KeyFob pads

[cherrington17]

Mine work fine, but I have a few friends who are having problems with their keyfobs (and frequent customers)

where can a person buy conductive ink/paint? Radioshack doesn't sell it... i've seen it online, but never in stores. (just checked advanceauto parts... no luck)

do conductive ink pens work? or should i be looking for something like paint?


also... would gluing a small bit of aluminum foil on the inside of the pads work?

[Monza]

http://www.radioshack.com/search/index.jsp?kwCatId=&kw=circuitwriter&origkw=circuitwriter&sr=1

It shows "in stock" for all the Radio Shacks around here.

Most glue doesn't conduct very good.

[cherrington17]

http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/tools/b70c/?cpg=froogle

I've seen those pens, but I don't know how well they actually work... or if it dries well...etc.

My specific radioshack doesn't have them, and the ones I've worked at that do have them... I've never seen anyone buy them. :lol:

[Monza]

If you are just reconnecting a trace on a pc board I would think a pen like at Radio Shack would be the way to go. If you need it often enough you might get a few uses out of it before dries out. Even if it only fixes one remote it's cheaper than a new one.

[cherrington17]

not reconnecting a trace... its repairing the carbon pads on the bottom of the keyfob.

there are the metal traces on the board, but the carbon pad connects that, allowing the buttons to work. THOSE pads wear out, and i'm looking for a reasonable fix for them.

[Monza]

Oh. Now that I have one apart...It looks like whatever you add can't be very thick or it'll touch all the time. You might try the self-stick metal (aluminum?) tape for sealing furnace ducts. That's only a few thousandths of an inch thick.

I wonder if there's a source for just the rubber diaphram with the buttons? I'd like to start over with the pictures on the buttons again.