Changed batteries and it doesn't power up after that.

Long story but explains why this pea tinfoil idea works, whilst at the same time leaving a question I hope someone else can answer . . . . . .

A few months back my wireless keyboard also just packed up completely. I couldn't work out what was wrong but it did seem that when I put the batteries into the keyboard they were sticking out further than before, so it was a bit more difficult to put the battery cover cap back on. I tried a few different things unsuccessfully and then gave up and dumped it in a drawer.

I had another go this morning and had an idea - a bad one, albeit with a postive result - to try and screw or push the battery terminal inside down into the battery compartment, in case the connection had been separated. I did this by putting double-sided sticky tape onto the handle of a wooden spoon to try and push/screw it back down. My 'ingenious' idea had an unexpected outcome in that when I pulled the spoon out I also pulled out the +positive connector from inside the keyboard, leaving the spring underneath exposed.

Now the batteries are in direct contact with the spring and the keyboard works just fine.

Clearly the tinfoil idea is a far better one than my brutal approach but what I'm a bit mystified by is the +positive on the battery can not even touch the metal connector, which is set too deep inside a plastic frame that stops it from touching it. . . . so was there something else inside that has fallen out that the pea tinfoil acts as a replacement for ?. . . . answsers on a postcard please. . . .

I encountered the same problem. I was mislead by the "dummy battery" inside the battery compartment, think that it was positive terminal facing upwards. So naturally when inserted battery with positive terminal facing the lid, it will have wrong polarity. After I reverse the battery terminal, with positive terminal inserted facing down, keyboard works like a charm. Really a silly and misleading design. First it misled me into thinking that there is a third battery stuck inside, second it misled me into aligning the wrong polarity of the battery as I did not notice the polarity when I remove the old batteries. Hope this sharing helps!

Bad replacement batteries?

Thanks to Jensekin (and several posters at the Apple Support Communities forums), my Apple Wireless Keyboard is now working again! It was bought in April 2008 from Amazon, so is now close to four years old, but it's still in good shape, and would have been a shame to throw away.

By the way, I had already cleaned the contacts and checked for dirt inside the barrel, not speaking of testing with several sets of batteries. I can even testify that the spring inside the barrel is still working - but obviously it isn't strong enough any more, as only the aluminium foil ball brought the keyboard back to life again.

Best wishes from frosty southern Germany.

I tried the pea-sized foil, several different "pea" sizes... Each time, the green light came on for a second or 2 then started blinking--33 times blink-blink, then finally the green light went off altogether.

It worked for me too. I'm typing on thing right now. The tin foil trick worked for me. Not every key works though. But I am working on it. Watch this amazing video about testing and repair the keys of this type of keyboard: https://youtu.be/7i5D8xPsGCk

PB

I had this issue after spending the better part of a day removing severely corroded batteries. I was devastated to find it didn't turn on after all the work I put in.

I looked at everything more closely and noticed a key thing. The screw holding the logic board into place is the negative terminal for the batteries! When I put everything back together I didn't tighten that enough *and* I had a bunch of dust and crud in the screw threads on the end cap as a result of the cleaning. I gave it a good rub with a paper towel and Q-Tip and voila! Back in business!

Same thing happened to me, and was driving me nuts. (Logitech wireless keyboard)

My keyboard was fine last night, and dead, when I came to the office this morning. I changed batteries, still dead. Cleaned stuff with alcohol, read stuff on Google, and unfortunately, I had no foil handy, to try the trick.

After half a day, I decided to take out the USB from the computer, and inserted again, and ...VOILA!

OMG! It works :)

Hey this worked! Thanks. I also had perfectly working keyboard and then I think the grey plastic cover where the battery terminal contacts got flipped around (I still can't see how). I struggled trying to pull out to flip over unsuccessfully. It did seem that when I put the batteries into the keyboard they were sticking out further than before even BEFORE placing in the foil ball , so it was very difficult to put the battery cover cap back on but the did the trick.

I bought one a week or two ago, only to find that it would intermittently cut out…

I discovered that If I “tap”, or lightly strike the keyboard in certain ways, it would start working again… If I wiggled the battery compartment cover, it would work again, so I concluded that it was a loose connection somewhere. Tried tin foil down in the battery compartment (in the negative side)….But it was really hard to cram the batteries back in….and it still cuts out. I’ll keep tinkering.