First, let me state that I'm not a professional -- just barely an amateur.

I bought a wireless guitar controller on eBay and it came with batteries in the battery compartment. One end of one battery was corroded, and there was potassium hydroxide in the compartment, along with rust. I looked up how to clean the KOH, and used white vinegar to clean that out easily enough. I filed down the rust as there wasn't much of it, but there were hard to reach places so I opened it up and tried to see if I could reach it from behind and saw this... I don't know how to solder, and I believe that's a capacitor...but that's as far as my knowledge goes. I probably can't return it since I found out this after I hardwired the neck to the body (the controller is notorious for having a weak connection) so I'm going to look into getting a partial refund.

Should I take it to a professional to get it cleaned?

 

Welcome to AAC.

This is the only spot that worries me:


The other brown stuff is just an adhesive or potting material to keep things in place. Why do you think you need to fix anything electrical?

As for that spot, try your white vinegar on it and manual picking.

MEK or acetone will probably soften or remove the brown stuff, but they also attack plastic, so I would just let them be.

If it works, I do not think a partial refund is justified unless it was listed as "like new" or similar. A leaking battery is somewhat par for the course.

 

Well, there's rust on the wires too, albeit possibly just on the insulator. Is it possible for me to clean those? The other side of the pcb looks fine. In this photo, there's more brown stuff near the wire soldering points. Does that look like adhesive?

As for fixing anything electrical, apologies for posting on this forum if this topic doesn't fit. I was just worried about my lack of real electronics (i.e., soldering) knowledge and this was the first forum that I found that seemed to be a close enough match.

 

I don't see any rust on wires in your picture.


That brown stuff is not rust. It's probably some lacquer or varnish. For dissolving small amounts of rust, I use a product called "Rust Stain Remover" by Whink Products Co. , Iowa. It has a little HF acid in it and is said to be safe on sinks and plastic.

 

Ok. Sounds like I don't need a professional. Thanks so much for the help!

 

Why not buy a new battery holder. Nothing you do will last as long as the guitar

 

I don't exactly know how I would swap them out. Anyway, I was trying to (gently) wipe off the rust on the wire insulation and broke the hot wire off at the solder point. (Ooops) So, now I have to go to an electronics repair shop. Maybe they can replace some stuff if it's cheap enough.

 

The brown stuff is normal. The capacitor looks like it was laying down and glued to the plastic with what ever the brown stuff is they globed on the board.