When the batteries in a TV remote start to go bad, hitting it seems to help. why?

Impact and friction make mechanical connections (batteries with rest of circuit) conduct better as oxide and dirt layers in contact surfaces will get damaged.

Yet another example of the utility of percussive reparation techniques.

I have a remote where the battery compartment is poorly designed. The batteries only move a fraction of an inch, but it's enough to break contact. You have to turn it over and tap it on on the couch to get them to move back in place. If you don't place it softly on the table the batteries will slip off of the contacts again.

I kinda' miss the days when you could flip the channels by jingling your keys at the tv....

If you open up the battery compartment you will fined that the negative terminals are flaps of metal that "push" the batteries against the other terminal. After a long period of time, the batteries begin to gradually train that flap of metal down, giving it less spring.

 

To fix this problem, you want to take a small flat headed screwdriver and pry the terminals out. You want it to be slightly exaggerated for best results.

 

The other kind of terminal connection for the negative side is the spring. their problem is usually that they were cut too short. to correct this problem insert a small screw, that is shorter than the spring and has a wider head than the end of the spring. this gives you an extension to the spring.

Also could it have something to do with hitting the battery, as we all know battery produce there power through a chemical reaction and some chemical reactions can be sped up by agitating them. I wonder if this could be the case with a battery?.

the chemicals in a battery are a fairly viscous paste, hitting the remote is unlikely to mix the chemicals enough to get a dramatic increase in performance, i'd say it's more a case of moving the batteries onto a cleaner spot on the contacts. less resistance means more current that gets to the LED.

if all of the above does not resolve the problem,replace the quartz of

the REMOCON