What happened to alkaline batteries ?

[tod701]

Well I did it again.  Last time I used my gutter cleaning robot I stored it away and accidentally left alkaline batteries in the remote.

Sure enough when I took it out yesterday they had leaked all over the inside of the remote and destroyed it.  I contacted iRobot and not only do they not make gutter cleaning robots anymore, of the few spare parts they still have available for purchase the remote isn't one of them.  I tried looking on eBay but people were only selling whole units, and for way more than the $70 I spent on the robot.

I'm not an electronics guy but it was clear the only way this robot was going to be anything other than a paper weight was if I fixed the remote control for it.  I tried cleaning the terminals with vinegar but that didn't work so I took it apart and all the damage was confined to an area away from the brains (I'm guessing that is the technical term, I'm not an electronics guy) so I cleaned it all up with vinegar, put it back together and to my surprise, it worked! 

If it got into the brains my plan was to soak it in vinegar until the corrosion softened, remove with soft brush, and then soak/clean/dry with a 99% alcohol and resolder anything necessary but fortunately I didn't have to go that deep.

The moral of the story is that if you have something that alkaline batteries destroyed you might be able to fix it with vinegar, and that I shouldn't go so long in between gutter cleanings.

Baking soda neutralizes battery acidity.