How To Clean Battery Corrosion from Trail Camera - by Linet Navarro

Last year I had pulled my trail cam and didn’t do what I was supposed to do by pulling the batteries out before letting it sit. So, when I went to get my trail cam ready and put new batteries in to set it out in the woods, the batteries had leaked and corroded all over the inside of the battery tray.

While annoying, it’s actually not a hard thing to restore. I thought I would share with you my blunder in case this has ever happened to you.

You will need:

• White Vinegar
• Toothbrush
• Cotton Swab
• Very small flat head screwdriver or metal nail file
• Heavy duty paper towel

Take out the batteries and dispose of them (if the battery is a rechargeable one, they have to be disposed of in a different manner than alkaline batteries that can be tossed in the trash).

Take your old toothbrush and scrub the heavier corrosion off of the inside of the tray, the connections, and the springs. Once you get as much of that off as you can then dip a cotton swab in white vinegar and clean all the connectors until it shines them back up. Make sure you get deep inside the springs and every crevice. This is where the tiny screwdriver and paper towel come in to play. I used a nail file and a paper towel soaked in white vinegar to finish off getting into every little notch until it was completely cleaned off.

On mine I had to take the toothbrush and run it into the actual camera because the corrosion had run over into the camera itself. If you are using vinegar on the camera and not the tray, use it lightly but make sure you get it all.

Let it all dry COMPLETELY before putting new batteries back in.