Best way to clean corrosion off a pcb

dyno

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Just got a game and the pcb has lots of corrosion on it, it looks like it was stored outside and was affected by the moisture. It works but i would like to clean the corrosion off the pcb.
 
white vinegar and a tooth brush. the white vinegar supposedly neutralizes the battery acid but im not sure if it helped much with this badly corroded BABY PAC CPU im working on.

i put PCB's in my dishwasher to clean them. let them dry overnight at the very least.
 
Except you have to be careful.... vinegar will eat the copper traces so don't leave it on there tooooo long if the traces are pretty weak or badly corroded.
 
yeah once you have the trace cleaned with the vinegar , wash it down with some 99% Isoproponyl alcohol. blow dry with compressed air and leave sit for a bit. you may find you will have to bridge some of the bad spots with wire to complete the circuit
 
50/50 vinegar solution, brush on, then rinse with distilled water. Note that the vinegar will neutralize the corrosion, but won't take away the pitted look on the traces. I've heard other folks who have used bead-blasting to brighten them up again, but then you risk damaging other components.
 
Use "Flux Remover" spray chemicals available from all electronic parts suppliers like MCM Electronics and Mouser Electronics. Even your local electronics parts jobbers should have it.
 
white vinegar and a tooth brush. the white vinegar supposedly neutralizes the battery acid but im not sure if it helped much with this badly corroded BABY PAC CPU im working on.

i put PCB's in my dishwasher to clean them. let them dry overnight at the very least.


I respect your opinions on here but i question the Vinegar NEUTRALIZING Battery acid. How is this possible when they both have high PH values? :D
 
I respect your opinions on here but i question the Vinegar NEUTRALIZING Battery acid. How is this possible when they both have high PH values? :D

Most modern batteries are alkaline based. Acid batteries are from, well... the classic arcade era.

I use a dishwasher, put 2 cups of vinegar in and interupt the cycle 1/2 way through to put dish wash detg [which is very mildly alkaline]. We have snow melt water out here so I just put the bords up in the attic for a couple of days. If you have high ion content water, hard water, or even river water from one of the western rivers, you will need to rinse with distilled water when you are done.

That said, I belive now that the time, expense and trouble associated with attempting to repair a corrosion damaged PCB excceds the value of the board.

Saltbreez
 
The white vinegar/water solution works great for neutralizing battery acid/corrosion. If I read the OP's post correctly......he really doesn't have corrosion. It sounds like he has RUST. White vinegar has little (if any) effect on rust.

Edward
 
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