What was lost is found with corrosion

[mark]

5 years ago my Sekonic L718 disappeared. Last night it reappeared. Stupid goblins. Anyway needless to say one of the batteries leaked. How do I get the corrosion out?

[David Lyga]

Straight acetic acid rubbed in with a cloth is a possiblilty. Start with dry-brushing out everything that you can get out. Hold the item over your kitchen sink and the battery compartment turned downward so that all the debris falls into the sink. Then use the acid but be VERY careful not to get too close to the fumes: that stuff is TOXIC. And, would steel wool really be so out of place here? How much different is this instance from a pan with burned on food? - David Lyga

[E. von Hoegh]

Straight acetic acid rubbed in with a cloth is a possiblilty. Start with dry-brushing out everything that you can get out. Hold the item over your kitchen sink and the battery compartment turned downward so that all the debris falls into the sink. Then use the acid but be VERY careful not to get too close to the fumes: that stuff is TOXIC. And, would steel wool really be so out of place here? How much different is this instance from a pan with burned on food? - David Lyga

A pan has burned on food, an exposure meter has electrical/electronic circuitry which will not deal well at all with little bits of steelwool floating around.

[AgX]

The effect of leaking zink-carbon and alkaline batteries is different, the latter are more corrosive. Old ones may contain mercury.

Cleaning would be a combination of mechanical and wet (soapy water) paper-tissue. Electrical contacts often need grinding beyond plating at the end.

[ath]

Well, the pan is usually not used as an electrical contact. If possible clean the battery contact in a way that the plating is not removed. Bare iron alloy is a bad contact and it will get worse over time.

[r-brian]

I'd start with some white vinegar instead of acid. Non-toxic and does a wonderful job at dissolving the residue.

[EASmithV]

Try a flat bladed screwdriver and some pressure and chizzel it off. works for me.

[TheFlyingCamera]

Another tip for cleaning - if you get the deep crud off, try rubbing the contacts with a good old-fashioned rubber pencil eraser. It will do a great job on polishing the contacts without undue abrasion. If one of the contacts is a coiled spring, this is a bit tougher to work. They also used to sell little fiberglass contact brushes in camera stores for cleaning battery contacts. You might have to go to Radio Shack to find them now. They'll look like a mechanical pencil with a twist-action to extend the brush head.

[tkamiya]

Duplicated post.

[tkamiya]

Once the plating is corroded away, there's nothing really you can do to get it back to the original condition. I usually take a very fine sand paper and remove the corrosion. If it's really bad, I remove the metal contact, clean it, then clean the surrounding with whatever is available, including clean water or small amount of alcohol. If not too bad, I use tooth pick and pick the solidified liquid away the use cottom swab. There is no need for strong acid.