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Thread: Leaked Battery Question

  1. #1
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    Leaked Battery Question

    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

    CAM00776.jpg CAM00775.jpg

  2. #2
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    Toss it. The metal parts/contacts are so corroded you'll never get them functional.
    Never, under any circumstances, consume a laxative and sleeping pill, on the same night

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by Barry McFadden View Post
    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

    CAM00776.jpg CAM00775.jpg
    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.

  4. #4
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    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

  5. #5
    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
    Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Mike Henderson View Post
    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. :^)

  7. #7
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    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.

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Frank Pratt View Post
    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.

  9. #9
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    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
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  10. #10
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    Is it worth it to make a claim to the battery manufacturer

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jerome Stanek View Post
    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.

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Frank Pratt View Post
    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.

  13. #13
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    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....
    CAM00777.jpg CAM00779.jpg

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Barry McFadden View Post
    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....
    CAM00777.jpg CAM00779.jpg
    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.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Doug Dawson View Post
    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

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