Keyfob cold solder repair
Senior Member
Joined: 06-20-2011
Posts: 737
From: Savanna Illinois
Being a amateur radio operator I firmly believe that everyone should know how to solder.
I learned how at a very early age like around 7 years old. I had gotten a wood burning kit for Christmas that year and had already developed an interest in radios and other electronic things so with a little help from my dad I learned. A wood burning pencil works just fine for a soldering iron you see.
There was a lot of trial and error. A lot more error than success at first but soon enough I figured it out.
The main trick to it is having things very clean before you start. If you can make a good physical connection {like wrapping wires together be for soldering them it helps}
In most electronic devices you do not want to use an acid flux to clean the parts you use a rosin flux instead.
On these key fobs there is a through the board hole that small pins or tabs on the battery holder are supposed to go into.
On mine these tabs were broken and still imbedded in the solder when the holders broke loose. On my first repair I just held the battery holder down with a screw driver and reflowed the solder that was already on the PC board. When it broke again just a few weeks later I used some rosin paste flux and some clean stranded wire {as solder wick} to remove all the solder and the little chip of the tab from the holes in the PC board.
Once the holes were cleaned out I went through my junk box and found some solid wire, on a resistor, that fitted the hole snugly. I put that in the hole then soldered the battery clip to it and the PC board and snipped the extra off flush with the top of the battery clip.
This repair has lasted nearly a year now and looks to be as solid as anyone might want.
You can buy solder wick at Radio Shack but if you already have some paste flux around any fairly clean copper wire can be used as wick. The solder wants to go where the clean copper is heated. Just have a little patients and do not let the freshly flowed lead solidify before you move the wire away.
With a little practice you can do this thing. You more than likely have a dead electronic device you can practice on before you try it on your key fob. Try removing some components from your dead whatever and resoldering them
You will know you did it right if the solder is bright and shiny when it cools.
Also you can do this with a $3.99 Chinese soldering iron and solder you can pick up at Radio Shack or nearly any big box store. Just don't try to use 1/8” plumbing solder with your 30 watt iron. Oh,... you can do it it just ain't as easy as using the smaller diameter rosin core electronic solder.
I learned how at a very early age like around 7 years old. I had gotten a wood burning kit for Christmas that year and had already developed an interest in radios and other electronic things so with a little help from my dad I learned. A wood burning pencil works just fine for a soldering iron you see.
There was a lot of trial and error. A lot more error than success at first but soon enough I figured it out.
The main trick to it is having things very clean before you start. If you can make a good physical connection {like wrapping wires together be for soldering them it helps}
In most electronic devices you do not want to use an acid flux to clean the parts you use a rosin flux instead.
On these key fobs there is a through the board hole that small pins or tabs on the battery holder are supposed to go into.
On mine these tabs were broken and still imbedded in the solder when the holders broke loose. On my first repair I just held the battery holder down with a screw driver and reflowed the solder that was already on the PC board. When it broke again just a few weeks later I used some rosin paste flux and some clean stranded wire {as solder wick} to remove all the solder and the little chip of the tab from the holes in the PC board.
Once the holes were cleaned out I went through my junk box and found some solid wire, on a resistor, that fitted the hole snugly. I put that in the hole then soldered the battery clip to it and the PC board and snipped the extra off flush with the top of the battery clip.
This repair has lasted nearly a year now and looks to be as solid as anyone might want.
You can buy solder wick at Radio Shack but if you already have some paste flux around any fairly clean copper wire can be used as wick. The solder wants to go where the clean copper is heated. Just have a little patients and do not let the freshly flowed lead solidify before you move the wire away.
With a little practice you can do this thing. You more than likely have a dead electronic device you can practice on before you try it on your key fob. Try removing some components from your dead whatever and resoldering them
You will know you did it right if the solder is bright and shiny when it cools.
Also you can do this with a $3.99 Chinese soldering iron and solder you can pick up at Radio Shack or nearly any big box store. Just don't try to use 1/8” plumbing solder with your 30 watt iron. Oh,... you can do it it just ain't as easy as using the smaller diameter rosin core electronic solder.
Joined: 06-01-2012
Posts: 2
From: Wisconsin
KeyFob fix
This happened to mine too and it took all of 5 minutes to fix. I saw in another post to take it back to the dealer but they probably will not replace.
If you do this yourself make sure you do not get the board to hot....the other thing I did was put the carriage in place and heated up the center contact first then did the two feet punch through's
Works like new and did not cost anything since I used existing solder
If you do this yourself make sure you do not get the board to hot....the other thing I did was put the carriage in place and heated up the center contact first then did the two feet punch through's
Works like new and did not cost anything since I used existing solder
Senior Member
Joined: 12-06-2010
Posts: 134
From: shamokin, pa
for some reason the contacts in the gummy quit working. if you short out the contacts on the PC board and everything works, glue a piece of aluminum foil on the gummy, on each contact, prob fixed. i posted this a while ago.
Senior Member
Joined: 10-09-2010
Posts: 454
From: Indy
I have had the usual fob problems also.
1-bad solder on the battery clip.
A-This is the problem with lead free solder that is used in electronic components.
The old school lead solder has better strength than this new stuff.
I used some lead solder to do the repair.
2-corroded or dirty contacts on the circuit board
A- scrubbed them clean with a red eraser.
3-the carbon ink that is on the little conductive bump on the silicone keypad gets worn off from use.
A-I used an old keypad from a remote control, and did a Frankinstein job.
I used a fresh ex=acto blade and cut the contacts off of the keyfob buttons,
I then cut the conductive contacts from the donor remote.
Using some silicone sealer, I carefully glued the contacts onto the fob keypad.
1-bad solder on the battery clip.
A-This is the problem with lead free solder that is used in electronic components.
The old school lead solder has better strength than this new stuff.
I used some lead solder to do the repair.
2-corroded or dirty contacts on the circuit board
A- scrubbed them clean with a red eraser.
3-the carbon ink that is on the little conductive bump on the silicone keypad gets worn off from use.
A-I used an old keypad from a remote control, and did a Frankinstein job.
I used a fresh ex=acto blade and cut the contacts off of the keyfob buttons,
I then cut the conductive contacts from the donor remote.
Using some silicone sealer, I carefully glued the contacts onto the fob keypad.
Senior Member
Joined: 08-19-2008
Posts: 108
From: Brandon, FL
3-the carbon ink that is on the little conductive bump on the silicone keypad gets worn off from use.
A-I used an old keypad from a remote control, and did a Frankinstein job.
I used a fresh ex=acto blade and cut the contacts off of the keyfob buttons,
I then cut the conductive contacts from the donor remote.
Using some silicone sealer, I carefully glued the contacts onto the fob keypad.
