Corroded battery contacts

This has happened to everybody at one time or another - contacts on battery-powered things corroded by leaking batteries. I have an Olympus 'dictaphone'-style digital voice recorder. It uses 2 AAA batteries, but the batteries in mine have leaked slightly and corroded the contacts at the -ve end, resulting in poor conductivity and difficulty in getting the thing to switch on. The contacts are little springs and thus rather hard to clean with anything abrasive.

Can anyone recommend anything that'll clean the contacts and restore conductivity or is it a lost cause?

Reply to
A.Clews
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snipped-for-privacy@DENTURESsussex.ac.uk wrote, on 25/09/2010 10:46:

Google throws up a number of contact cleaners of the aerosol variety but the "Hama Glasfaser Contact Cleaner" might suit your needs better, because it is the little springs which are corroded. Google shows 3 sellers of this product, but I have never used it myself so I cannot comment on its effectiveness. Quite expensive at 5.99-8.20 for your one-off job.

Perhaps you could use a small pencil eraser, with a twisting action?

Reply to
Dave N

As long as they are not corroded to the point they bend to the touch a fibreglass pencil can usually be used with patience to clean off the residue.

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Reply to
Peter Parry

Contact cleaner is not sutable, and pencil erasers too soft. I'd start with a screwdriver to get the crusting off, then switch to fine sandpaper to clean it up.

NT

Reply to
Tabby

"Hama Glasfaser Contact Cleaner" might suit your needs better, because it is the little springs which are corroded. Google shows 3 sellers of this product, but I have never used it myself so I cannot comment on its effectiveness. Quite expensive at 5.99-8.20 for your one-off job.

Plenty of different types of cleaners at Maplins both the shops and on-line. Though I would use vingar to nulify the battery acid.

Reply to
zaax

RS (among others) do an abrasive "eraser" which is good for this purpose.

The problem is that you will lose the plating on the spring contact, so you really have to keep up re-cleaning periodically.

You could use an angle grinder.

Reply to
Frank Erskine

Use Acetic acid to nullify Sulphuric acid? That's original.

Reply to
Peter Parry

Though I would use vingar to nulify the battery acid.

Sorry, but how does adding citric acid to battery acid "nulify" the battery acid?

Reply to
Mr Fuxit

Indeed. And also....since when has vinegar been citric acid?

Reply to
Bob Eager

When this happened to my little Sony digital camera, the bottom 'spring' contact corroded away - essentially making the camera a write off. With a steady arm, a fine soldering iron, and a lot of patience, I was able to build up a bottom contact with blobs of solder. I melted the plastic a bit, but the camera has worked for years since, so I can't complain.

S
Reply to
Spamlet

The OP appeared to be speaking mainly of dry cell batteries and ,specifically the AAA type, and the leaky ones would generally be the cheap 'dry cell' ones which may be acid or alkaline but do not contain battery acid. This would indicate that leaks from the alkaline variety could be mopped up with vinegar or citric; and from the 'acid' kind, with ammonia or washing soda:

"The alkaline battery gets its name because it has an alkaline electrolyte of potassium hydroxide, instead of the acidic ammonium chloride or zinc chloride electrolyte of the zinc-carbon batteries which are offered in the same nominal voltages and physical size. Other battery systems also use alkaline electrolytes, but they use different active materials for the electrodes."

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Reply to
Spamlet

"Hama Glasfaser Contact Cleaner" might suit your

shows 3 sellers of this product, but I have never used

5.99-8.20 for your one-off job.

Though I would use vingar to nulify the battery acid.

He might have been using alkaline batteries. ;-)

Reply to
Graham.

And WD40.

Reply to
The Medway Handyman

I've become a bit of an expert on cleaning badly designed and/or damaged contacts since I started maintaining fencing foils :-(

I'd start by gently getting rid of the corrosion with a nail board. These are cheap and convenient (supermarket) and can be trimmed down to size with scissors. Follow that with a squirt of IPA on a cotton bud. Maplin sell it as switch cleaner in a spray can but it's available from lots of other sources too.

Reply to
Calvin Sambrook

Thus spake Frank Erskine ( snipped-for-privacy@btinternet.com) unto the assembled multitudes:

I don't mind that too much.

I thought that would come up! :-)

Thanks to all those who replied, especially those with sensible suggestions.

Reply to
A.Clews

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