From my observations when I repaired the unit, it looks like a combination of thin solder bath and vibration damage due to the length of the leads to the IR sensor. This unit worked until they moved to a new house. When they got there and hooked it up, the remote didn't work anymore. The solder joints were cracked. I saw no heat damage on the board, so I don't think heat is an issue. I touched up several other joints on the board while I was there.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I cannot believe I was so lucky to come across this thread today!! We have struggled with our VR507's remote for over a year now. My husband and I (not being electonically inclined) have had people come in to make sure that we had everything "connected" properly. It was so frustrating that sometimes the remote would work and MOST of the time it would NOT. Last night we pulled everything apart AGAIN to try and see what could be the problem.
Thank you plazman for posting the picture of how to solder the three joints. We have done this and everything works great now!
I will say this....I will NEVER buy a Kenwood product again, since I too have emailed them countless times and no one would give you an answer on how to fix this problem...or any Kenwood dealer we have gone to.

I'm still thrilled 2 weeks after I did the fix. I can't believe how nice it is to be able to actually use the remote and have it respond. Just wish I would have done it sooner, but still so happy. I agree with you about Kenwood. I too got no favorable response from them. I find it very hard to believe that they are not aware of this problem.

I will NEVER buy another Kenwood product. I, too, have had the very same RC problem with my Kenwood receiver. Great to find the solution here. I tapped on my bezel and viola! It works after...? years of NOT working. I was sure it was the receiver and not the remote. I'll have the soldering done when I can. I will NEVER buy another Kenwood product. Now, I'm wondering if soldering will fix my other receiver problem. It's getting harder and harder to use headphones because the sound cuts out unless I get the cord tweaked, twisted, or turned in a certain way. Of course if the cord moves a millimeter, I have to fix it. I thought it was the extension cord, so I bought a new one. Silly me, I should have assumed it was a receiver problem, not a cord problem. I have the same problem with the new cord. Anyone else have this problem? Anyone think it's another soldering issue? Did I mention I will NEVER buy another Kenwood product?

I can't thank you enough! I was getting ready to go buy a new receiver because I had given up on my Kenwood. I have almost no experience with a solder iron, but in ten minutes I had the thing repaired and back in place. It took me longer to clean up the dust behind the entertainment center (thanks to my wife) than it did to make the actual repair. Needless to say, this will be the very last Kenwood product I'll be buying.

The solder fix works for the VR 406 as well. I just tried it after getting the same Borax response from Kenwood as everyone else seems to get.

Thanks plazman30 (Andy) and others for saving me much aggravation.

Kenwood used to be a solid brand, but now seems focused on just selling cheap poorly made Chinese product. This kind of bullshit kills off brand loyalty from stereo buyers - a group known for its subborn loyalty to certain brands. Once the warranty is over the product often fails and becomes instant landfill, as parts and labour cost little less than a new unit. Companies need to know that if they piss us off, we don't buy their products. Sell us crap once, and we don't buy your product again. People are getting wise to this corporate short-term profit focus, and will start abandoning these companies en masse. Let them wonder why their containers full of poor quality product sit on the docks with no one wanting it. This revolution should be televised!

Thank you so much for this!! The remote on my VR-309 has been intermittent for the last 2 years or so, and although I had determined that the problem was with the receiver and not the remote control, I had no idea how to deal with the problem - I was seriously considering replacing this otherwise excellent receiver. With the information in this forum I was able to fix the problem quickly and easily.

Yes.....VR-507, Have been dealing with the same problem for years. Leave it on, leave it off, try this remote, try that remote, and now a solution. I tapped on the face and it worked. Tomorrow I will be soldering away. Thank you all. Kenwood how could this be ignored?

Hello everyone!

I am glad so many people found my website helpul in fixing their VR-507 receiver!

As part of my switch from Cable modem to DSL, I have move the site to [Link: mysite.verizon.net].

I have updated my original post, and I would ask if you're linking to my site, please change your links to the new site. The old one will be gone as soon as tomorrow.

Andy

EDIT: Please use one of these links:

[Link: funkthat.com]

[Link: blog.moertel.com]

I have a Kenwood WR-357 and the remote is an RC-R0608. The soldering solution WORKED WONDERFULLY for me. Many thanks for the post.

Like everyone else, I also have a reciever where the remote failed to function after awhile.

I have a Kenwood VR-405 that I purchased in the summer of 2000.

I found this thread last night, and have started to disassemble the reciever today. I want to point out that, unlike what many users have said, this isn't quite as simple as people are commenting.

This isn't a 5, 15, or 30 minute job. I've been working on this for about an hour, and I've yet to even begin soldering.

For those who have yet to begin, and this is specific to the VR-405 model:

1. Remove the volume control and input select knobs, which should pull off with a little bit of force.
   
   
2. There are 12 black case screws holding the exterior metal housing on, and these are easy enough to remove.
   
   
3. The circuit board is attached by 13 more brass screws to the front bezel, which are a bit more difficult. It's much easier to remove these screws if you can first remove the entire front bezel from the rest of the housing, or at least detach it enough to move it around to get a better angle for these 13 screws. I also had to use a flathead screwdriver, as the phillips head was only stripping out the screw heads. I had the correct size screwdriver, but the metal was just too soft.
   
   
4. The front bezel, aside from the aforementioned 12 case screws, is attached by two clips on either side, to the metal housing. You just have to pull out on the clips some to get them over the stub that holds them in place.
   
   With the 12 case screws, and the 2 clips removed, the front bezel is still connected by 3 other wires. The circuit board is still connected with an additional 2 wires.
   
   
5. 1 of these is a 3-pin wire coming from the headphones jack. To unplug this wire, for me, I had to take the screw out of the headphones jack, which is attached to the reciever housing, because the connector was wrapped under another wire that was released when I unscrewed the headphone jack from the housing.
   
   
6. The next 2 wires are flat parallel cables, similiar to IDE cables in computers, which attach from inside the reciever housing to the FRONT side circuit board we're trying to remove. I haven't been able to remove these cables as of yet, and I don't think it's necessary. These cables, for me, were taped in a couple of places to other parts of the reciever housing.
   
   
7. If you're able to remove all of those, there's 2 other cables, I'm aware of, that are holding the circuit board to the front bezel.
   
   
8. One of which is another 3-pin connector that is connected to the volume control knob, and the other is another flat parellel-like cable that is, again, on the front side of the circuit board.

Anyway, like I was saying, I don't think it's necessary to remove everything. With all of the circuit boards screws out and a couple of other wires disconnected (at your discretion) you can pry up the circuit board enough to find the sensor. It's directly to the right of the front display.

The 3 pins for my sensor protrude through to the other side of the circuit board, and other people haven't been commenting on their particular situation. The pins on my sensor come out about 1/8" on the backside, and come through the solder.

For my particular situation, upon closer inspection, you could see a circular crack on all 3 solder points. Imagine a popsicle. Inside of the popsicle is the popsicle stick, and the stick protrudes out the bottom. Well, if you were to break just the popsicle in half, and slide the bottom half of the popsicle away from the top half, you'd have a section in the middle that was just the popsicle stick. Similiarly, that's what's happening here, but just on a much smaller scale. The two sections of solder are no longer making contact.

So, after applying a little solder to the 3 joints (and I don't recommend trying to use a large soldering iron. You need a smaller "finesse" soldering iron for intricate eletronic work), and my remote began working like nothing was ever wrong.

Also, when re-assembling the parts, if the plastic block that contains the buttons was moved/jostled/whatever, make sure that the top 4 buttons work. These buttons use an additional clear plastic piece, which needs to be positioned correctly for those 4 buttons to make contact to the circuitry.

I would say this takes about 2 hours from disassembly to having it put back together again, but it does indeed work.

Sorry I couldn't provide any pictures, but I don't have a digital camera, and my cell phone doesn't take high enough quality pictures.

Hope this helps.

thank you mmoerk2...and other fellow Kenwood victims. I have been reading all of the threads and they were very helpful...but, I am a very visual learner and these photos made it so easy. I have my receiver apart and now just need to get my brother to solder for me.

this is so great...I had already bought a replacement remote and had pretty much just given up the surround sound because it was such a pain having to do everything manually (yes, I am very dependent on remote controls). Hopefully all my sound problems will be resolved soon.

THANK YOU!!

Hi everybody,
have my second hand VR-509 since one and half yr ago. Now this problem came out and i quicly solved it reading this very usefull post. Thank you all for such helping.

Greetings from Brasil.

Wowww.

I also have a VR-309 and am having the same problem. I am in the middle of trying to fix my and have looked at all the instructions. I have the cover off and am now trying to get the circuit board off but am having problems. I have all of the screws out but it still seems to be attached in the back. I have taken all of the front knobs off but it looks like I have to take the flat nuts connecting the knobs on the front. Is that correct and is there any other info that you think would be helpful.

Don't over complicate the repair. It is a 15 minute job. I removed the cover of my receiver, located the three pins from looking at the pictures, looking at the front of my receiver to locate where the sensor is and followed to the back where the three pins are. With a magnifier I confirmed that the solder joints were cracked. I tipped the receiver on it's face and DID NOT remove the circuit panel. I put a hot solder iron (cheapest one you can imagine) on the pins, near the cracked solder and saw the old solder become molten. I did not use new solder. I removed the iron and moved to the next pin. Simple fix to a problem we have all suffered with too long. Thanks to those that shared the solution. Ain't this internet thing great!