My wife wants me to repair an old battery powered music box where some batteries left in leaked and corroded the contacts and wiring. Is their a way to clean them or should I break out the soldering gun and try and replace them?
make a paste of baking soda and a little water. apply to the contacts. clean off.
Vinegar on a Q tip is another option. This would be easier to clean off spring contacts than the baking soda paste.
diluting some vinegar about half and apply with a cotton swap. it shouldn’t be dripping and some paper towel below the contacts should catch drips (refresh towel as needed). apply every once in a while until the corrosion has mostly disappeared, it may take days.
There may still be some corrosion products on the terminals after the crud is removed. You can use an ink eraser, if you can find one, or very fine wet/dry sandpaper. 600 grit or finer would be best.
vinegar would be far better, since the electrolyte that leaks from a dry cell or alkaline battery is (as the name implies) alkaline/basic. though even plain water might be sufficient since the electrolyte isn’t terribly caustic or anything.
this will probably work. it might be worth taking the cover off of the device (if possible) and make sure the leaked electrolyte didn’t get all the way onto the circuit board. But cleaning the schmoo off and giving the contacts a light sanding should be sufficient.
OP said it was old. The batteries could have been the old non-alkaline type. Baking soda paste works better on those leaks. Use vinegar on alkaline leaks.
The springs that came into contact with the negative terminal on the battery and kept the battery tight have broken off.Is there a way to replace them? I’ve been checking electronics parts catalogs and no luck.
Solder a short wire to the battery box and then to the base of the battery.
I’ve repaired old test equipment that had batteries hard wired like that. They didn’t have the more modern battery boxes. It’s not a big deal. Use a solder iron and don’t hold it on the battery too long.
I have had excellent results spraying wd40 and wiping with a cloth for a very similar application