Dual Sony Remote Control
Posted: April 2, 2008

Description

Introduction

Project DIY Dual Remote was an aim to simply cut down on the amount of devices I would use in my car to control both my headunit and my carputer lcd. Even though the LCD will have an auto on circuit once installed I felt it was a nice touch to include the remote to switch video modes and to turn off or on the LCD should the need arise.

The basic idea here was to take two essential buttons from the LCD remote and and integrate them into two existing buttons on my headunit remote. I picked two buttons I don’t think I’ve ever used and went to town (not literally, but it feels like it).

Project

This first set is to show how small not only the Sony remote is, but just how small and thin the LCD remote is.

The first promising shots of the project, appears that once those cross bars are removed from the back of the Sony remote, there should be ample room.

Far out and close up shots of the LCD remote board, very sparse and thin.

First shots of the excess battery assembly dremeled off and the buttons and battery wires soldered up.

Next The LCD board was tacked to the back of the Sony board with super glue. Not the cheap stuff 🙂

After the glue dried the battery wires from the LCD remote were soldered to the connections on the Sony remote. Now they can share power.

Next the most difficult phase of this mod. The wires from the LCD remote now need to be connected to pads on the Sony remote. Traces were cut in several places to ensure there was no residual connection between the LCD and Sony remote boards. The soldering for this ranks high on difficulty.

Here is where it got even trickier. Two wires had to be soldered to either side of a small solder pad that connected the traces on the Sony remote to the pads where the buttons connect. The pad had to be sliced in half and wire soldered to either side. This is because electrically the two buttons on the Sony remote shared a common wire. However the LCD remote did not share the same setup, so to make it work they had to be electrically isolated.

Finished product. Doesn’t look much different does it? Well on the outside there is no difference. Though it feels just slightly heavier now with two remotes inside.