CHECK or REMOVE your old BATTERIES

[kup]

Thanks for that Tets. I saw those two screws there, but didn't think that was the battery cover, as all other battery covers only had one screw.
Since it has the bigger batteries, I'll get to mine straight away. Like you, mine still makes the noise, but those bigger batteries leak faster than the button cells.

As for resurrecting the electronics by cleaning up the contacts - it's good to hear, but I fear I may not ever have the time to do that with all the ones that no longer work... especially if it is a gimmick that I'm not likely to ever need again.
I like showing off the gimmicks to others, but it isn't worth having batteries in them all the time to do that, because the way they have battery covers screwed down it is too time consuming to be able to just put them in when needed.
(Gen1 toys were great, with battery covers that could just unclip and easily re-attach quickly)

It's ok. As long as the corrosion is stopped, it will not progress any further so you could always feel reassured that technically the electronics aren't ruined. You can always grab one, clean up the contacts making them conductive again to revive the gimmicks.

[griffin]

I actually tried doing that with the BotCon Arcee voice-box thingy - a few years ago I took out the batteries, but it had already corroded the contacts. I scrubbed off as much of the corrosion as I could get at, but still didn't work. I wonder if an actual (chemical) metal polish might work, or would it probably be more damaging to the delicate components I wonder.

[kup]

I actually tried doing that with the BotCon Arcee voice-box thingy - a few years ago I took out the batteries, but it had already corroded the contacts. I scrubbed off as much of the corrosion as I could get at, but still didn't work. I wonder if an actual (chemical) metal polish might work, or would it probably be more damaging to the delicate components I wonder.

I am yet to find a toy with battery corrosion that is beyond fixing and I have restored several. Try again and just make sure that all contact points have clear exposed metal otherwise it could be something more affecting it.

[iceburn]

hahah time to take mine out too

[Reflector]

damn now im worried about all the MISB animated and movie figures i have with electronics. Its kind of heart breaking thinking that if i dont open and remove the batteries, the toys could be ruined in a few years

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

Thanks for that Tets. I saw those two screws there, but didn't think that was the battery cover, as all other battery covers only had one screw.
Since it has the bigger batteries, I'll get to mine straight away. Like you, mine still makes the noise, but those bigger batteries leak faster than the button cells.

No Probs. Interestingly, I bought that off ebay a couple of years ago MISB, so I would say that any that are still MISB are likely to have leaky batteries as well as the batteries I had were the factory ones too.

Definitely makes me look at MISB in a different light now.

But just out of curiosity, would it be okay to leave watch batteries inside toys or do they also leak/corrode like other batteries?

They leak as well, I nabbed all the batteries out of my Cybertron toys and put them in a margarine container. Later on, I opened said container and found some rather skanky looking watch batteries.

[5FDP]

This topic is the stuff of nightmares

It almost makes me want to open up all my MISB Transformers and remove their batteries... almost but not quite

I can't use most of the electronic gimmicks because they are MISB and if I ever went to sell them later, the buyer would be aware that there is a high probability that corrosion has occurred since the batteries haven't been removed.

[tron07]

Hate to MIB my MISB stuffs...

[heroic_decepticon]

oh gosh, now I am worried about all the TFs I have in Singapore with batteries and I have no way of removing...

[griffin]

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.