Batteries were included!!!

September 21, 2008 12:34 PM

This should be a simple question, but I cannot find exactly what I need. I found a year old camera the other day in a box that had been left with batteries in it. There is some corrosion from the period of time the batteries had been in there. The camera is still pretty new, but I need to know how to remove the corrosion so that I can still use it. Any ideas!? No bonus point for anything since bonus points wont (and never do here) really do you any good. Thanks in advance friends...
posted by TeachTheDead to sports, hobbies, & recreation (9 comments total)

Use a pencil eraser to gently remove the corrosion. Works like a dream.
posted by arnicae at 12:45 PM on September 21, 2008 [3 favorites has favorites]

Google has many other opinions, btw.
posted by arnicae at 12:46 PM on September 21, 2008

You don't say whether or not the corrosion appears to have seeped into areas other than the battery compartment. If it has, and you can't access those areas, it will in all likelihood eventually kill the camera, but possibly not for a long time.

The best thing I have ever seen to physically clean corrosion from battery terminals is a glass fiber pen. Here is the one I have. Use caution with it because the individual fibers are far thinner than a human hair, and tend to want to embed themselves in your skin as they break off or wear off when using the pen. They're almost impossible to remove from your skin and will irritate you big time.

The pen really works well though.

Also, the best contact cleaner I've ever used it DeoxIT.

After you finish cleaning with the glass fiver pen, I'd hit the contacts with DeoxIT. Thess items have rejuvenated a number of items that I'd previously considered dead.
posted by imjustsaying at 12:49 PM on September 21, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

Great answers, it looks like the corrosion is just on the battery contact area and only on two areas...looking for a pencil eraser now, if not I'll try ordering the pen. Its an almost new camera and the batters in it are the stock ones, just to indicate how new the digital camera is...thanks a bunch guys...
posted by TeachTheDead at 1:08 PM on September 21, 2008

cheap and effective, q-tips and isopropyl alcohol(for battery area only), then rough up the connections with a small file or the tip of a knife.
posted by docmccoy at 1:20 PM on September 21, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

A regular pencil eraser doesn't work all that great on its own. They used to make pen erasers that were more abrasive but those are very hard to find nowadays. You could make your own abrasive mix with baking soda and powder cleanser such as Comet. Add a drop or two of water to the small mix and use a Q-tip dipped in the mix to clean.
posted by JJ86 at 4:07 PM on September 21, 2008

Thanks all around - here's what happened...

I found a mechanical pencil and then started erasing....I noticed that the eraser bits were building up so I started digging out the corrosion with the tip of the pencil. Gave it a few shots of compressed air and !VIOLA! everything's good to go.

High Five!
posted by TeachTheDead at 4:32 PM on September 21, 2008

I used ketchup to remove battery corrosion from inside a flashlight recently. It actually worked very well.
posted by neverdie at 7:21 PM on September 21, 2008

Likely the vinegar in the ketchup neutralized the alkaline battery deposits. Hold the tomatoes.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 9:44 PM on September 21, 2008