Remove battery corrosion in the remote. Any homeowner is likely to experience battery corrosion in either a remote or any other electric appliance that depends on batteries for its workability, such appliances are simple pocket radio gadgets and simple brick games.
Leaking battery acid is very dangerous to both the person cleaning it off the appliance and the appliance itself. Remember this is real acid and may cause some bit of scotch on your skin, so it’s very helpful to learn the safest methods of cleaning this acid away without any harm to your body. Below, we shall discuss several steps you must follow while handling a remote that has been corroded by battery acid and how you can clean it.
Contents
Requirements you need
- Cleaning gloves
- Soft cloths
- Baking soda
- Water
- White vinegar
- Cotton balls or cotton swabs
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1. Wear protective clothing
Battery acid is acid, so you must put on something that may prevent direct contact with your skin. Depending on what kind of battery corrosion you are handling, for example. For smaller batteries, put on rubber gloves and long sleeves, while for bigger batteries which are more dangerous, you may need to put on goggles to protect your eyes.
For those with long hair, make sure you tie it back and cover your mouth with a basic allergy mask. You’d be surprised how easy it is to get battery acid in your eyes and mouth.
2. Do a preliminary cleaning
Once you are sure that no dangerous chemicals from the corroded batteries can harm you, now it’s time to expose all these batteries to leaked acid. Put them somewhere where they can not harm anyone or the environment where you are working from.
Sometimes extremely corroded batteries are hard to remove from your remote, more so bigger batteries, but with the help of a screwdriver, you may be able to scrap them out. The goggles will now protect your eyes, don’t worry.
Now clean the entire areas where the batteries had been placed in the remote. Use something like paper that is easy to throw away immediately after work. You should not use a wet cloth since your main aim is to see how severe the corrosion was and what precautions to take.
3. Apply the proper cleaning agent
Well in this step, you need to know a little more chemistry about the types of batteries. Some batteries are alkaline whereas others are acidic so the cleaning agent to use may greatly differ. With alkaline batteries, these contain potassium hydroxide which also burns severely. This means you’ll need to use an acid to neutralize any remaining electrolyte solution. While acidic batteries contain pure sulfuric acid which requires a different approach. To clean such corrosion, mix a tablespoon of baking soda into a cup of water and stir. Use hot water so that baking soda dissolves more effectively, and pour the solution in short trickles around the corroded area. A chemical reaction may occur such as fizzing. Do not worry, wait for it to stop, and then apply more. You want to neutralize as much of the acid as possible.
4. Wipe away all residue
Once the cleaning agent has neutralized the acid, it’s time to clean away the residue, note that we shall do this in two steps, that is the soft clean and rough clean.
Soft clean: Start by cleaning the areas with a towel and smaller cleaners. Remove all the residues of neutralized acid that may have been left behind.
Rougher clean: You may find patches of acid residue that won’t come off so easily, this means you must use something else that can remove such residue such as steel wool, and toothbrush. Remember to apply more cleaning agent from time to time as necessary. Once finished, switch back to soft materials.
If the areas are small or hard to reach, a cotton swab can be used to reach them more easily. Make sure there is not any drip leaking into your device. This may cause more complications that may occur later on after the cleanup. When the corrosion is completely removed, wipe the area with a clean cloth moistened with water and clean everything until it looks like new.
5. Check the damage
Since battery acid is harmful, it may cause damage to its surroundings so you must check if anything needs to be replaced in the remote, say metallic battery holders in the remote and the plastic covers. Make sure to clean and replace any damaged parts of your remote so that it may work after the cleanup.
Dispose of batteries properly
Every region has its own rules controlling battery disposal so you must follow those rules before disposing of the batteries.
How to prevent battery corrosion
- Clean battery contacts every few months with an eraser or soft cloth.
- Keep batteries and battery-powered equipment at room temperature not in a hot car or the refrigerator.
- Make sure your batteries stay dry. If the battery casing becomes rusty, it could start to leak.
- Never charge non-rechargeable batteries; this is one of the easiest ways to make a battery leak or start to corrode.
- Dead batteries are more likely to corrode remove them from your devices promptly and recycle them properly.