How to open oxidized battery compartment?

[Didier]

Does anyone know a good method to open an oxidized battery compartment? The metal battery battery cover of the cute Petri Color 35 which I just bought in the neighbourhood should be opened with a coin, but does not move, even with larger coins and rather much power. I guess it's strongly oxydized. Can I operate with very small drops of acetic acid, or another acid? Or penetrating oil? Unfortunately the battery compartment is inside the body, so a treatment with liquids should be done very carefully.

Thanks in advance for any advice
Didier

 

[oftheherd]

There should be screws to remove the base plate. The battery may come out with it. That should make it easier to use vinegar to lossen all the corrosion. Unfortunately, you will probably find the corosion has followed the wires into the innerds of your camera.

Good luck. Maybe someone else can give you better advice.

 

[ferider]

Either remove the baseplate or - if the battery compartment is at the corner of the camera - submerge just that corner (as little as possible) in a glass of vinegar for a while.

Or penetrating oil, don't remember how this is called in ZH, here they call it WD40. But very carefully,
it goes everywhere depending on amount.

Good luck,

Roland.

 

[BILLC]

Try a few drops of thin oil on a tooth pick around the threads and a little heat, from a hair dryer perhaps. I use a large screw driver because it has sharper edges than a coin. It need not be rounded, the outside is where the force is needed. Be careful, work slowly and do no harm if possible.
Bill

 

[payasam]

I'm trying to build up the courage to attack a Rollei 35 in the same state. Battery's on the top, though.

 

[umana]

Try a nautical spray, called (I think, worldwide) CRC66.
It may really penetrate everywhere, then do not exceed
with the applied amount, but it is also not harmful, and
it will work almost surely in a while.

To make the part hot with an hairdryer is a good suggestion.
Don't be in hurry. Wait also one/two days, if necessary, before
to use the strenght.

Good luck ! Ciao, Luigi

 

[BILLC]

CRC66 or other penitrating oils like wd40 are good but spraying them on a camera is not a good idea, I learned this from trial by error. Spray a bit into a paper cup and then dab with a tooth pick or small screw driver a drop at a time.
Luigi, you are right about not being in a hurry, time is your best tool here.
Bill

 

[umana]

CRC66 or other penitrating oils like wd40 are good but spraying them on a camera is not a good idea, I learned this from trial by error. Spray a bit into a paper cup and then dab with a tooth pick or small screw driver a drop at a time.
Luigi, you are right about not being in a hurry, time is your best tool here.
Bill

🙂 !!! Bill, the (small) screw driver is exactely the way I am using it,
since decades ! I felt that so obvious, that I forgot to specify such an
additional suggestion to our friend... Ciao !

 

[dmr]

Does anyone know a good method to open an oxidized battery compartment? The metal battery battery cover of the cute Petri Color 35 which I just bought in the neighbourhood should be opened with a coin, but does not move, even with larger coins and rather much power.

I had this problem with the one Mamiya (which actually ended up being a parts camera, but that's another story) and I used a wee bit of a product you get here in the States at the hardware stores called "Liquid Wrench". I very carefully applied it with a q-tip around the edges of the circular cover, waited 1/2 hour, and with a quarter (US coin) it eventually turned.

The bad part was removing the remains of the old battery and getting the battery compartment clean enough to accept a new battery. I mostly used a dental explorer to pry out what remained of the old battery and scrape out the crud. I used vaseline and alcohol and q-tips to clean and condition the plastic case of the battery compartment and then a small grinding tool on a Dremel tool to polish up the contact itself. Liberal dose of vaseline around the threads, screw and unscrew until they are very smooth, then clean off the vaseline with alcohol.

Then the real work began. The corrosion had spread up the wire from the battery case. I had to replace it using "rework wire" I got from the technoids at work. I was so proud of myself getting the electronics of this thing working fine, only to find a fatally bent piece of the shutter assembly, making this thing into a source of parts for another one. 🙁

I hope yours comes out better. 🙂

 

[Didier]

Dear friends

Thank you very much for all those suggestions. I'm shure I'll be able to open that battery compartment. I have some thin penetrating oil in the house that I use to repair corroded vintage slotcar motors.

I'll wait for the repair until I have a free evening (not easy whith 3 kids and a dog puppy) and will hopefully soon post my first Petri pictures.

Offtheherd - the inner small base plate with the tiny screws didn't lead me closer to the battery compartment, which is a separate cylindre, accessibel only through the corroded cover. Roland, the battery cylindre is inside the chrome bottom plate, in the middle of the body. I'll apply the penetrating oil with Q-tips.

Thanks again to all,
Didier

 

[Bill58]

Didier:

The absolute best stuff is Kroil. you can get it here: http://www.kanolabs.com/.

Good luck!

Bill

 

[Didier]

Finally I got that little beast open! I had dropped quite a lot of strong penetrating oil (that costed more than the Petri which I had got almost for free) on the battery cover and tried to open it since two weeks - without success. I was mentally ready to accept the camera is gone, then I tried it this morning for the very last time - because the screwdriver/coin slot is completely weared out after so many attemps - and suddenly the cover came out as it would have never been stuck or corroded. And the other good news is - the inside of the battery compartment and the battery are almost not corroded - can't understand why the cover was so stuck.

Will get a battery this afternoon and pass a roll through for shure!

For those who have a similar problem I can only recommend to be patient and to let the penetrating work for 2 weeks or longer.

Thanks again to all for your help
Didier

 

[FallisPhoto]

Didier:

If the camera was stored upright, it was because of gravity. The fluids from the leaky battery sank to the lowest point. You probably got lucky in that the battery was leaking only from the bottom too. If it had been stored in a "reclining" position, you'd probably have a mess. Still, be sure to check the wires connecting to the battery compartment, and in particular the soldered connections.