oh gosh, now I am worried about all the TFs I have in Singapore with batteries and I have no way of removing...
oh gosh, now I am worried about all the TFs I have in Singapore with batteries and I have no way of removing...
I guess the one reassuring thing is - the smaller batteries don't appear to have enough in them to do enough irreversible damage (only seems to corrode the contacts, which people are able to resurrect with some scouring or sanding), while the bigger ones do indeed leak out a lot more, the acid doesn't appear to do much initial damage to the plastic (could weaken it for the long term though) and unless the electronics are gravitationally below the batteries (or a hole or gap in the battery compartment) usually only the contacts will be damaged, which may well be resurrected as well with a bit of sanding.
See the photos in the first post - the examples I gave show that the corrosion was limited to the contacts (Supreme Cheetor, Armada Jetfire gun), and where it was a complete acid leakage, it ran down out of the battery compartment away from the actual electronics (Armada Superpants Prime).
The worrying thing though is that just about all the new moulds since 2006, have the bigger batteries now, not the small button cells... which is more prone to big leakage. Since they are (cheap) Hasbro-brand batteries, they might be worse, or maybe a type they've specifically created so that it doesn't leak. It might be too early to tell though, as it was more than 5 years before notable leaking occurred in my toys.
For my MP 01 & 04, I forcefully pulled them out.
But you need to do that with caution; the battery box itself won't be much affected. But you need to be aware of the parts around it: the chest doors, the flip boards above and under it, etc. Make sure there's nothing in the way when you pull it.
And after you've got the batteries out just forcefully push it back in. That small red cap over the rivet is actually quite tough.
The trick is to do it quick in one swift pull/push. (And it doesn't require much strength to do it really, so no need to pull it too hard. As long as the direction is vertical and straight it should be fine.)
With my MP 01, because it was my first experiment, after I've reinstalled the battery box it appeared to be a bit loose, and fell out itself. But there's no damage, and I just put it back again. I worked on my MP 04 more experienced and everything went perfectly, the same issue didn't recur.
For figures with batteries I keep that paper/plastic tab in so the electricity doesnt flow. Does that count?
My Cybertron Megatron had a teeny bit of brown on it and the screws were slightly rusted. Chucked 'em and I don't think I'll put any more in there again.
Time to retire ol' Megs.
wow didnt know that at all...lucky i found this thread...taking my MP batteries out now !!