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  1. Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    United States
    Search Comp PM
    I own a DVR-640H which continues to provide me with outstanding service.

    Recently however, my young daughter spilled some fruit juice on the remote control.
    We cleaned it as best we could at the time, and whilst it still operates perfectly well, the buttons have become a little sticky and I would like to take it apart to clean it more thoroughly. (I have done this with numerous other remotes in the past).

    The problem is that I cannot see how to easily disassemble this remote. It does not appear to be constructed in a fashion similar to those I have looked at previously, and I don't see any obvious screws holding the two main case parts together.

    I'm inclined to think that they can simply and carefully be eased apart but I'm not sure.

    Does anyone have any experience with this please ?
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  2. Member Seeker47's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    drifting, somewhere on the Sea of Cynicism
    Search Comp PM
    Probably the best one to ask is Orsetto.

    I know there are cleaning kits for remotes that are sold online (which I must have bookmarked
    somewhere), and I was thinking of getting one for a different old remote. I don't know how effective they are, or how much in the way of DIY skills one needs for this, though. The kit runs around 20 bucks, and the remote I wanted to resurrect would cost $100. for a new one if they were still available, but they aren't . . . which is why I thought there was little to lose. In that case, it wasn't a drink spillage, but some combination of big city air pollution gunking up the contacts inside, batteries going bad with crusty white leakage at the contacts a couple times (I clean that up carefully with isopropyl alcohol), and maybe just the age of the remote.

    But of course you have to be able to open the thing up in order to attempt anything.

    If cleanup proves to be impractical, and you decide to get a replacement, I highly recommend the Pioneer VXX2967. Fans of the 640 consider this superior to the one that came standard with the DVDR. Last time I checked, these were still available for around $45. And do whatever you can to keep these things away from the snacks.
    When in Las Vegas, don't miss the Pinball Hall of Fame Museum http://www.pinballmuseum.org/ -- with over 150 tables from 6+ decades of this quintessentially American art form.
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  3. Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Location
    Singapore
    Search Comp PM
    Hi there,

    I have one of these remotes too and after it cleaning it up due to a battery leakage, a couple of buttons isn't working (and the most important ones; up, down, left, right button.)

    Anyone knows the right way or the trick to open this remote?

    Thanks.
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  4. It is difficult to open without inflicting cosmetic damage. The battery leakage probably didn't reach the buttons but ruined part of the circuit board, something you likely won't be able to repair. But if you want to try anyway:

    First you need to remove the batteries and the two screws on the back holding it together. One screw is in the hole near the top, the other is at the bottom under the battery cover. These are Phillips head (Size #0) screws. After removing the screws you need to pry the covers apart along the seam that runs around the middle. Everyone has different prying tools and tricks (Apple iPod tools, credit cards, paint scrapers). It is hard to recommend a method because much depends on your intuitive skills. You'll need to clean the battery gunk off the circuit board and button contacts with a cotton ear swab moistened with white vinegar. If that doesn't reactivate the buttons, you may need to replace their contact patches with bits of conductive tape superglued on. The tape is expensive, but better than the fluid in "remote repair" kits you might see online.

    Personally I would not bother repairing this particular handset, which was the last (and worst) of the Pioneer DVD/HDD remotes. It has poor length/weight balance, the buttons are tiny, and some editing functions were inexplicably altered with this design. As Seeker47 noted above, any Pioneer DVD/HDD remote will operate any Pioneer DVD/HDD recorder, so you don't need this exact one. The best one by far for the 640 and later models is the silver-colored VXX2967 or similar (that originally came with the 530 series). Great button feel and layout, the editing signals are more intuitive, incredibly durable, and much easier to open/repair:


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    Last edited by orsetto; 16th Sep 2014 at 15:21.
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