LOL!!

Only problem is once you put it in a pin stripe suit, it'll be charging you £100 and hour to use it!

That sounds a bit tacky, W-K.

Thanks CPN - off to Maplin now (as I suspect will quite a few people after reading your excellent reply).

Thanks loads

You're very welcome Mark

I agree with Mark, Colin ! I will try your improvement after completing our house move. I wondered if a brighter signal might alleviate my problems of changing channels instead of text pages & getting unwanted & atypical sub-titles after a pause. One lives in hope.

I sought help with an irritation & instead you have cast new light figuratively & literally on one the original year+ old gripes.
Well done Colin.

Like W-K I thought Humax would be interested enough to get feedback from them.

After a complicated problem like that I''l pose a simpler one. Have you any good suggestions on tidying up Parliament.

David

Haven't see a post from Bob_cat in a while now?

Anecdotally, having been using our "new" remote for a few days now, I have to say that it has become so much more reliable in use that I have actually started to use it as more of a multi-device control than I did before... It must be understood though that this new usability in terms of range and direction doesn't actually "fix" the frequent pauses that still occur occasionally when the HDR is busy doing something else and doesn't have time to service the remote commands at that instant... Only a software (priority) re-write will fix that.

LOL!! Given the REAL situation (which of course all parties won't fully reveal!) that this country faces in the immediate future, you'd have thought that throwing partisan politics out of the window (for a while anyway) would be a good start? Will it happen? Will they REALLY listen to the electorate? Not on your life...

I guess this is getting mightily off topic for here though...

Has it not been considered that the Humax RM-F01 (Freesat+) remote has an inherent fault and is therefore not fit for purpose. Mine flashs the illuminated PRV button 6 times when I press any button once, and can not be used when flashing, meaning it is impossible to enter a channel number in time. The fault is intermittant. I'm sure Humax monitor this forum but by past experiences I won't hold my breath while waiting for a responce.

I haven't seen what you are describing reported anywhere else on DS to be honest. The PVR button flashing 6 times sounds more like an identifiable fault with that particular Remote or even some sort of low battery indication... (?)

What I've been doing in this thread is trying to address the widely reported (on DS anyway) low sensitivity in terms of range/response with this particular Remote and thus far, swapping out the I/R LED seems to have improved that aspect no end. I wouldn't label that aspect as a "fault" with the Humax Remote though...

Please excuse my stupidity, you were right, it was the batteries.

No problem! Look at this way, we've now identified the "low battery" indication haven't we? (which I for one, didn't know...)

The last straw, my O.K button deactivated.
I finally gave in & got A Harmony 300.
What a difference!
& it was £10 cheaper than a Humax replacement.

The 300 only controls 4 items, which for me means that I have to delete one TV & add a different one when going caravanning.
Others might prefer to buy a more expensive one to be able control more devices.

CPN, I'll think of you as a shining light! :
My commiserations I had expected you would be mentioned in the dissolution honours list!

Graham T I know you did tell me earlier, but I'm too stingy sometimes.

David

Guess what? I bought the very same one too!! (as a 2nd so we could have a "his & hers" remote situation) Like you, I would thoroughly recommend it. Since my Humax remote is still going strong, I was able to add all the extra commands that I needed by training it.



LOL!

CNP - Just a quick thank you for posting the data IR LED mod.

Was going to try other LEDs until I found your post. That Maplin LED seems to have quite a high output. Data says 35mW/Str at 50mA whereas other LEDs I looked at briefly seem to be around half that even at 100mA. I hope to do the mod later next week and will report back.

You're most welcome Have fun with it.

I've just finished modifying my handset and pleased to say the range is much improved (handset to Foxsat box).

It was quite hard opening the case as it kept snapping shut again. It was made easier by inserting strips of plastic cut from a blister pack into the join to hold each catch open while working on the next one.

Only other change I made to the proceedure was to melt a semicircle into the plastic rib using the side of the soldering iron instead of cutting it with snips.

Now I just need to work out why the range with my Keene IR distribution amp is still so short.

I found this thread because my Humax RM-F01 was, as I saw it, deteriorating to a state where I thought it was the box, and was about to open the remote up, as per earlier instructions, but then I saw this thread ... and as my remote was flashing almost continuously after a few uses, and had stopped doing what remotes are supposed to do, I thought, hey, try some new batteries!

Now, it's like new! I am very happy and very grateful

It seems like such a simple thing - surely I would know when my remote was running low? But the only indication was the flashing red light ... there was no having to press buttons several times to get them to work, or better action by being closer to the box, so it never occurred to me it was the batteries!

Thanks !! and of course thanks to CPN for the original suggestion!


Last edited by sunnybrighton : 07-09-2011 at 16:34

You're most welcome. Glad it helped.

If you have access to an air compressor try blasting all round the buttons. It worked fine on mine.

Before snapping the case back together remote can be tested. Offer up the two halves, insert batteries and see if the red LED illuminates when a button is pressed.
I used a putty knife blade to open the remote because this is thin but not sharp, case shows no sign of having been opened.

Opened mine today to clean it as it had ebcome non-responsive and I'm going to uprate the diode now I'm in there.

They've gone up slightly in price - £1.19 Woo hoo!

Anyway, here are some pics for thos wanting to see inside. Can't believe they charge £25 for these. They must cost around £2.50 to make at bulk rates!

Just a PCB, a single capacitor, a flat resistor, 1 small IC chip and 1/2 a dozen very small mini chips.

All the button areas appear to be contacts copper printed onto the pcb.

http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/7316/humaxremote.jpg

The reverse side is bare apart from the battery holder springs.

OK mine's all done.

Can't notice any improvement in usage angle but the response is miles better and quicker than before.

Worthwhile upgrade and just a shame Humax didn't use higher power diodes in the 1st place if thats what the problem is.

BTW one tip, instead of paring out a curve for the bigger diode in the rib in the upper casing, just touch it with the soldering iron. Its a thermoset plastic and shrinks away to leave a nice curved clean recess if touched with the cylindrical part of the iron. Don't use much presure though as the melt is very very fast.

That was the overall effect on mine too. Glad it worked for you!

Probably built "down to a price" rather than anything else...

I wrote some general information about repairing remotes some years ago.
http://www.glodark.com/remote.htm