Solataire with stuck battery

I'm new on this forum. I have a Maglite Solataire with a stuck corroded battery. I've checked around and finally found this forum, hoping maybe somebody can help. I did see posts where people had problems getting the tail cap off. I used a vise with smooth jaws and a socket that fit the tailcap with enough resistance to loosen it. Took the lense cap off and removed the incandesent bulb. Tried soaking the barrel and tail cap in a baking soda solution for a day, but that did not help. Checked some posts on removing corroded battery but found that it would help if I could remove the bulb holder/switch assembly and get some force on the battery with a dowel or something. Nothing else came up in my forum search. Went to Maglite and found a Pdf on the switch replacement but it involves buying a special tool. Does anybody have an alternate method to get this switch assembly out of the barrel?

Thanks
Dave in VA.

Welcome to the forum. There are folks on here thousands of times smarter than me so I'm sure some one will be a long. If it were me I'd just get a new one.

Remove the bulb and gently tease plastic ring (that with 2 holes) with needle or other sharp tool. It's just press fit. Now you will see another plastic part with metal contacts. Find some kind of rod that's the same diameter as plastic part, but thin enough not to destroy aluminum collar. Use hammer and rod to bang out content of barrel. Good luck.

maybe screw an eye into the battery and yank it out. Make a mess, though...

If you're not emotionally attached to it, keep in mind that your time is worth money, and replacement lights are about $5.

I would drill out the battery...slowly.

What ^ said + penetrating oil. I've read about drilling them out too.

It's my understanding that baking soda and water may help if the battery was a standard zinc carbon battery, but if it was an alkaline battery, then a mild acid like vinegar may help.

Way too much time and effort for a $5, 13 lumen light; once you've perused this forum a while, you won't be interested in owning a Solitaire anymore anyway. Browse around the site for AAA lights, see what you've been missing..

i did one a while back for a neighbor who has a special personalised one.
i screwed a drywall screw into the center of the battery and pulled it out.then used a rifle cleaning brush to finish the cleanup.
even if this is a common and disposable light consider it practice for saving one that matters.and if you insist on using alkaleaks you WILL be finding this again.

StarHalo said:

Way too much time and effort for a $5, 13 lumen light; once you've perused this forum a while, you won't be interested in owning a Solitaire anymore anyway. Browse around the site for AAA lights, see what you've been missing..

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Get a Fenix E01 and some Eneloops or Energizer Ultimate Lithiums and never look back.

if you remember which battery you had in it, you could contact the battery company for their help. i just got my shipping label and form to return my light and stuck batteries for their lookover/fix or check. they said about 4 weeks. good thing i might have another light or two to use till then.

LightWalker said:

Get a Fenix E01 and some Eneloops or Energizer Ultimate Lithiums and never look back.

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Sage advice about the E01. Folks on this forum have differing opinions about just about every flashlight, but the E01 is one of those lights where everyone seems to find something they like about it: output, run time, practically indestructible. The tint is not the best, but some sandpaper/steel wool fixes most of that.

Whatever you do decide to do, never, ever use alkaline batteries again. The same exact issue, with your same exact light is what drove me here about 5 years ago... so welcome aboard!

I used a SOS pad on my E01 and it now has a nice floody white beam.

Get a new solitaire LED. They're like, $15-20 or so and look almost exactly like the old solitaire.

I had a AA maglite I cleaned out a long time ago, so I can't remember for certain, but I believe I just used vinegar and soaked it for a few hours. However, this was after I removed all parts and tried hammering out the batteries. After the soak, the batteries actually budged when I hammered them, so I kept at it and eventually teh cells popped out and I was able to scrape off the rest of the battery gunk. The battery had eaten through the anodize on the inside of the tube, but if you use batteries that have labels on them, should still be fine.

When this happened to my 2AA Maglite powered by Duracells I emailed Duracell and they asked for a telephone number. They rang me back and as I was able to provide information like expiry date (I still had the rest of a multipack) they credited my bank account with an agreed sum enough to replace the Maglite.
That's what I call customer service and standing by your product.
I still use Duracell occasionally but the Duracell Procell's as they are a lot cheaper.