Cleaning flash terminals

I pulled out the battery unit for my Canon ring flash. I thought I had removed the 4 AA's. They had leaked and corrosion very much in evidence. I carefully pried off the small hunks of corrosion. I then took a small scrubbing and washing pad combination. Wetting the pad I then began to scrub carefully along the tops of the battery terminals. After about ten minutes of scrubbing, I had the tops of the terminals clean and partially clean for the rest. I put fresh batteries in, connected the ring light, slid the on switch on the unit, and pressed the modeling light. Viola it lit. I'm grateful I was able to clean the battery compartment and terminals, as I really like that ring flash unit.

A little bit of vinegar will help get that debris off. For hard to reach terminals, the tip of a screwdriver is a useful scraping tool. You can gently scrape the terminals with a metal tool or steel wool or whatever - better a scraped terminal than one still covered with a thin layer of non-conductive gunk.

I wish that the guarantee on batteries to “not leak” wasn’t just a ploy to replace the device that was destroyed by the leak… but that the batteries didn’t leak at all.

I'll second the vinegar. I also use cotton swabs (Q-Tips), or even longer versions, to get into tight spaces. I also have a variety of "scrapers" to help clean things. Some are dental picks, some are plastic modeling tools. Toothpicks can even be useful.

Bill Burk said:

I wish that the guarantee on batteries to “not leak” wasn’t just a ploy to replace the device that was destroyed by the leak… but that the batteries didn’t leak at all.

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I think that copper topped company stopped their no leak guarantee. I had two fluke meters damaged by their batteries. Luckily replacement battery terminals are easily replaced on these models and Aliexpress sell replacements.

I found the copper top company the worst (or best) for leaking batteries and now will not buy them. Best option for me is to buy the non self-discharging ni-mh batteries, as these do not seem to leak.

You should use electrical contact cleaner on a Q tip not anything abrasive, because it will remove the conductive coating on the battery terminals .
I always use Lithium AA batteries in my flash guns because they don't leak, and I also remove them from the flash after I use it, just in case.

benjiboy said:

You should use electrical contact cleaner on a Q tip not anything abrasive, because it will remove the conductive coating on the battery terminals .
I always use Lithium AA batteries in my flash guns because they don't leak, and I also remove them from the flash after I use it, just in case.

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If you are concerned or simply need to improve a battery terminal's contact capacity, an inexpensive roll of self-adhesive copper tape or ribbon will do the trick; it's also used as a "bridging" material to create and connect two terminals over a bad wire, ie, the plus or negative sides of a "Master IV" or "V" solar cell to the other side of a bad wire on the meter board.

Yes, the glue that is on the press down side of the tape does a good job of conducting current, properly in contact.