Circuit Board Corrosion Repair

How I repaired the corrosion on a circuit board.

[Roger-iliw]

Thanks for this. In aggressive cases I’ve used maf sensor cleaner and battery terminal cleaner. I make sure to remove the terminal cleaner quickly so it doesn’t damage

[theodorekorehonen]

My method of doing this is to use the vinegar first. It reacts with blue/green alkaline exudate from the batteries and dissolves a fair bit of it which leaves left manual removal with various picks. I don't bother with baking soda after because I I then clean the vinegar with IPA. either baking soda or vinegar gets cleaned off by dilution so I feel the addition baking soda step isn't at all necessary. The bonus of the IPA though is that it is able to pull residual water from the vinegar with it when it evaporates.

The fingernail polish thing is a great idea though! Hadn't ever thought of that

[goodun]

So, your repair works for the time being, BUT: the problem I see here is that the rivet-like plated holes (known as "vias") that pass voltage or signal through the board from one side to the other are visibly corroded, especially down inside where you cant see it, and eventually they will fail. Sometimes you can clean the face of the via on either side of the board and pass a very thin jumper wire down through the hole and solder it on both sides, but it's tricky, and sometimes the hole is too small or full of corrosion, or a varnish-like conformal coating from initial manufacture, to allow a wire to pass through the hole. I repaired a Bose radio once that had some kitchen spillage in it; the cortosion was confined to about a 1 square inch area on the double-sided board, and yet it turned out to be much more work to fix it than I had expected. PS, Don't use an exacto knife for scraping the corrosion off of the board, use a fiberglass-bristle "scratch brush"; you can see them in a video on my channel. An ink eraser is also helpful if it has pumice or silica or other fine grit embedded in the rubber.

[nmartin]

Sweet video! Appreciate the demo and explanation! Im hoping to revive an electric chest freezer that suffered exposure to rain water. Bad combo for the electronic board.

[PartScavenger]

Ah I didn't know I was giving spoilers in the last video. I didn't know about the nail polish trick! That's a great idea!

[edureta]

I do have a circuit board that was torn and I am not that expert with fixing circuit board is there a way to fix it? Thank you!

[bobweiram]

You can get solder mask for not much more than nail polish. You can also instantly cure solder mask and nail polish with U light.

[sonicheroesenthusiast]

how should I clean corrosion from bleach?

[chrisk]

I’ll have to remember that fingernail polish trick.