How to clean a Point-and-Shoot camera after an alkaline battery leak

In the previous post about the purchased cameras, you can see that several of them had leaking batteries. I always thought that alkaline batteries do not leak, but that is not true. An alkaline battery does not leak during normal use. However, over time - this can happen. Do not store your equipment for long periods with batteries inside (of any type) to prevent damage from leakage.

I did not expect to be able to clean the cameras. And that they would work after cleaning, I considered a wild fantasy. But all the cameras worked. After watching a few videos on YouTube and reading relevant posts, I proceeded to clean them. All I needed was:

Alkaline leakage can irritate the skin, so it is better to work with gloves. Also, do not inhale fumes while cleaning. Let's get to work. By the way, the vinegar used is regular:

First, you need to get the batteries out of the camera. This can be quite difficult. For this, I used a screwdriver and pliers. Be careful - when pulling out the battery, you might accidentally pull out the contacts that may have stuck to it. So if the battery does not budge, and you can get under its edge (where it stuck), try to "soak" it with vinegar.

With a cotton swab soaked in vinegar, wipe all the problematic areas. The vinegar neutralizes the alkaline residue. You will see how these residues start to foam and fizz upon contact with vinegar. Do not inhale fumes and avoid contact with skin.

This may take some time. Do not try to break off large chunks with a screwdriver or something like that. Such an approach can damage the camera. I soaked with vinegar, scrubbed with a toothpick, wiped with a cloth, and so on in a cycle. I have seen many questions online - how to clean the contacts inside? It's simple - the same way. But you need a flashlight to look inside. A cotton swab is long enough for this.

Here it’s simple. Wipe off the vinegar residue with a dry cloth, then with a wet one, and dry the battery compartment with a hairdryer (on barely warm air). After that, I inserted the batteries and ... nothing. I replaced the batteries with new ones - and the camera turned on. I started cleaning with the Fujifilm Nexia 30 Auto. Here’s the result (not perfect, but it works):

I also cleaned the Kodak Cameo and Fujifilm ClearShot

Cleaning the Fujifilm ClearShot seemed like a fun task:

As a result of the cleaning - all cameras worked. I was lucky that there was no damage inside the cameras and everything was resolved with amateur cleaning using vinegar. And here’s the mess at the end: