Goddamn you had a blowout

Many times. When buying old battery-powered electronics, there's like a 50% chance that there's a leaked battery in there. Make sure to wash your hands if you touched that.

I've never seen your remote before, so no.

Old batteries get spicy.

Thats my, favorite sweet&sour candy

Battery orgasm?

That's why I put non rechargeable batteries out, before putting them away for long time without usage. This won't happen if you are constantly using the remote and batteries, and it won't happen with rechargeables. Edit: Read the replies to this comment. I was wrong.

That's how cocaine is made

Get the batteries out and wipe the electronics with a soft towel soaked with a little vinegar to neutralize the corrosion. Then a damp towel with just water to get the vinegar up. Let it fully dry before putting in new batteries. This happens to batteries that have sat unused for a long time installed. It can also happen if at the end of charge, you pull the batteries out, and put them back in to squeeze a little more use out of the batteries. Do it too many times and there is a leak risk. Cheaper batteries do it more often but the top brands will occasionally leak as well.

the fate of old batteries. if you're storing electronics for a long time, take the batteries out.

Vinegar here really does the trick in neutralizing the acid. do not skip it!

OP must be pretty young 😂, we old fucks have seen this happen 100 times

How the shit? Just use baking soda in water instead.

This won’t happen if you are constantly using the remote and batteries,

It still can. I have found that the most common cause of batteries going south like this(when being used actively) is when there is a voltage mismatch between the batteries.

Always make sure you use batteries from the same pack when you put them together in a device. That or get a voltmeter out and check to make sure their voltage is the same.

This is less of an issue when the batteries are in parallel, but almost all cases where batteries are combined in electronics, they are putting them in serial.

I believe the comment you are replying to meant to say corrosion not acid.

This is some sort of electrochemistry, more complex than just acid/base

Vinegar (Acetic Acid) does not neutralise any acids at all.

It does however, neutralise the caustic, alkaline contents of a non-rechargeable alkaline cell (potassium hydroxide).

Yes, this is definitely worse 'than average' but have seen this before.

DO NOT TOUCH WITH BARE HANDS, EXTREMELY TOXIC.

This was very common pre 2010s.

Neutralise the corrosion with a conjugate pair acids/base buffer.

Neutralise was a confusing term to pick, but they're not wrong.

I'm pretty sure its an acid/base conjugate pair buffer, but I could be wrong

Don’t lick it.

It’s sour with a mix of pain if you’re wondering, and now that you know this you do not need to lick it.

Good point. I never experienced this issue and always thought its a myth that we shouldn't combine them. So I learned something. But I don't use non-rechargeable batteries anymore anyway.

Alkaline batteries use a base, hence the name. Baking soda would work as you can neutralize a strong base with a weak one. Same with acid...

I'm just going to say alkaline batteries have a strong hydroxide so use any acid.

It definitely still can happen, especially with Duracells, even while they’re still in a sealed package in the store.

It took me decades to finally figure this out. It wasn't until I started building solar systems and batteries that I realized what was happening.

You can have the same issue with rechargeables, but they are more resilient. Running them in parallel will work fine because the batteries balance out their state of charge. When you run them in series they have no way to balance out and one is always dragging the rest down. If the difference is too much then that lowest battery heats up considerably. That cooks the electrolyte.

Interesting, even with rechargeables. Good thing since the 90s Game Boy I only use same set of rechargeable batteries from same manufacturer only, and always put them out when not in use. That's probably I never had an issue anymore. The humidity of the environment and quality control of the batteries are probably an important factor too. I can imagine this happens more often in some regions of the world than others in example.

So often that I have banned alkalines from the house, everything gets NiMH rechargeables.

Lies. It’s basically sugar

I found an old plush that had a voicebox in it... I've not touched it in 25+ years but wanted to show it to my daughter, so I pulled out the battery box, expecting the worse, and there was no corrosion at all. I pulled out the generic brand batteries and put in new batteries and it started speaking.

I was amazed.

How does vinegar compare to a can of CRC?

I still see it all the time with Kirkland batteries. I mostly use rechargeables but when I use those I frequently find them leaking after not that long.

I'm only 21 lol

This was so incredibly common before rechargeable batteries. Alkaline batteries may have had the best life but the worst death.

Do not leave batteries inside things your not gonna be using for a long time. And if you don't want this to happen buy NiMH batteries

Oh you sweet summer child

Orgery.

(Not to be confused with batgasm, that's when Bruce beasts up ppl from different socioeconomic background than his.)

I prob have batteries doing that exact thing that are older than op (tho this can happen in a few years easily, especially if in a circuit).

3 or 4 times at least

No, thankfully, I'm not a battery. But I've seen it plenty.

Define experience

Several times in my own electronics and many times in secondhand items. The potassium hydroxide electrolyte never quite evaporates and seeps under the crevices, requiring a full disassembly to prevent further corrosion.

Worst offenders are the pesky little alkaline button cells. Every alkaline cell inevitably evolves hydrogen gas as the electrochemical reaction proceeds and in those tiny canisters, the gas very quickly has nowhere to go but out along with the cell's guts. The secret is to get the silver oxide versions, same voltage, a bit pricier, but far less leakage.

I guess the silver lining to the declining popularity of AA and AAA powered devices is that I can finally afford to use only Ni-MH or primary lithium cells in all of my devices. Those chemistries are mostly immune to leaking.

I lost my favorite mouse this way :(

Make sure to take ya batteries out if you're putting electronics in long storage!

If you had any batteries leak like this in Anything battery powered you own.

Pretty common if you leave them in devices without using them for some time.

This is the way. Sometime I even file down the spring/contacts with a nail file to expose fresh metal rather than corrosion. Just a few light scratches helps greatly.

Doesn't smell as good but tastes a bit better.

Happened in my Wii remotes all the time when I was kid, only ever lost one to battery corrosion though, and that was about a decade later

few times, but it luckily never broke the devices it happened it

This happens when alkaline batteried are completely empty.