Fixing my Apple Remote's battery contacts

January 05, 2008

My Apple Remote was running low on battery (indicated by an onscreen icon), so I got a new battery for it. Yet when trying to use it, it sometimes still didn’t work. I discovered that it only works if you squeeze the lower part of the remote.

Turns out that the battery contacts were not in a very good contact with the battery any more, so you had to squeeze to put the metal parts in contact with the battery. So I embarked on a mission to fix it. Which was actually a very simple mechanical operation :) here’s the tool setup. The only tool you really need for this is a precision screwdriver.

When you open the remote, you clearly see the two metal parts that contact the battery to provide the current. So I just inserted the tip of the screwdriver behind each of them and gently bent them inwards for better contact. That’s all there really was to it. You just have to be careful with not bending the contacts too much, as there’s always the risk of breaking or deforming them, just a little bend is enough.