4 comments on “Rubber Keypad problems – liquid… oil… moisture… found inside the buttons. What is it? Where does it come from??

  1. This explains everything. I have an Onkyo RC-810M remote with a bad volume up/down button. Over time you would have to press the button harder and harder to make it work. Eventually it quit working. Upon inspection, I noticed clear silicone oil on the circuit board below the button. Again this is a large button, and when you press it hard over time, if it is not fully cooked, you will indeed see oil seeping out. Cleaning up the oil did help for a short time, but it failed again because apparently the tip of the button contains imbeded conductive graphite. If enough of the graphite gets worn or melts away, there will be no electrical contact possible anymore. I agree, poor design or QC. To add insult to injury, mfgr does not offer repair parts. A new remote costs about $80. (Ouch) Good luck with the aluminum foil or the conductive paint fix….. Remember, hardly anything will stick to silicone rubber for any length of time. And if the rubber is indeed under cooked and seeping oil, forget about it. I did get it to work again by replacing the button with another one on the pad that was not in use. Good luck on this one also, surgery on the silicone pad with a group of buttons is tricky. Use a sharp knife and a lot of patience. In the end it did not look pretty, but it is working again, for how long I do not know.

    • I have used conductive silver paint. After cleaning the silicone button surface, I use a miniature blade screwdriver tip to apply the thinnest layer possible. It works great, but if the silicone pad is still releasing oil, the paint will come loose. Repeat, and call me in the morning.

      • I tried many different conductive paints and epoxy over the years. They all crack, peel and wear off and end up depositing conductive material between the contacts shorting out a button and locking up the entire keypad. I even experimented with coating the buttons with rubber infused gel super glue, sanding them flat and coating that…. lasted a little longer but still sometimes failed within warranty. Not good enough.

  2. Your silicone oil explanation exactly fits the facts of two different tv remotes which gave me trouble over the years. An oily coating inside was removed in my case by repeated applications of methylated spirits and mopping with clean paper towel. Perhaps, in theory, the rubber keypad component should be home-baked by the user at a temperature (?) for hours (?). But I haven’t dared to try this.

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