instructions and the instructions for the CaiKote, and now my Harmony 676′s buttons are all working smoothly again!
#12 by Trini on April 10, 2011 - 12:59 pm
Hi!
I think maybe the rubbing alcohol dissolved the conductive film.
I didn’t have any rubbing alcohol …so I used hand soap.
And it’s made my buttons easy to push again!
(How long it will last ‘I don’t know’.)
Thanks for the tip on the CaliKote!
#13 by Trini on April 10, 2011 - 1:03 pm
#14 by Dan Ferguson on May 1, 2011 - 5:36 pm
To those of you with Harmony Remotes and buttons don’t work, good info on this site. Have had this problem with other remotes I have-usually I spilled something on them and have to take-em apart and clean with warm water then they work fine. The Harmony 676 I just got (only 5 bucks!) the volume would not go up only down. Took it apart and scraped off the gel and it worked fine. As for taking it apart-there are two screws on the back (very small philips) you can get a set of small drivers at the dollar store. Remove the two screws on the back then the two screws in the battery compartment. Then on the bottom of the the remote use one of the small screw drivers and pry the two halves apart a little then use another small one and it work it further up the control carefully. there are three tabs spaced about 1.5 inches apart on each side of the control- You can’t see them until you pry it apart a little-when you do put another small driver in there and pry it lose. Be carefull you don’t want to break them. When you get the halves apart there are two small screws holding the PC board down- they are located at the bottom near the battery contacts, remove those. Pull the PC board out and look at the bottom of the push buttons you will see the bad one has some shiny stuff on it. Scrape this off with one of the small screw drivers-wipe down the contact surface on the PC board and re-assemle-you are back in business. Hope this helps.
Dan-Lynnwood, WA
#15 by T Fogarty on June 5, 2011 - 7:41 pm
For anyone that may need to fix the stupid hard buttons on the 785 (they click when pressed and don’t rely on conductive back on the button). I just made mine work nearly as good as new, by putting a small drop of superglue on top of the metal dome that is stuck on the board, I tried to keep the drip in the centre of the dome and smaller than it. I guess you could maybe put a couple of layers of tape over them too. I think the bottom of the button wears down and just doesn’t allow the travel necessary to operate. I had to push my channel and volumes buttons nearly to breaking point, now all thats needed is just a tap. Very happy this has annoyed me for about a year now and I knew the hard buttons were different.
Don’t know how long it lasts, probably longer than it did originally is my guess. Logitech should be shot for putting the hard button types on it, I’m certain they tested them to last just outside warranty. When you pay $200 plus for a remote it should at least out last an OEM remote, not in the case of harmony remotes though. I’ve had 3 now all with buttons that were dead on arrival or soon after. It’s a pity as the rest of the hardware is reasonable.
#16 by Joel on September 14, 2011 - 7:28 pm
Ok, so I have a harmony 880 and when I disassemble it, there seems to be to two layers to the keypad. One just seems to be a green and white cover with holes for the small round metal contacts. It seems to be attached with an adhesive. I don’t know if it has a function. I imagine it does.
Then there’s a second layer which seems to be held together by adhesive and if I pull up one small side, I can see the top and bottom parts of the contact.
So my questions are:
1. are others seeing this or did the design change drastically between the two versions?
2. should I try to pull up the entire adhesive layer (both of them) and try to clean or repair the contacts?
I have about 3-4 buttons that simply aren’t responding anymore. it’s infuriating for something that we spent hundreds of dollars on.
Thanks for the help so far!