Chosen Solution
Hello Guys, This is a my first question here and have seen Forum helping people with the simillar product , hence this post. The problem: The clock was working fine but has stopped working since yesterday. On the LCD screen it shows time only and no hardware button seems to do anything i.e. - , +, Select, Menu, Light Buttons except volume and the FM buttons. Sometimes the volume will increase with a button press and you can listen to the FM station but within fractions of seconds the volume will go to zero and the LCD will then show “OFF” only with a speaker sign. I have tried taking the power off and leaving it for a few hours but no change. Many thanks
Here’s what I did to fix this. I disassembled the lamp and pried apart the six microswitches on the side of the lamp and cleaned the contacts in them with q-tips and alcohol until the contacts were shiny. I was able to do this without unsoldering the microswitches. It now works just like new. Here’s an explanation of why cleaning the microswitches fixes the problem. The part that has the six buttons on the side communicates whether buttons are pressed or not pressed using both whether the wire the button is on is active and the resistance of the wire. Buttons share wires but have resistors on their circuits that give them different resistances when pressed. As the microswitches in the buttons age they oxidize and the resistance in them increases, it increases so much that one button starts to appear to the main unit as another button when pressed. The solution is to either replace the microswitches or to pry them apart and clean them to remove the oxidation. Edit: Cleaning the microswitches fixed the problem, but over time the microswitches oxidized again, leading to the same issues. I guess it’s a flaw in the microswitches that the contacts oxidize so quickly. Perhaps replacing the microswitches with new ones will permanently fix the problem, assuming they don’t have the same problem.
Hi, I’m having also the same problem. After using the little tutorial “how to dismantle the thing”, I was able to determine that it was the board with lights buttons that was faulty (I witnessed also that the lights went from 20 to 0 when it finally broked) -> When I remvove the connector from that board, the rest of the buttons work perfectly (-,Menu,select,+). -> As I dont have the tools I’m not able to determine wich button is faulty… -> Next step ! Just a few words in french in order to be able to find this topic. Problème réparation de réveil HF3485 Philips : Les boutons ne fonctionnent plus. Le problème venait vraisemblablement d’un des boutons de la carte dédiée aux boutons lumière/volume et commutateur. une fois cette carte débranchée, le reste marche…
I had this exact problem with the HF3520, must be bad soldering on the touch interface. I ended up calling Phillips and they sent out a replacement in 3 days.
Thank a lot for the information about the damaged button. In my case I had to change the Volume down-button. With the cost of 20 cent I was able to repair a device what cost myself 180 Euro! I am so happy. Thanks to all and the kindness of sharing problems and the reason for that. That is great! Mario
