[spudnuty]

I had seen other posts here about using and have used vinegar to clean
the corrosion left from batteries leaking in battery powered devices.
The problem this time was corroded battery contacts in a remote
control. Since I was able to completely remove the board and had the
contacts dangling off one end I decided to heat the vinegar to boiling
as I have done for other projects. When I dipped the contacts into the
hot vinegar the corrosion bubbled right off in a matter of seconds. (Do
this in a well ventilated area). After a thorough rinsing and light
buffing the contacts were very clean albeit missing some material.
Richard

 

[Charles Schuler]

I had seen other posts here about using and have used vinegar to clean
the corrosion left from batteries leaking in battery powered devices.
The problem this time was corroded battery contacts in a remote
control. Since I was able to completely remove the board and had the
contacts dangling off one end I decided to heat the vinegar to boiling
as I have done for other projects. When I dipped the contacts into the
hot vinegar the corrosion bubbled right off in a matter of seconds. (Do
this in a well ventilated area). After a thorough rinsing and light
buffing the contacts were very clean albeit missing some material.
Richard

Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) is good.

 

[Mike Berger]

Yes... but it will probably start to corrode much faster now
that the plating is gone in those spots.

 

[Jim Yanik]

Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) is good.

No,it is not;the leakage from alkaline cells that are most commonly used
these days will not respond to another alkaline(base) like sodium bicarb.

That is why VINEGAR works so well,it's a mild acid,and easy to obtain.
Acid counteracts the alkaline battery electrolyte.

 

[James Sweet]

Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) is good.

Not for a leaking alkaline battery, baking soda will only make that
worse. For acid batteries obviously the reverse is true. One size does
not fit all.

 

[spudnuty]

Yes... but it will probably start to corrode much faster now
that the plating is gone in those spots.

Yah I think that's right Mike and it wasn't just the plating it had
eaten holes in the phosphor bronze? itself
But only if you leave leaky batteries in there.
One reason to really get all that corrosion out of there was that when
I metered the batteries they were really loaded down. 3 Volts dropping
to under a volt.
Richard