Platinum Remote Explosion?

[MrAkai]

My lady woke me up at 5am this morning because she had fallen asleep watching TV (Chronic Pain will do that do you sometimes, you just have to sit there 'til you're tired enough to sleep through it, but that's another story) and dropped the remote for her 501 on the floor.

She woke up a little while later, and the remote was smoking something awful.

I took it apart (the drop had helped) and the RF "Daughterboard" that hangs off the main remote board had somehow shorted out, and started burning the plastic casing.

I put it back together and it worked, but I took the batteries out of it because I didn't want a repeat.

I haven't had a chance to call Dish yet, but am curious if this has happened to anyone else before.

Thanks
-S

[Jacob S]

This is very strange and I wonder if this would be considered some type of fire hazard or personal injury when holding the remote. Perhaps they may replace the remote for free if you tell them but since you dropped it they may think you caused it to melt or think you put it near a fire.

[Cyclone]

I'd have a lawyer give Dish a call. That design flaw might kill someone someday in a house fire.

[Bob Haller]

Ouch thats dangerous and needs to get someones attention.

You do have the system warranty ? Free replacement if you do, and free shipping with CC autopay.

[TopCat99]

Tell them you contacted the Consumer Product Safety Commission (you should anyway)...that'll get them moving ;)

Seriously, it's not like you did some mod to it and it spontaneously combusted. Dropping a remote is certainly within the realm of normal use. Find someone who hasn't dropped their remote and you've found someone that doesn't own a TV :lol:

[Jacob S]

I dont know how many times I have dropped my remote (including the platinum) as well as my customers dropping the remotes and seen nothing such as this happen or even close. I can see Dish now saying that it voids the warranty and that would exclude them of responsibility for misuse of product. There is no excuse of a remote doing this and when I said that this would be a hazard I had the Consumer Product Safety Commission or similar agency in mind to do testing and perhaps a recall just as they do other products out there that may cause harm on people.

[MrAkai]

I called Dish on friday and they're doing a free out-of-warranty replacement.

I think the fact that one (or more) of the supports holding the RF board (with antenna) away from the main board in the remote caused the problem.

I looked more closely and the part of the board that had heated up was the part with several surface-mount resisters (at least I think they're resisters, I'm not too hip on SMT these days).

Considering the abuse this remote took (dropped at least once, sometimes several times daily for over a year) I always expected it to just quit working, I never expected smoke.

Just a word of advice, if you get a loose plastic sounding noise inside the remote make sure it's not the plastic pins that hold the rf board.

Thanks for the responses
-S

[Kevin Elm]

Originally posted by MrAkai
She woke up a little while later, and the remote was smoking something awful . . .
I haven't had a chance to call Dish yet, but am curious if this has happened to anyone else before.

We had a similar problem. Our original platinum remote got extremely hot at the IR emitter after about 1 month. Dish replaced for free (no s&H even) no questions asked. Don't know if the kids might have dropped it or what. It worked normally, just got extremely hot and ran through batteries in about an hour.

[Jacob S]

I recall some others in the past had some problems with the remotes needing new batteries an aweful lot in that they would not last long. I wonder if this is a similar problem as what is occuring here. These were not platinum remotes that the people were describing. Dish replacing these remotes without questions askes, no s/h costs, out of warranty should tell you that they know something is wrong. Either that or they are being a lot more friendly than they used to be or the remote costs have gone down enough to where they want to keep the customer happy and just replace them.

[Anonymous]

Originally posted by MrAkai
I called Dish on friday and they're doing a free out-of-warranty replacement.

I think the fact that one (or more) of the supports holding the RF board (with antenna) away from the main board in the remote caused the problem.

I looked more closely and the part of the board that had heated up was the part with several surface-mount resisters (at least I think they're resisters, I'm not too hip on SMT these days).

Considering the abuse this remote took (dropped at least once, sometimes several times daily for over a year) I always expected it to just quit working, I never expected smoke.

Just a word of advice, if you get a loose plastic sounding noise inside the remote make sure it's not the plastic pins that hold the rf board.

Thanks for the responses
-S

Mind sharing your RA #? I know someone who may want to see... if not then understandable.

[MrAkai]

I have a confirmation # and have not recieved the replacement yet, but if dish requests the dead remote back, feel free to PM me here and I'll let you know the RA#.
-S

[Scott Greczkowski]

Would to person seeking MrAkai's RA# please contact me via email scott@dbstalk.com so I can put you and MrAkai in touch with each other.

Thanks

[music_beans]

One of our remotes (mine) has a battery problem. I would just replace them, and then it would seem like it would be the batteries are getting low. Then if I just keep holding a button for about a minute or so, it would start working.

BTW, It is not a platnum remote. It is a DP301 remote.