Introduction: Repair a Key Fob With Conductive Ink
I had a key fob for my car that wasn't performing as it used to. This instructable restored the buttons to their original function.
Step 1: What You Need
1 The fob to repair 2 a coin to open the fob 3 conductive ink
Step 2: Open the Fob
Use your penny to pop open the fob. Mine has a slot made just for it. Insert the penny and twist.
Step 3: Inside the Fob
Inside the fob you will find a small circuit board, a rubber button cover with small conductive pads, and a coin sized battery. Inspect each of these for corrosion.
Step 4: A Word About Conductive Ink
This is conductive ink. It's a simple easy way to make a connection for circuits. It's easy to find on the Internet.
Step 5: Prep the Ink
remove the cap, unscrew the nozzle and remove the inner cap. The inner cap is easy to miss. Hopefully this saves someone some frustration.
Step 6: Conductive Pads
Find the conductive pads on the rubber cover. if they have rubbed off, use the conductive ink to repair the pad. Use just a little ink. I used too much the first time and had to clean it off and reapply. You just need enough to make a good contact.
Step 7: Image of Repair
This is an image of the repair. Be sure to let the junk thoroughly dry. The jnk is not conductive until it is dry. You can speed up dry time with a hair dryer.
Step 8: Inspect and Reassemble
Inspect the contact pads and reassemble. You should have a working remote again. Note this remedy does not fix all broken remotes but if your contact pads were the issue you are golden. Note to the wise. Replace the battery with a fresh one while you are in here.
11 Comments
8 years ago on Step 7
I thought my fob was dead, changed the battery to no avail. Then was messing around with it and touched something conductive to the PCB and it worked! So I was trying to figure out ways of rigging mechanical switches or something. This is much simpler. Brilliant!
8 years ago on Introduction
You can also take a simple pencil, the graphite inside is also conductive.
8 years ago on Introduction
no important it so easy in iran
8 years ago on Introduction
no important it so easy in iran
8 years ago on Introduction
There's another technique thats cheaper, and uses material you already have.
Just use a paper filing punch to punch holes in an aluminium cooking foil, and collect the punched out circles. Glue them to the rubber pads with the worn out conducting coat.
9 years ago on Introduction
Great idea, thanks
9 years ago on Introduction
look at the title "Repair a key dob with conductive ink" I beleive you mean fob not dob. otherwise, great 'ible.
10 years ago
The cost is $9.95
10 years ago
Sparkfun has it. http://www.sparkfun.com/products/11521
10 years ago on Introduction
Thanks. I'm going to use this on my Universal Remote, as some buttons don't work and some require a great deal of grinding force.
10 years ago on Introduction
I fixed a couple of hard to replace remotes this way using conductive paint from the auto supply store. The paint was made to repair rear window defoggers but was way expensive, $16.00 for a tiny vial. How much was the product you used? Source?