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Topic:
Harmony One repair?
This thread has 23 replies. Displaying posts 1 through 15.
Post 1 made on Sunday July 26, 2009 at 15:20
jmystang
Lurking Member
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July 2009
8
My brother stepped on my Harmony One Remote.
The screen now is all black and can't read most of it.
Can I get this repaired?
Post 2 made on Tuesday July 28, 2009 at 10:25
rehaz1
Active Member
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December 2005
522
On July 26, 2009 at 15:20, jmystang said...
My brother stepped on my Harmony One Remote.
The screen now is all black and can't read most of it.
Can I get this repaired?

Logitech does not have any repair service
OP | Post 3 made on Tuesday July 28, 2009 at 15:09
jmystang
Lurking Member
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July 2009
8
Do you know if there are any places that would repair this?
Would suck if my only option was to go out and buy a new one
Post 4 made on Wednesday July 29, 2009 at 10:04
rehaz1
Active Member
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522
On July 28, 2009 at 15:09, jmystang said...
Do you know if there are any places that would repair this?
Would suck if my only option was to go out and buy a new one

I havn't heard of anyone that repairs Harmony remotes.  I have been a member of the Logitech Harmony remote forum for over 2 years and have not heard of any repair service available
Post 5 made on Wednesday August 12, 2009 at 17:17
JSchmitt
Lurking Member
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August 2009
1
I too have a cracked lcd screen on the Harmony One. I have seen lots of replacement glass digitizers (touch screens) for ipods/iphones on ebay. I was wondering if it is possible to cut the screen down to size to fit the harmony one? Would this compromise the touch capabilities?

Thanks
Post 6 made on Sunday August 16, 2009 at 13:08
Gord1952
Long Time Member
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May 2006
37
Depending how long ago you bought it, but if you bought it using a credit card, some credit cards offer replacements.

Here is a quote from RBC Visa

"Personal property purchased using your RBC Royal Bank British Airways Visa Platinum card or acquired with your RBC Royal Bank British Airways Visa Platinum card Rewards® points, is insured against all risks of direct accidental physical loss or damage for 90 days from the date of purchase. The insurance applies to your personal property and gifts you give to family members."
Post 7 made on Friday October 9, 2009 at 11:34
MGMcQuade1
Lurking Member
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October 2009
1
I had Bouoght a Harmony One from Ebay (Used), the supplier sent it w/ a Battery which was Buldging, & the buttons were sticking. I tried to open it to clean It and Now it isn't working. I would be willing to sell it for parts, (Screen is fine) !
Mike McQu
Post 8 made on Tuesday October 13, 2009 at 19:57
Coloradochief
Lurking Member
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October 2009
2
How much?
Post 9 made on Saturday October 31, 2009 at 10:47
acartwright
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October 2009
1
Is the dead harmony one with the good screen still available
thxs
Andrew
Post 10 made on Wednesday February 24, 2010 at 11:37
salsaman
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February 2010
1
I also cracked my screen, and am convinced that the design leaves the LCD panel too susceptible to breaking-- mine fell from ~2 feet onto hardwood, and the screen should not have cracked.  For such an expensive remote, I feel it is unreasonably fragile.

Since Logitech only offers a discount on a replacement, stating they have no repair facility, the cost to fix it ($125) would be over half of what I paid ($195).

No repair option plus an official post on their forums stating "The Harmony One was never intended to be opened" got my goat-- expensive stuff should be repairable!
[Link: forums.logitech.com]

I had no problem dismantling my Harmony One-- anybody who has disassembled a cell phone or iPod can take it apart.  There are four screws (two visible, two under the sticker) under the battery compartment cover, then three underneath the soft plastic piece which can easily be pried off (it clips and is glued under the raised dot).  The top and bottom of the case can be pried off starting at the battery compartment, putting a spludger into the grooves and prying it until the clips release.  Inside, the touch screen ribbon connector (under clear tape) flips up to release the ribbon, and there are two screws holding the main board to the top of the case.  On the main board, the taped plastic light pipes (for the left/right and two bottom buttons) adjacent to the screen snap off with gently prying.

The TFT LCD itself has a 20-pin strip at the end of a flex PCB, soldered right to the main board.  I removed it with a soldering iron, using a solder sucker and solder wick.

I bought a broken remote on Ebay with a good screen, dismantled it, unsoldered its LCD panel ribbon, and soldered it back onto my original Harmony One-- works like a charm now.  Soldering it was tricky-- the ribbon ends get chewed up a bit when removing it, so I:
* sanded the mating side of the ribbon to expose more of the 20 leads,
* tinned the 20 pads on the PCB,
* taped the ribbon over the pads so the leads lined up wth the pads,
* lifted the ribbon with a toothpick to apply a tiny bit of flux to each pad,
* removed the toothpick so the ribbon leads dropped down to touch the flux,
* hit each tinned solder pad with the soldering iron, pressing down on the ribbon with a plastic spludger to affix each ribbon lead to each PCB pad.

I find it disturbing that:
1) The Harmony One is so fragile that its screen breaks easily,
2) No repair service is offered, instead only discounted replacement,
3) Logitech explicitly states that the Harmony One is not designed to be opened, when clearly it is straightforward to disassemble, repair, and reassemble.

This would have been much easier if the LCD panel were available aftermarket, in the same way iPod and iPhone screens are easily purchased for <$30, but the part is not available anywhere.  FWIW the TFT LCD panel (with ribbon) is manufactured by Foxconn and is marked "CT022TN05 V.6 M1-F".
Post 11 made on Sunday August 29, 2010 at 23:28
wdmarty
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Hey salsaman, I registered just to say "thanks" for this post!

I'm handy/techy enough, but I am not patient so these disassembly projects sometimes get out of hand.

I, too, was turned off by Logitech's response. I had a 360 remote that the screen and some of the buttons went out on, and I wrote that one off because we had three small kids and it did get rough-housed a bit.

But this Harmony One was taken care of, and it just start rebooting and turning off all the time. Of course it was out of warranty and short of making sure the firmware was current they'd do nothing for me.

The battery contacts lost a bit of their spring. That is all it was, and it is working fine now. They would have had me spend $125 to replace the remote I paid $170 for over a simple problem that I'd have probably happily paid $50 to fix! I'm not terribly impressed.
Post 12 made on Saturday September 25, 2010 at 04:13
Assimilation Jonny
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September 2010
1
Hey thanks for the tips this was really helpful. Maybe in the future I'll be able to take apart more items like this myself knowing better what to look for. In any case I'm now at the point where I have to order a remote/lcd and start the soldering job. I have a jar of flux, this is pretty standard right? Also what kind of solder should I use or do I not add any? I've never used a solder sucker or wick either. Any tips on these? Will this style sucker work? It's the only one I have at the moment If you have msn or can even post a vid doing one of these jobs on youtube please let me know at assimilationjonny@gmail.com.
Post 13 made on Friday June 3, 2011 at 22:52
whynot
Lurking Member
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June 2011
1
Me too, just broke this morning from about 2 feet up onto a wood floor. Didn't seem like a hard fall to me. All broken. I am not as handy as salsaman and logitech doesn't appear to be very helpful.

I had two remotes from them prior. Each of them had a defect on the volume button which started exactly a year after purchase (weird right, both remotes!). Now this, also after a year (it dropped before and didn't break.

If I were a conspiracy theorist, I'd assume they design their remotes to break just about a year after purchase when the warranty is up, so you have to buy a new one. Why repair if you can make more money with a new one, right?

I am about done with these people. Overpriced and not a good customer service. Good idea though.

UPDATE:

It's unbelievable for such a expensive remote. The kicker is that they must think we are all idiots. They offered me a 50% discount in lieu of repairing. I thought wow that's nice of them, until I read the fineprint. The discount is only good for their own website which sells the H900 for $399!! So 50% is about $200 + tax and shipping. That's the same price of a new remote on ebay, amazon on any other site, there is no discount!! Don't be fooled. Be ready to keep buying new remotes for full price every time you break it. How stupid do they think we are? It's completely outrageous.

Try Blueturningleaf on ebay for a possible repair, but LCD screens are hard to come by and Logitech is not helping.

Last edited by whynot on July 17, 2011 09:39.
Post 14 made on Thursday August 25, 2011 at 15:39
courtney0128
Lurking Member
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August 2011
1
Any chance you would be willing to help swap out screens? I have 2 logitech harmony one remotes - both of which are broken. The first one has some sort of hardware problem and now my new one has a cracked screen - still works but screen looks terrible. I would love to have the screen of the first put in the second. If you do not actually do such repairs, do you know where I could send them? I am not handy enough to do the soldering/resoldering myself.
Post 15 made on Monday September 19, 2011 at 17:47
fahertyps
Lurking Member
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Posts:
December 2007
1
I broke mine withing minutes of taking it out of the box. Saw a sale on ebay from blueturningleaf. For $70 he repaired, tested and returned it while keeping me informed via email at every step. Highly recommend.
-psf in VA
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