No. I had an OG gameboy and my parents wouldn’t buy more batteries so every remote in the house had its batteries liberated for the glory of super Mario land 2 6 golden coins. They didn’t get the safety and security of rotting in a tv remote. They were fed to the Tetris vampire.
how old are you?
Yes that’s what they’re called alkaleaks.
Oh my sweet summer child… Just don’t taste it.
See now I have to know why.
Yes? It was extremely common as a child because all our toys were battery powered (but not included)
As a millennial: all the time
What I did only experience once, was a leaking alkaline battery while in use
Mouse stopped working. Opened it up, only to be greeted with freshly squeezed battery juice dripping out of the battery
Mouse worked fine with new batteries, so no short in there.
Was even high end Duracell
Gen Z too.
I hate to be counted as a gen z because my mind is less there and more inbetween.
Anyway, I think people forgot how genz starts at 1997. People. Some were 10 years old in the 2000s and al we had were battery toys and outside to play with…
high end Duracell
This has become an oxymoron in the last few decades.
Bought out by berkshire hathaway in 2016 and they’ve been absolute garbage since then. I haven’t bought them for years, they aren’t worth anything.
Now that I think about it, that’s about when I switched to energizer. Were they owned by berk?
Energizer is not owned by berkshire.
Yeah I just threw out half of a 30 pack of procells because they look like this. Expiry date is next year.
The forbidden frosted sugar.
It has happened enough times to me being really aware of removing batteries of any device that does not see constant use
This happens when alkaline batteried are completely empty.
False. Alkaline batteries are never completely empty. They are just too low to be used for what they are in. Move them to another device and they again.
The heat death of the universe will be delayed by a bag of AA’s in a landfill
Completely empty? You’re sure that there isn’t any juice left? I haven’t tried opening a leaky one, but I’d guess that there’s still at least a few drops left.
Sure, dust our with a paintbrush…wipe down with some alcohol. If the contacts are corroded either file or use a dot of lemon juice and a toothbrush to remove and then either spray with contact cleaner or wipe again with alcohol.
yeah it tastes like donut creme
Get the batteries out and wipe the electronics with a soft towel soaked with a little vinegar to neutralize the corrosion. Then a damp towel with just water to get the vinegar up. Let it fully dry before putting in new batteries. This happens to batteries that have sat unused for a long time installed. It can also happen if at the end of charge, you pull the batteries out, and put them back in to squeeze a little more use out of the batteries. Do it too many times and there is a leak risk. Cheaper batteries do it more often but the top brands will occasionally leak as well.
Why not just switch to NiMH rechargables? Upfront cost is a bit higher, but considering the 10 or so year lifespan in a TV remote, they make sense. And they don’t leak.
This is the way. Sometime I even file down the spring/contacts with a nail file to expose fresh metal rather than corrosion. Just a few light scratches helps greatly.
If you have access to one, use an ultrasonic cleaner with vinegar and water in it to clean the parts you can take out (NOT the batteries themselves! Those are done)
Vinegar here really does the trick in neutralizing the acid. do not skip it!
Vinegar (Acetic Acid) does not neutralise any acids at all.
It does however, neutralise the caustic, alkaline contents of a non-rechargeable alkaline cell (potassium hydroxide).
That just sounded factual.
Acid is just upside-down base
Neutralise the corrosion with a conjugate pair acids/base buffer.
Neutralise was a confusing term to pick, but they’re not wrong.
How the shit? Just use baking soda in water instead.
I believe the comment you are replying to meant to say corrosion not acid.
This is some sort of electrochemistry, more complex than just acid/base
I’m just going to say alkaline batteries have a strong hydroxide so use any acid.
I’m pretty sure its an acid/base conjugate pair buffer, but I could be wrong
Alkaline batteries use a base, hence the name. Baking soda would work as you can neutralize a strong base with a weak one. Same with acid…
I found an old plush that had a voicebox in it… I’ve not touched it in 25+ years but wanted to show it to my daughter, so I pulled out the battery box, expecting the worse, and there was no corrosion at all. I pulled out the generic brand batteries and put in new batteries and it started speaking.
I was amazed.
In the future, someone will have this same story but the ending will be the toy telling you to connect to WiFi and update your subscription information…
I remember hearing that alkaline batteries that contain mercury don’t leak, they’re just much worse for the environment. So maybe that’s what happened?
deleted by creator
How does vinegar compare to a can of CRC?
It doesn’t.
CRC is a hydrocarbon based cleaning solution similar to isopropyl alcohol. Vinegar works to clean the alkaline corrosion specifically because it is acidic, so it will both neutralize the alkalinity and also act as a mild etchant.
It is important that you thoroughly clean all of the vinegar, since leaving it on for too long will etch away the copper (though when I say “for too long”, I mean a very long time).
Doesn’t smell as good but tastes a bit better.
few times, but it luckily never broke the devices it happened it
I lost my favorite mouse this way :(
Make sure to take ya batteries out if you’re putting electronics in long storage!
OP must be pretty young 😂, we old fucks have seen this happen 100 times
I’m only 21 lol
Oh you sweet summer child
I prob have batteries doing that exact thing that are older than op (tho this can happen in a few years easily, especially if in a circuit).
This was so incredibly common before rechargeable batteries. Alkaline batteries may have had the best life but the worst death.
