Removing battery corrosion from lights

[ScumOfTheRoad]

I have a Cateye rear light. Being a div, I left AA batteries in there for a year and they now have leaked.
Any tips please on cleaning up the corrosion products?   My guess would be a small wire brush and some WD40

[Brucey]

the exact nature of the corrosion depends on the type of battery that leaked and the materials the contacts are made of. But yes, wire brushing is going to help. You can protect the terminals to some extent by using Vaseline on them.

cheers

[drossall]

If it's bad, I generally scratch at it with a screwdriver. That kind of light seems to withstand that kind of treatment. Or a contact-cleaning pencil is good for slight damage - I've generally bought mine as photographic accessories, but that's the same thing.

[Kim]

I have a tool bought from Tandy in the 80s that's ideal for this sort of thing.  Small end-on wire brush on one end, scrapy blade akin to a sharpened flathead screwdriver on the other.  I think the idea is that it's for removing oxide from PCB tracks before soldering, but I've always found a quick rub with some steel wool is sufficient for that.

This sort of thing: https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/soldering-accessories/1763428/

Isopropyl alcohol is my go-to liquid for cleaning schmoo from electronics.  It's not necessarily the best solvent for battery gunk, but it tends not to damage anything.

[ScumOfTheRoad]

If it's bad, I generally scratch at it with a screwdriver. That kind of light seems to withstand that kind of treatment. Or a contact-cleaning pencil is good for slight damage - I've generally bought mine as photographic accessories, but that's the same thing.

Aha! I should have a fibreglass pencil - the thing which you use to clear up rust spots on a car before painting over.

[hellymedic]

Brasso on a paintbrush or cotton bud did the job admirably in the days of Never Ready...

[Jurek]

Boiling water straight from a kettle does a good job of removing the skank.

[rogerzilla]

A pencil eraser is pretty good on the contacts.