cleaning up after old NiCds

From: Joe R. <rigdonj_at_cfl.rr.com>
Date: Wed Jul 7 18:24:29 2004

   It's causes by the Potassium Hydroxide electrolyte leaking out of the
NiCads batteries. It forms a complex copper salt hence the greenish color.
I've found that full strength Lime-Away will dissolve it. Use the liquid
stuff, NOT THE GELL, put it on and leave it for a few minutes then brush it
off with an old toothbrush while rinsing it under water. Dry well. Next
time throw those old NiCads out and don't zap them to try and reuse them.
When they start to fail it's time to get rid of them. If you don't they'll
start leaking.

   Joe



At 11:54 PM 7/6/04 +0100, you wrote:
>Hiya all
>I've a number of boards (old PC motherboards, VAXen bulkhead panels /
>planars) where the NiCds have 'leaked', covering areas of PCB and
>metalwork / screws with a greyish 'corrosion'. What is this, and how
>does one clear the boards / metalwork to get rid of it and return to
>nice & clean? On the VAX TOY batteries, the corrosion seems to have
>followed one battery wire (black, -ve) to the molex connector,
>corroding / coating that, and then spreading across the boards...
>
>ta
>greg
>
>
>
Received on Wed Jul 07 2004 - 18:24:29 BST