Broken Arc AAA

Hey guys,
My mother's Arc AAA broke down recently because of a Duracell battery leakage. Should i send it into Arc for repairs or call up Duracell for replacement? I do not have the battery that caused the damage, and this Arc AAA is from the old Arc company that went down.

Contact Duracell, if you're in the US here is their customer service number: 1-800-796-4565

Tell them what happened and they should issue you a check.

cool thanks!

Duracell is not likely to do anything without the bad cell that caused the damage, nor should they be expected to. If you had the cell, there would be no problem getting them to replace it.

The current ARC company still stands behind their products, even from the previous company, but a leaking cell isn't their responsibility.

I'd still contact their customer service. Perhaps they've devised some tool to clean the battery tube. Worst case you can purchase a new battery tube.

Clean the contacts, threads and inside of the tube and you'll be ready to go.

What should i clean it with though? I tried using some warm water and swabs. Only got a very minimal amount off.

Several ways. Mildest is a solution (a thin paste) of water and baking soda. Remove as much of the gunk as possible with toothpick, etc then apply the paste and let soak.

What I would use would be an auto battery terminal cleaner from auto parts store. I prefer CRC but anything like that should work.

I think it's common thought that the energizer lithium batts are least likely to leak.

Then rinse and dry.

OK, that's the first step.
If you have a soft metal brush you can scrape off some of the residue with that.

I don't have metal brushes, so what I do is wrap a pencil with some metal sandpaper (#600 or finer) and scrub the battery tube with that. A piece of 3M scouring pad (cleaning aisle at the grocery store) works too.

Depending on how bad the spill was, you'll need to clean the inside of the battery tube, the bottom of it (neg. contact), the threads (both head and batt tube), and the positive contact on the head.

After you're done scrubbing, use some alcohol or dish soap to clean off the gunk. Let dry and you're ready to go.

(I just had to do this with my son's ArcAAA - it was a mess, but I got it to work again after a thorough cleaning.)

Don't get that crap in your eyes! I believe it is potassium hydroxide based and it is very caustic to eye tissue.

If you can't clean the stuff off, send it over, I have and assortment of Dremel attachments for the job... NO charge. :thumbsup:

Vinegar has worked well for me in the past with a smallish leak. Don't know the chemistry involved though so handle with care.