Remote Maintenance

For remotes that don’t draw a lot of current I use good carbon zinc batteries Everedy for AA and AAA. This is because they are less proned to leaking which is what has damage so many of my remotes. Alkalines leak, Duracell has been the worst for me. For 9V, I use Everedy Lithiums. I know you didn’t ask, but I’ve found Everedy AA lithiums to be the best for my HVAC thermostats and high current draw devices. Those lithium batteries last a long time and I haven’t been disappointed yet. On the other end, their AAA lithiums, have not impressed me.

I put factory remotes in storage and use a simple single Logitech Harmony remote for everything. It will run for quite a while on inexpensive rechargeable batteries.

Now you got me worried about the leaky battery. So I built a power supply, run it to the remote, and thought it was great because now I can follow the wire and never lose the remote! But then, what's this? Sounded better with the battery??! 

So I tried silver wire. I tried shielded wire. Even tried Active Shielded wire. Still sounds better with the factory battery supply. 

In the end I decided to remove the screws and Scotch tape the battery cover. So I can check every day. Just in case. Spot the leak early. 

Whew! Close one. Averted, and all thanks to this thread. Who says audiophiles don't listen?

@millercarbon Yes, but was it a linear power supply? 😁

I actually have to be careful when using my Oppo remote. It triggers my pre-amp volume control and can drastically increase the volume unknowingly.

All analog. Tube rectifiers. Massive overbuilt caps. Deulund. Path Audio resistors. The power supply for the remote, not only cost more than the remote, cost more than the amp the remote controlled! Still it would have been a small price to pay to ease my mind of the constant incessant never-ending unfathomable stress of worrying a battery might leak, sometime, someday, possibly, maybe in the next dozen years. 

In the end I will switch to solar. No. Wait. Solar needs a battery too? Dang. Is it possible this is all a waste of time? At this point that would seem to be at least a remote possibility.