Leaked Battery Question

[Barry McFadden]

I have a point and shoot camera that hasn't been used for probably a couple of years at least. Found it while cleaning up the other day and had a heck of a time getting the battery door open. Finally got it open and found that one of the batteries (AA) had leaked. I pulled the other battery out with needle nosed vise grips but am having quite a time with the other one. I should probably just toss the camera but would like to see if I can get it going by using a brass brush on my power rotary tool to clean up the compartment and door once the battery is out. My idea is to drill a 1/4" hole down the middle of the battery and use the needle nose vise grips to pull it out. I searched online to see if it would be safe to drill into a battery and get just as many "go ahead no problem" reply's as I get "NO never drill a battery" reply's.
Any thoughts from anyone at SMC would be appreciated,,,,, thanks

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[Myk Rian]

Toss it. The metal parts/contacts are so corroded you'll never get them functional.

[Doug Dawson]

I have a point and shoot camera that hasn't been used for probably a couple of years at least. Found it while cleaning up the other day and had a heck of a time getting the battery door open. Finally got it open and found that one of the batteries (AA) had leaked. I pulled the other battery out with needle nosed vise grips but am having quite a time with the other one. I should probably just toss the camera but would like to see if I can get it going by using a brass brush on my power rotary tool to clean up the compartment and door once the battery is out. My idea is to drill a 1/4" hole down the middle of the battery and use the needle nose vise grips to pull it out. I searched online to see if it would be safe to drill into a battery and get just as many "go ahead no problem" reply's as I get "NO never drill a battery" reply's.
Any thoughts from anyone at SMC would be appreciated,,,,, thanks

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It depends on how far the corrosion has spread into the body of the unit, but I've had good luck decontaminating things like that with a saturated mix of baking soda in distilled water, carefully and judiciously applied. For removing the remaining battery, I'd try to use a pick, such as one from the "GearWrench 84000D Hook and Pick Set" (search for it on amazon.)

It might work, even though it looks pretty bad.

[Bill Dufour]

Battery is dead so no electrical to worry about. I would core drill the center rod. Use a small piece of pipe or a roll pin.
Bil lD

[Mike Henderson]

I suspect that if you can get the battery out, it will have done enough damage that the camera won't work. But you never know until you try new batteries.

My experience with situations like that has not been good.

Mike

[Doug Dawson]

I suspect that if you can get the battery out, it will have done enough damage that the camera won't work. But you never know until you try new batteries.


If you look at the picture, you'll note that the battery access door was at the bottom of the camera, so if the camera was stored upright when the leakage occurred, that's where most of the damage will be (again seen in the picture.)

In a pinch you could use a pick purchased from Harbor Freight (for a few dollars) to pry the battery out from the interior of the camera, but those are not tempered right and will tend to bend, especially at the tip. They're useful for "tickling" radioactive waste, where you're just gonna throw away the tool afterwards. :^)

[Frank Pratt]

Best case, even if you get it all cleaned up & it works, is that the camera is still an old point & shoot. It's likely that any current mid range phone will have a better camera.

[Doug Dawson]

Best case, even if you get it all cleaned up & it works, is that the camera is still an old point & shoot. It's likely that any current mid range phone will have a better camera.

But the phone will probably take selfies.

[Jim Koepke]

The big question is it worth fixing?
Do you have the software to hook up to your computer?
The cabling?

My first intuition is to not throw things away. Sometimes it may be the best option.

jtk

[Jerome Stanek]

Is it worth it to make a claim to the battery manufacturer

[Frank Pratt]

Is it worth it to make a claim to the battery manufacturer

Might be worth looking into. Duracell got busted with a class action suit a few years ago because of leaking batteries.

I assume that all batteries will eventually leak given enough time, so I try not to leave them in forever. Sometimes I forget, but I've never seen leakage that bad.

[Doug Dawson]

Might be worth looking into. Duracell got busted with a class action suit a few years ago because of leaking batteries.

Years ago HP (when it was still an engineering-oriented company) would void the warranty on their calculators if you used Duracell batteries in them.

[Barry McFadden]

Thanks everyone for the replies... I ended up using a metal scribe to scrape around the top of the battery enough so that I could pry it up a bit and pulled it out with vise grips. I took my rotary tool with a small wire brush and went over the door cover and got it cleaned up enough so the camera works fine now. One of my hobbies is photography so I have a couple of good DSLR's that I normally use but I like to have a small camera around for a quick shot when needed. I realize there are phones that would take higher rez images but whenever I use a phone for pictures I seem to move the phone when I take the picture which affects the sharpness....my fault, not the phone's. I like to have a "beefy" camera in my hands when I'm taking pictures....
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[Doug Dawson]

Thanks everyone for the replies... I ended up using a metal scribe to scrape around the top of the battery enough so that I could pry it up a bit and pulled it out with vise grips. I took my rotary tool with a small wire brush and went over the door cover and got it cleaned up enough so the camera works fine now. One of my hobbies is photography so I have a couple of good DSLR's that I normally use but I like to have a small camera around for a quick shot when needed. I realize there are phones that would take higher rez images but whenever I use a phone for pictures I seem to move the phone when I take the picture which affects the sharpness....my fault, not the phone's. I like to have a "beefy" camera in my hands when I'm taking pictures....
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Fantastic job!

It's been said that the best camera is the one you have with you, but Lawrence of Arabia could not have been shot with an iPhone, no matter what Tim Cook would have you believe. Actual cameras are kewl.

[John K Jordan]

Years ago HP (when it was still an engineering-oriented company) would void the warranty on their calculators if you used Duracell batteries in them.

I haven't heard that but I can believe it. In my experience Duracell is the worst offender for leaking. I finally gave up and quit buying them.

JKJ

[william watts]

:)I'm]I haven't heard that but I can believe it. In my experience Duracell is the worst offender for leaking. I finally gave up and quit buying them.

John's correct, I spent 35 years in consumer electronics and saw many leaky Duracells. They advertised " copper top" but the only copper is the color on the label. Eveready seldom leaked. At one-time they would replace your item if it was damaged by one of their batteries.

There's household cleaner called Lime Away that makes battery corrosion disappear. Apply it with a cotton swab, leaves the surface like new, almost.

[Erik Loza]

They are ultra-expensive but I pretty much only use lithium batteries in our household electronics now. Had had the same issue as Barry with TV remotes, wireless weather transmitters, etc. Lithiums won't leak and last forever. Just a thought.

Erik

[Chuck Wintle]

I have a point and shoot camera that hasn't been used for probably a couple of years at least. Found it while cleaning up the other day and had a heck of a time getting the battery door open. Finally got it open and found that one of the batteries (AA) had leaked. I pulled the other battery out with needle nosed vise grips but am having quite a time with the other one. I should probably just toss the camera but would like to see if I can get it going by using a brass brush on my power rotary tool to clean up the compartment and door once the battery is out. My idea is to drill a 1/4" hole down the middle of the battery and use the needle nose vise grips to pull it out. I searched online to see if it would be safe to drill into a battery and get just as many "go ahead no problem" reply's as I get "NO never drill a battery" reply's.
Any thoughts from anyone at SMC would be appreciated,,,,, thanks

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would a cleaner like CLR work? just on a qtip and applied sparingly.

[Frank Pratt]

would a cleaner like CLR work? just on a qtip and applied sparingly.

CLR itself is quite corrosive so I'd not be inclined to use it. After the wire brush treatment, perhap a barely dampened (with water) Q-tip, but that's about it.