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Harmony 880 universal remote re-charging problem

My Harmony 880 won't charge on the docking station even when the blue light is on. I have already bought a new battery on line from Logitech and that doesn't seem to help. Could the docking station be bad? It's only a couple years old.

Posted by shirlthegirl on

  • 11 more comments 
  • saraflo Jan 04, 2008

    Exact same problem here. Look's like a defect in design. Has anyone talked to logitech for replacement?

  • Anonymous Mar 03, 2008

    Have exactly the same problem. Getting no help at all from the manufacturer. It doesn't seem to be a battery problem but a shortfall in the design.

  • rich_gelman Aug 01, 2008

    My remote won't charge. Every time I take it off, it says "harmony testing", then blinks the regular "choose an activity" screen a few times... but then moves to a screen that says "battery level low, place remote on charging stand, press arrow key". When I press the arrow key, stops working. It sits on the charger for hours and won't charge up. When I connect it to my PC it says "USB connected". That said, it won't charge up, period. I paid an arm and a leg for this thing and it worked just 5 months.

  • brianpost Aug 16, 2008

    My 880 won't charge in docking station. It is only 5 months old and I don't want to buy another battery if that is not the fix.

  • melfulkerson Oct 21, 2008

    Battery is depleted ( no bars showing) Battery s/n: NTA2349. Docking station is working, blue light is on and my VOM indicates a good output.

  • rmsamano Nov 30, 2008

    I have the same problem. My remote will not take a charge anymore. I used to have to wiggle it for it to take a charge, but now it will not work at all

  • navyfrank Dec 04, 2008

    Not charging either. Have had for over 2 years though. I tried the shim in the battery compartment and that didn't help. Next I'm going to try the "bend the contacts up" solution. If that doesn't work, I think I will go to the separate battery charger also.

  • cl_costanzo Jan 06, 2009

    I have the exact same problem!!! Still can't fix... Does anyone know whether Logitech has an answer or fix????

  • sbflo56 Jan 13, 2009

    same problem.....used to be able to wiggle it to get it to recharge, now that won't work. HELP!!

  • jholder001 Feb 13, 2009

    i have the same problem the blue light is on but will not charge. help!!!!

  • Anonymous Mar 12, 2009

    Same problem. Harmony 880 will not hold a charge even after purchasing new battery. Hope no one else buys this product until they own up to a solution. It's a lot of money out of pocket and they haven't made an attempt for product recall or consumer hot line access. I was told to purchase a logitech harmony 880 890 720 remote battery w/ charger and that would solve the connect issue. Do you have a solution??



    NT

  • Anonymous Apr 04, 2009

    mine has been stuck in a draw for a few years after it stopped charging anyone know of a fix?

  • Anonymous May 14, 2009

    I have the same problem as well as my son-in-law, the 880 will not charge in the craddle. I have been told to put paper or cardboard behind the battery, did not help. I now have to work for 10 minutes and place folded paper towel to eleviate the battery side high enough so that the contacts from the battery and the craddle make contact. This is very anoying for such an expensive product. More anoying is that Logitech is aware of this and has not made any effort to notify customers or provide a fix or replacement.

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17 Answers

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I took the rubber feet off(4) from the underside of the cradle - removed the four screws and separated the top half of the cradle from the bottom. This exposes the two long thin charging arms and points All one piece). I then took some doubled sided tape, similar to what you use to put up temporary 3m picture hooks and cut four small pieces about 1/8th in square. Join two of the pieces back to back to make one piece (double original thickness), then raise one of the long charging arms gently and place the piece of double sided tape under the head of the arm (ie under the very end where the rounded point is, that sticks though the cradle when reassembled (there are two of these). Do this to the other arm.

Why - by inserting the doublesided tape you permanently raise the arms without bending them - ie they will now stay in that position and not bend out of shape, losing contact again . With the cradle reassembled, put the remote back in the cradle you will have more direct contact with the two charging pins. FIXED!!!!!!!! Good luck1

Posted on Jun 20, 2009

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  • TheMOster Jan 10, 2011

    I tried this, but it was still unreliable. I just left the thing apart. It takes a little time to get the remote seated properly, but you're guaranteed to make the contacts contact.

  • Anonymous Jul 14, 2012

    Worked for me! Thanks so much, I have been balancing an A size battery on the top for over two years! Didn't have any double sided tape so I used a short piece of one sided open cell foam tape (google it) I had for insulating my shop door. I think most anything would work, even folded paper.
    One tip: I used a butter knife to raise all three of the contacts at the same time, just angle it and slip in your cradle of choice.
    Thanks again, you have saved me multiple hours (when you add up the minutes) of frustration trying to push the remote down on the contacts with a weight.

  • Anonymous Jul 14, 2012

    P.S. I also posted this on logitech's forum so hopefully others will benifit.

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I learned this trick when I was a kid playing with my HO road race set. I would get dead spots on the track where the little car would just stop. I learned that if I rubbed a pencil eracer on the spot it would do a great job at cleaning the tarnish off the track. I had the same problem with my harmony 880 not charging on the base. I cleaned the contacts with an eracer and it now charges perfectly. I hope this trick works for you as well. My remote had gone completely dead and I first thought that the remote went bad or the battery died but I remembered what I did with the road race track and it cured the problem.

Posted on Feb 23, 2009

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For Battery and charging related problems with the Harmony 880 checkout the following very useful post and thread:

http://dan.langille.org/2005/11/27/harmony-880-remote-battery-problems/

Hope this helps folks with a variety of different issues.

Posted on Jan 06, 2008

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I had the same problem, All you have to do is clean the contacts on both the remote, and charger stand with a little alcohol and a q-tip. Should be fine until all the dust and grime build up again. Worked great for me. ps i've had my remote for about 3 yrs now.

Posted on Jul 26, 2009

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All these solutions are great, but I have had several 880's, and they all broke for various reasons, currently have 2 890's and neither one charges without a fix, yes they work, but this is simply unacceptable for a product that retailed for over $300.00. I won't buy anything from Logitech anymore period and I use to buy a lot of their computer accessories for my offices.

Posted on Mar 13, 2010

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Son of a gun these solutions in total work. Took top of charger off, (removed 4 srews under pads.)

Cut small strips of plastic from supermarket dongel placed under contacts to raise them as much as possible inside charger.

Filed down under top cover the stand offs next to holes, roughed up contacts, with sand paper, cleaned them down with with a solvent.

Similiarly cleaned off contact on remote. Cut tiny strip off dogel and placed it behind battery in remote to tighten up battery to remote. reassemble charger, and voila sun of gun it actually worked, still need some presure some time to get going,

my result is due to all the fine suggestions that preceeded me.

thanks all.

Posted on Feb 01, 2010

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This is a defect in the remote. The contact points on remote are not touching the ones in cradle. Try pressing a little harder when lying in cradel till screensave comes up. Then it is charging. Since Logitect has redesigned the the contacts and cradle a little to make a connection. As far as a permanent solution, I would find a way to keep the contacts touching somehow.

Posted on Jun 30, 2009

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I had the same problem - turned out that the contacts on the cradle were not lining up with the remote base or making sufficient content. I took the base cradle apart, bent the contacts up more and placed the remote directly on the contacts. Not a permanent solution, but it showed that the remote itself and the battery were fine.

Posted on Jan 02, 2008

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I find in eBay an external charger with 2 batteries for $39 or only one battery for $24.99
That is the best solution.

Posted on Feb 23, 2008

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I just put my dishnetwork remote on top of my harmony when its in the cradle and I have no problems. I'm sure any small weight that can sit on the screen without touching the keys or damaging the screen is worth a try. The extra weight ensures the remote is properly docked and it gets a full charge. I've had my harmony for 5 years. Had this problem after the first year and ordered a new battery then had the problem again in 6 months. Have to give credit to the wife for solving it this way. She's very practical and hated buying another battery.

Posted on Jun 29, 2009

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I've been haunted by this problem for a while and I think I just figured it out. I took an old steak knife and scraped the tip across the charging contacts on both the remote and the charger and suddenly after months it is charging consistently. PS - I actually have a Harmony 890 and assume they have the same charger.

Posted on Sep 02, 2010

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This worked for me, I previously posted my problems with the harmony: I am not saying this will work for everyone. I shaved the bottom of my harmony remote to expose the terminals on the bottom, very carefully so that they would make better contact with the base unit. My unit works all the time now, not pretty and it would be best done with a dremel rotory tool. Again this may not be a fix for your harmony but it worked for me, I did it out of desperation, and was ready to throw the harmony out. Now it works, and again Logitec is of no help, too many customers have the same problem.

Posted on Feb 01, 2010

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I've been looking at mine, and my friends vehicles seem to have the same issue.

when the contacts get too black. they stop working (friends 2006 f150 window switches). as the connection keeps electricity flowing at all times, there is a minor spark every-time it gets cradled.
This is what I believe has left the contacts on my remote and charger somewhat tarnished.
This could potentially be fixed simply by cleaning the contacts with an electrical contact cleaner until they are all solid brass again.

Posted on Jun 25, 2012

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Maybe this will Help. The battery used is a Li-Po...if it goes all the way to "0" voltage, you cannot recharge the battery. This is characteristic of Li-Po batteries. Hope this helps.

Posted on Dec 12, 2010

Anonymous

Open up the Cradle. On the top side of the cradle break away the plastic that surrounds the contacts (oval shaped). Bend the contacts up a little bit and presto problem fixed!

Posted on Aug 15, 2008

Anonymous

I love this remote , but the charger is really flawed and we got a battery charger and extra battery on ebay so there is always a battery charged and ready to swap out. We gave up on the cradle.

Posted on Jun 27, 2008

Anonymous

I put a dvd on top of the remote and that fixed it. Not the cleanest fix but it works for me.

Posted on Jun 25, 2008

2 Related Answers

Anonymous

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SOURCE: harmony 880 won't charge

Try the steps outlined in the link below. This might help find the cause of the issue.

http://logitech-en-amr.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/logitech_en_amr.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=9168

Posted on Apr 14, 2010

Anonymous

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SOURCE: Any known fixes for Logitech Harmony 880 universal

As an 880 owner myself, I think this is a common problem and documented out there on the internet.
This has happened to me a lot. (Okay, it's actually stopped now as the charged remote keeps shutting down and going into test mode.) But, back to your battery issue - I believe that the charging pins in the dock don't properly contact the equivalent pins on the back of the remote.
Try cleaning them with a Q-tip and rubbing alcohol, then press down. You should hear one beep only - if you hear a beep followed by another beep, the unit has made contact then lost it.
Good luck! I think this really is a design flaw.

Posted on Sep 14, 2010

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There are 4 reasons why your unit is behaving this way:
1. Charger is the problem.
2. The docking station is the broken.
3. The battery is broken or not accepting charge.
4. The actual unit is the problem.
It is very hard to tell which one is causing this to happen.
Let us do some troubleshooting first:
1. Plug your charger in an A/C outlet and make sure the red power light (left) is lit, otherwise the charger or the docking station is broken.
2. You can test the charger with a multimeter. Unplug the charger from the docking station and measure the voltage across the outside and inside, it should register more than 5 volts DC. If there is a 5Volt DC the docking station is the problem otherwise the charger is broken.
3. If the red power light is lit and the status light (right) is lit too, your docking station is broken.
4. If the red power light is lit, dock the unit into the charger, the status light (left) should turn red when your battery is accepting charge or turn blue when your battery is fully charged.
5. If the status light will not lit at all (while the red power light is on), tap the screen while the unit is docked on the charger. If the unit will become alive, you need a new battery otherwise you need a new unit.

12 hours is very long time to charge, the status light should turn to blue in less than 2 hours especially for a new battery.

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