Minor Battery Leakage In TMCC Handheld

Here's one way to do it....

Keep in mind that the plain jane non-rechargeable AA batteries are alkaline, and that video title has "acid" in it.

Automotive batteries are typically lead-acid, the acid being sulphuric acid.

And some day in the future this info will be totally useless. Much research is being done on batteries, it is only a matter of time before some better technology will come out.

Thanks.  Very helpful. My mother could work wonders with just baking soda, roman cleanser, and lemon juice for many household cleaning tasks.

Penn-Pacific,

While waiting form my lunch today, our local Wendy's server said: "No problem!" when I asked if I could have 3-4 of the plastic Ketchup cups to take home.   These should work perfectly for mixing the baking soda and trying that cleaning method for the contacts.

I used the baking soda, and it appeared to do a very nice job of cleaning the contacts on the TMCC remote. After drying out the remote as suggested, I put fresh batteries in, but am yet unable to confirm that the remote is working.  So far, I'm not sure if I have properly set up my new ZW-L for command operation, although I believe that I followed the steps in the ZW-L manual properly.  Conventional operation worked immediately after wiring the ZW-L, so I suspect that the TMCC remote no longer works.  I'll know better tomorrow after an operating session when one of my friends brings his  own TMCC remote over.  If his remote doesn't work either then I'll have to try something else.

You can tell if the batteries are making a connection, you should get the keyboard BEEP for most keys.  Also, the base LED should blink when you press keys.

Thanks!  Good suggestions.  The Lionel "Pipe" LED's are not blinking. Do you think I should try the special purpose contact cleaner?  I'm not sure if that would be harmful to the electronics, assuming it is repairable.

A cleaner shouldn't hurt it if you don't get it anywhere.  After cleaning most of the visible corrosion off, you should get contact by spinning the batteries in the holder.

We tried my friends TMCC handheld, and could still not get the command system working with the new ZW-L.  The base was responding to his handheld based on the lights, so, when I have more time, I'll have to figure out the problem.  Thanks for the help.

As a quick test, does the TMCC base (and then an engine) respond to your Cab-1 commands?

quote:

Also, have any of you tried a battery contact cleaner and preserver such as that manufactured by Peca Products?

I use products by Caig Labs. They made a contact cleaner that is recommended for batteries/barry contacts.  I think DeoxIT is the specific product. I use several different Caig products. While you can buy it directly from Caig, it is generally less expensive elsewhere. I think the last Caig product I purchased came from EBay, listed by an electronics supply house.

One more thought. Can the metal contacts be removed from the TMCC remote?

I recently had a household device suffer from battery leakage. Some of the contacts were coated with a heavy white deposit from the leak. I popped the worse one free, and was going to use a wire brush to clean off the deposits. It wasn't going well so I decided to try soaking it in household vinegar. Dropped it into a small container with vinegar, and the part started bubbling. In a few minutes the bubbling stopped. After carefully rinsing the part it appeared to be very clean. A little metal protectant, and it was ready to be reinstalled.

I see that Penn-Pacific linked a video that recommended using baking soda. I guess I'd use that for old fashioned zinc-carbon battery leakage.
Alkaline batteries are not acidic.  Hence the vinegar.

Thanks for the assistance.  Yes, the base does respond.  The engines don't, however.

Thanks CW.  I'll give vinegar a try.  

So now it is either a base failure or the wire has come loose?

Thanks again for all of the help.  I'm pleased to report that I was able to get both the TMCC Remote and the command features of the ZW-L working.  As with many electronic gremlins' it's not always simple to figure out what ultimately worked.  I didn't get to the stage where I had to try the vinegar, but would have.  Taking the batteries in and out of the remote, and rolling them in the battery compartment seemed to help.  Identifying the signals on the base from the remote and the sounds of the keypad were also helpful.  Simply stated, I followed virtually all of the above suggestions.

Since car batteries are lead/acid based, and the batteries in question are alkaline based, that would be a no.

quote:

    I know on cars, you can pour coke on batteries to clean the acid off, may or maynot be a good choice here?

Why would you want to use Coke, with all the sugars and other stuff it has in it? I think vinegar is cheaper anyway.

If the damage is not significant and just the white cake looking corrosion I have had this same issue with other remotes (I don't keep batteries in the Train remotes as they may sit for awhile unused).  I clean it off with an old tooth brush,  small straight screwdriver if the cake is stubborn,  wipe and blow it out with air until cleared.

If it is so bad it has progressed to the green color and will not come off easily,  more creative liquid cleaners such as the video may be required in my experience.

Mark