Coca Cola works really well if you don’t have citric acid on hand. I’ve cleaned car battery terminals with it a bunch of times (over decades). The only bummer is that it’s sticky, but you can drink the leftovers.
Comment on Opened an old scientific instrument to see if it works...
Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 4 weeks agoI greatly prefer citic acid. It comes in crystals so a small tub equals gallons of vinegar, it doesn’t smell bad, and you can control the strength by dissolving more crystals into water.
It’s incredibly fast compared to vinegar at cleaning battery alkaline.
nilloc@discuss.tchncs.de 4 weeks ago
MehBlah@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
To each his own. I’ve tried a few solutions. I use vinegar and apply it with some large cotton swabs. I usually wash them with the vinegar two or three times and let it sit for an hour. Then I use the baking soda dissolved into water and apply it several times. If possible to remove the contacts completely I will soak it in vinegar and then the baking soda solution. I buff the contacts if they are badly corroded. I can’t stress enough how much a little dielectric grease prevents further corrosion.
Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Yeah, I use baking soda and dielectric grease after acid too. I was only offering that citric acid is better than vinegar in every way.
clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works 4 weeks ago
Citic or citRtic?
Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Citric. Fixed!