Submerge Virtual Boy battery pack in alcohol to clean?

I am cleaning a virtual boy that I just received in mail and I am going through it 100% to make sure it is flawless. This mean taking everything apart down to each single button in the controller, for example. What I need to know is if it is safe to submerge the battery pack in a bowl of isopropyl alcohol in order to thoroughly clean it? Besides for removing the lid, I do not see a way to open the battery pack up any more but I need to clean the battery contacts inside of it. My grandma stopped by a few minutes ago and saw me working and then was asking me about it and she recommended submerging the whole battery pack in a solution of water mixed with baking soda. Would that be a better idea?

Battery pack example


I have 91% and 70% alcohol and I also have distilled water and baking soda available already.

 

With no battery, it's just metal plates, metal springs, and plastic box. Try to use higher alcohol content and be sure to completely dry afterward. The 70% for example is usually 30% water and they can cause rust on metal if it's made of plain steel. If you can find 99%, go for it.

 

Ok thanks. I will use the 91% for now and hope for the best since it's all I have. I am going to post the results of my "deep clean" later on today or tomorrow :smile-new:

 

You can take out the bottom portion of the battery pack.

http://youtu.be/E48x9t85Awg?t=2m26s

 

That's perfect. Thanks :encouragement:

 

No problem!

 

There was a resistor inside the battery pack and it went for a "swim"...... I already order a new one :concern:

 

I wouldn't worry about it. Provided there was no electricity flowing (i.e batteries were not installed) anything electrical should be fine so long as it's dry when you put electricity though it. Hell, I've soaked the volume slider of a Mega Drive in isopropyl alcohol with no ill effects. And it was still attached to the mainboard, which means a good portion of the console got soaked.

I actually did what you're planning to do just recently to my own Virtual Boy. For the battery pack, I just cleaned the contacts with an isopropyl alcohol-soaked cotton tip and a bit of Brasso for any corrosion.

 

Well after it had been out drying for a while under a high speed fan I put it back together and put batteries in it and tried to power the VB on, but it didn't work. I started trouble shooting why it wouldn't turn on and that's how I figured out that the resistor was dead. Does this mean that no electrical damage could have been done since the resistor was broken? I am scared that because the resistor was damaged in the alcohol and when I put batteries in it caused it to fry the resistor and do damage to the main unit. Is that possible in this situation? I really hope not :subdued:

 

Most resistor can't be damaged by water or alcohol. It is more likely it burned out due to a short or overload somewhere.

 

Stuff like that i just put them in the dishwasher.

 

Was the battery pack working before? If so, I'd say it was still wet when you powered it on. The plastic shells of game consoles have so many nooks and crannies, they take forever to dry.

 

I don't know. As soon as I opened the package of VB stuff I decided that I was going to clean the entire thing so make it look really nice before I ever used it. That probably wasn't the best idea... The seller stated that it was is complete working condition though so I would assume that it worked before. The resistors should come in today and I will try to fix it with those. If that doesn't work then do you know what I could have broken by shorting it out?

I tested it with my OHM meter and it's definitely dead, but I can't be 100% sure how it broke. I only tried to power the VB with 6 brand new batteries, I didn't try any homemade AC plugs or anything like that. Hopefully just the resistor is dead so this will be a cheap fix

 

I replaced the resistor and the lovely booted right up! :excitement: Tested all 4 games that it came with and they all work like a charm. Screens have no issues, both speakers work, and now it looks fantastic because I cleaned it for like 5 hours....

Thanks for all who helped, I appreciate it