Corrosion, Palm

December 11, 2006 10:39 AM

My Palm Pilot won't charge, and I think the problem is the charger.

I've noticed some corrosion on the prongs of the charger's plug, just around the base of the prongs. I've never seen corrosion on an electrical plug before (I live in NM, there's not a lot of humidity here). How could/should I clean this off? CLR? Vinegar? Just order a new charger?

posted by Sara Anne to technology (8 answers total)

Out of interest, what kind of Palm and charger is this?

I had this happen with an older Palm (Vx I think) and noticed the corrosion on the contacts of the Palm itself. Rubbing it off with a rubber eraser seemed to work.

If the contacts are too recessed to use the eraser on your pencil, then cut a tiny bit off with a knife. Then spear the bit of eraser with a paperclip. Voila, instant corrosion removal tool!
posted by grouse at 10:44 AM on December 11, 2006 [1 favorite]

Sorry, are you talking about corrosion where the charger plugs into the wall? If so, that is odd. Since those plugs are so big though, it seems unlikely that a little corrosion at the base would matter so much. Inspect the other side for corrosion as above.
posted by grouse at 10:49 AM on December 11, 2006

It's a Zire 21, and the charger is just an AC adaptor, just a plug and a cord, really.
posted by Sara Anne at 10:49 AM on December 11, 2006

The eraser got the corrosion off the prongs, but it still won't turn on. Gack.
posted by Sara Anne at 11:01 AM on December 11, 2006

Try rubbing alcohol.

I use it to refresh the contacts on the back of my cell phone for one of those cradle chargers.
posted by eleongonzales at 11:46 AM on December 11, 2006

Palm says that the mini-USB connector should charge the Zire 21 as well. (I charge my Palm TX using this method only) Is this true in your experience with your computer? If so, you should be able to charge it off of USB.

Try an in-cradle soft reset with both AC adaptor and USB plugged in (latter to a desktop computer if possible). If it doesn't work, the problem may be with your Palm rather than the charger (sorry!). You may want to try another charger to confirm this.
posted by grouse at 11:56 AM on December 11, 2006 [1 favorite]

Have you checked that the outlet is working? Does the charger turn on in a different outlet? Does the outlet work with some things and not others? (If the outlet works intermittently or only with some devices stop using it and call an electrician as it could have a loose wire which can cause fires.)
posted by caddis at 12:27 PM on December 11, 2006

Update: had to do a "hard reset" to get it to turn on, but luckily it had been fairly recently backed up on my computer, so not much lost. Thanks, everyone.
posted by Sara Anne at 8:51 PM on December 12, 2006