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How to clean contacts damaged by ocean salt water

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c627627

c(n*199780) Senior Member
Joined
Feb 18, 2002
I believe this underwater camera's contacts were damaged by ocean salt water. Up & Down buttons work but Left & Right do not. Is there any way to clean/repair them?



 

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First thing I would do is attack it with an eraser and clean up the corrosion, once it's clean you can see how much, if any, metal is actually left.
If there is some left the button may work at that point, if there isn't then things just got somewhat more difficult.
 
This is why top/bottom works but not left/right. The item is Kodak PlaySport Zx3 Video Camera,
http://store.kodak.com/store/ekconsus/en_US/pd/PLAYSPORT_Video_Camera__Zx3/productID.169976100


I've gotten advice to try to find Replacement button assembly, but have no clue where to get it, any ideas?

I've also gotten advice that since salt removes metal, the fix may be in trying to use a silver rich paint used to repair rear window defrost tracks to fix the non-working button contact. This I will also have to purchase so what's the cheapest item which has "silver rich paint" in it for me to try this if the assembly is too expensive, and where can I order it from?



 

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Apparently I need a Microtip Conductive Pen. They cost over $20.
 
Are they less than $20? Maybe that would be the way to go....
 
That's what I was going to suggest, I've used that stuff to padmod 775 CPUs. It's a pain to work with, but functions quite well.
 
Yeah, I've used it to repair broken/ripped off traces on PCB's and gap the AMD CPU Bridges back in the day hahahahaha.
 
I got the following advice elsewhere, fyi:

"Microtip pens are for restoring a straight line circuit trace. What you have with the button contacts is an interlocking finger design that is bridged by the push button to complete the circuit. It would be extremely difficult to redraw the button circuit on the board without permanently shorting the contacts. I would be looking for a replacement circuit board."
Br1078lum
 
Definitely difficult. Not impossible though!
Might be easier to lay down a blob and carve the fingers out with an exacto knife or something.
 
Just use scotch tape make a line with two pieces side by side, dab, pull tape off, let dry, do it again for every line. It's not that hard, just tedious. :D
 
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