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Alkaline battery corrosion
David Jenkins - 3/12/14 at 12:26 PM

One of our TV remotes has a dusting of corrosion on its battery connectors. I brushed it off once, but it's reappeared - anyone know of a cheap and easily available way of neutralising this corrosion?

The batteries were the usual alkaline Duracell type, so I suppose some form of weak acid is required? I'm no chemist, so that really is a guess!

I don't want to buy another remote on ebay unless I have to (it was £19 last time) so I'd to have a go at fixing it if possible.

britishtrident - 3/12/14 at 01:32 PM

quote:
Originally posted by David Jenkins
One of our TV remotes has a dusting of corrosion on its battery connectors. I brushed it off once, but it's reappeared - anyone know of a cheap and easily available way of neutralising this corrosion?

The batteries were the usual alkaline Duracell type, so I suppose some form of weak acid is required? I'm no chemist, so that really is a guess!

I don't want to buy another remote on ebay unless I have to (it was £19 last time) so I'd to have a go at fixing it if possible.


Citric or phosphoric acid should do it, I used a product off eBay called Corrosion Be Gone! to clean dodgey lighting connectors on cars but cost about £7 for a tiny tub and dried up in the tub if it wasn't stored properly.

There is a web site that sells original remotes at very good prices a I got a spare for our LG TVs it cost about £9. I was going to get one for our Sony blue ray but it was a fair bit dearer.

[Edited on 3/12/14 by britishtrident]

David Jenkins - 3/12/14 at 02:47 PM

Thanks BT,

I suspected that a mild acid would be the answer.

If I can fix this then I don't need a new remote - I already have 2 for the TV! It's just that Sony remotes use rubbish button mechanisms than make presses ineffective after a period of time; I bring the 'stored' one into service when I'm cleaning up the contacts on the one that's gone faulty (it normally takes a couple of hours, and my wife's patience is limited when she wants to watch something NOW). Once I've cleaned it up it then becomes the stored remote, until the next time.

Angel Acevedo - 3/12/14 at 03:34 PM

A good rinse with water would suffice.
Or if you wat to use acid, you may try vinegar.
Dry thoroughly before reinstalling batteries.
HTH

Rod Ends - 3/12/14 at 03:41 PM

You can make old pennies look like new by polishing them with a dab of tomato ketchup!

chris-g - 3/12/14 at 04:47 PM

Your old remote can be taken apart and the buttons cleaned with alcohol. They usually consist of a rubber moulding that can a conductive coating under each button to create a contact with circuit board below. As the rubber ages, it exudes a sticky gunk, after cleaning the rubber pad and the circuit board they usually work again. If the conductive coating has worn away you can apply conductive paint as a repair.
Fibreglass abrasive pens do a good job of removing corrosion from contract.

[Edited on 3/12/14 by chris-g]

David Jenkins - 3/12/14 at 05:06 PM

quote:
Originally posted by chris-g
Your old remote can be taken apart and the buttons cleaned with alcohol.


Exactly what I do with the spare, before it gets put into storage! Getting into the Sony remote is a challenge, but I found the solution via Google.