How to open a Harmony One or Harmony 900 Remote : eBay Guides

Have you been curious about opening a Harmony One/900? Logitech says that "they are not meant to be opened". And, perhaps for Logitech it is not worth the effort. But, for those of you who may want to try replacing an LCD screen that has gone bad or dabble with a remote that won't power on, opening these remotes is the first challenge. It's not as hard as is looks! Here is what you need to do:

• First, please wear an anti-static wrist band. These remotes are very sensitive to static charges and I have seen them hammered by static electricity!

• Start by opening the battery cover. You will see two screws at either side at the top of the serial number label. Remove them first.

• Now, peel back the serial number label. If you are careful, you will be able to stick it back on after you are done. Use a utility knife to gently peel up the label. Here you will find two more screws. Remove them as well.

• Now, here is the fun part. You need to remove the back piece that looks like soft 'rubberized' material. Now, some rumors are going around that this is a soft rubber that is 'tucked' into the sides of the remote and that if you remove it, you will never get it re-installed correctly. What a crock! This is a piece of hard plastic that needs to be pulled off. Here's how:

• Slip a thin plastic pry tool between the edge of the piece and the casing on one side near the top of the remote. If you don't have a tool, use a guitar pick or your thumbnail. Now slide it down the side to detach it from the casing. Don't worry about going all the way to the very bottom. Just try to get most of the side detached. Now do the same on the other side.

• At this point you can probably pry the top part of this piece out. There are some pressure fittings, so it just needs to be pulled out with a little force. Now, if the bottom seems stuck, it's because there is some double-stick tape at the very bottom just under the raised dot on the piece (this tape will be missing on remotes that have already been opened). Carefully use your pry tool (or anything else) to gently left the bottom up and off. Do it slowly so you don't snap or deform the piece! 

• Once the 'rubberized' piece is off, there are three screws exposed - one at the top left corner and one on either side near the bottom of the piece you just removed. Remove these as well.

• Ok. Almost home! At this point, all the screws have been removed and the only thing holding the front and back together are the same kind of pressure clips that are used to assemble the Harmony 880/890. You will need to pry the sides apart for the remote to open. A plastic pry tool is best but, in a pinch, a hard guitar pick works! Here's what you do:
1. Turn the remote face up. Starting at the top right side, push your pry tool straight down in the crack between the LCD screen and the right side of the casing.
2. Slide the tool down and you should hear and feel the clips disengage. You may need to do it more than once.
3. Do the same thing on the opposite side.
4. You should be able to separate the front and back pieces

• Once the back is fully detached the remote's motherboard can be seen. To remove the board (detaching it from the front casing), look for the screws that are visible and remove them. Depending on the model there can be two or three. Now, be careful not to mix these screws up with the others you already removed. These are slightly shorter! DO NOT LIFT THE BOARD OUT OF THE FRONT COVER YET!! If you do, you will rip the digitizer (touch screen) contacts off of the inside front cover. Remove the tape (if there is any) that is covering the touchscreen ribbon cable connector and fold back the grey connector tab. This will enable you to release the ribbon cable. Now the entire board can be lifted off of the front casing  - do this carefully, making sure you do not pull on the touch screen ribbon cable as you lift the board free of the cover. Now you have access to the touch screen, LCD and button pads.

•  To remove the LCD screen, you need to pull off the 4 'light tunnels' (left & right arrow and two bottom ones). To do this, grab a tunnel with a pair of small pliers (jewelry or needlenose) and gently rock it up and down while pulling up. They will release easily. Once all four have been removed the LCD can be unclipped from the back. If you need to replace your screen with a new one and you have some soldering skills, you can remove the old screen and solder in a new one. Note that the Harmony One and 900 use LCD modules that are soldered directly to the logic board with a PCB ribbon cable. It is not a 'plug & play' kind of module that is found in the Harmony 880/890 series. Also, they are not interchangable! The LCD module on the H1 is a 20 pin module, the 900 has 37 pins.

Well, I hope this is helpful for some of you who are curious. Please contact me if you have any questions. I'm always glad to help!