Cleaning an SR-50 battery compartment

[Matt Agajanian]

Hello there.

I just dove into my vintage box and fished out my (was my sister's) SR-50. Upon opening the batery compartment, the battery pack (BP-1A) was acid ridden around the sides. So, as that's an accident waiting to happen, I disposed of it. Although the battery compartment was less infected, I am wondering if at least I could salvage the 50 by cleaning the battery contacts/compartment.

I have enclosed a photo of the battery chamber so the experts here can tell me how the chamber should be cleaned. As of now, I do not have DeOxIt or any fancy do-dads the genius minds here do. But, I'm not certain how/where I heard it but, can vinegar be used in some way until I can get to an electronics/hobby shop for the serious stuff?

Thanks in advance.

[cruff]

I just cleaned a remote control that had two alkaline batteries leak. I disassembled it completely, used mechanical scraping to remove the crystalized residue, then used some cotton swabs dipped in vinegar to neutralize the areas on the case, battery contact springs and the PC board where the residue had touched. Washed thoroughly with water and air dried overnight before reassembly.

[rprosperi]

(04-22-2017 01:13 AM)Matt Agajanian Wrote:  So, as that's an accident waiting to happen, I disposed of it. Although the battery compartment was less infected, I am wondering if at least I could salvage the 50 by cleaning the battery contacts/compartment.

Save the battery pack frame - you can rebuild it with new cells and use it again. Thoroughly clean it after removing the cells and the crystalline residue; cruff's detailed steps are an excellent guide to such cleaning.

The photo posted appears to show that the battery tabs are intact, however it's too small to examine closely and be sure. A larger photo would make it easier to give good advice.

[Matt Agajanian]

(04-22-2017 02:59 AM)rprosperi Wrote:  

(04-22-2017 01:13 AM)Matt Agajanian Wrote:  So, as that's an accident waiting to happen, I disposed of it. Although the battery compartment was less infected, I am wondering if at least I could salvage the 50 by cleaning the battery contacts/compartment.

Save the battery pack frame - you can rebuild it with new cells and use it again. Thoroughly clean it after removing the cells and the crystalline residue; cruff's detailed steps are an excellent guide to such cleaning.

The photo posted appears to show that the battery tabs are intact, however it's too small to examine closely and be sure. A larger photo would make it easier to give good advice.

Bob, I'm using a graphics program on my iPad to resize the pic so its physical size and memory size are less than 200KB. Or, can I provide a link to my Dropbox locale of the full-size pic in my next post?

ADDENDUM

I'm going to try posting the URL to the full picture.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/z05dpluh0sxx1w...6.jpg?dl=0

[rprosperi]

(04-22-2017 04:00 AM)Matt Agajanian Wrote:  Bob, I'm using a graphics program on my iPad to resize the pic so its physical size and memory size are less than 200KB. Or, can I provide a link to my Dropbox locale of the full-size pic in my next post?

ADDENDUM

I'm going to try posting the URL to the full picture.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/z05dpluh0sxx1w...6.jpg?dl=0

The link works fine and this photo is much better, thanks for updating.

It appears the tabs that contact the battery pack are intact and there does not appear to be too much residue, so it's likely this can be easily cleaned up and be OK. It also appears that there has not been any spill into the machine's innards, but one cannot always see this from the outside. Be careful when cleaning of the wires that appear to connect to the tabs on the left in the photo

I should note that I don't have an SR-50 or other TI with this style battery bay, so I could be wrong - maybe others that have this machine could comment and share cleaning suggestions.

Good luck with cleaning and battery repairs, hope to see the red glow of the LED soon.