Corrosion on cart contacts / increasing conductivity

[vxbinaca]

I know you're supposed to use Ammonia to clean them but I bought two SNES games off eBay, and Mario Kart was so corroded it's not even funny. If I had my camera I'd take pics.

It's not major it doesn't appear to have eaten through the contacts completely but it's spotted and effects the game heavily. Some graphics aren't showing up and it makes the cart unplayable.

Ok so, eraser to clean this? And if that doesn't work am I re-laying traces or can a very lite application of solder to the contacts on there now do the job if it's not reading the game data right?

I mean I suppose it's no loss as eventually I want to get the PowerPak and it'll run DSP-1 games like MK but I'd like to kind of fix the cart I have.



I guess I can take solace that Yoshi's Island works like a champ. Thank rock with proper care Carts can last a long time. I fear the day my Dreamcast games start to rot.

[Ziggy]

If it has heavy corrosion on the pins, it isn't advisable to be playing it on your console. You might end up damaging the pins on the console.

I'm afraid an eraser wont do the trick, you'll need something to scrape the corrosion off. The only time I had to do this was with a cart I didn't particular care about, and that coupled with being lazy, I used a flat head screw driver to scrape the pins (cleaning them afterward). I'm sure there's a much better way to clean corroded pins, but I'll leave that to some one else (I'm looking at you Hobie).

You'll most definitely have to open the cart up to be able to clean the corrosion easier. You can't do much when it's in the plastic, it's impossible to reach anything in there. I don't know about laying knew pads down, but I wouldn't put solder on the pins for two reasons. One, they're corroded so it's not like the solder will make good contact with them anyway. If the console's pins aren't making good contact, do you think solder will? And two, putting solder on the pins will mess with the thickness of the cart. It will end up ruining the console's pins.

But wait a second, AMMONIA to clean the carts with!? That doesn't sound too good. I'm not a chemist or anything, but ammonia seems way too harsh to be using on carts. Not to mention, I believe it leaves a pretty heavy residue. You want to be using isopropyl rubbing alcohol, the higher the percentage the better. Rubbing alcohol evaporates very quickly, and more importantly, doesn't leave a residue.

edit: And on second thought... Wouldn't ammonia corrode the contacts even further? If I were you, any cart that was cleaned with ammonia I would throroughly clean again with rubbing alcohol. Give the pins a good scrubbing too.

[emwearz]

Use thin grain sand paper, give em a good clean.

[Ziggy]

Ah yes, sandpaper. That would work (unlike my brain right now). I was gonna say steel wool, too. Just whatever you do, if you got the cart open, be careful when you're cleaning the pins. What I mean is, be careful not to damage anything on the cart. The PCB surface is pretty fragile. One slip could easily create a new problem.

[vxbinaca]

Thanks, Zig. You're right on second thought about ammonia.

I've been using contact cleaner I got from Radio Shack (it's just cheaper to get it locally), and Iso-90 I got from the drug store. I do this with a Q-Tip but it's not getting all of it.

I think I might have to sand these.

Any recommendations on sealing/protecting them after I sand? Aside from picking up cartridge caps on eBay? Like a non-conductive lube maybe?

Edit:

If this game was just a mask rom and sram, I would sacrifice like, Primal Rage or some other game I don't care about.

Edit 2:

Yes I've opened the cart with a gamebit, not pliers like lazy little kids do . I want to take care of my games.

[Ziggy]

I wouldn't use Q-Tips, they always seem to leave a bunch of fibers behind. That, and I don't feel like you can scrub too good with them. If I didn't have these neat little pads that came with a cart cleaning kit I bought years ago, I would probably use a cotton rag of some sort.

Again, if you're gonna sand the pins, make sure to stay on the pins. You could easily eff up the PCB with sandpaper.

[Hobie-wan]

(I'm looking at you Hobie).

Yeah, carefully have at the corrosion with the sandpaper. Rub just a little bit at a time and keep checking so you don't sand something completely off. Once you've got it mostly gone, you might switch to a small flat head screwdriver or something that's not too pointy and you'll have a little more control over and can see to just hit the bad spots. To finish off, you've already got contact cleaner, so just use that instead of the alcohol. If you have a white plastic eraser, splash a little contact cleaner on the pins and go at it with the eraser. Keep scrubbing until the CC evaporates and you get the little rolled eraser bits and repeat as necessary. Good luck.

[fvgazi]

I've always used a very fine grit sandpaper. Make sure not to press down hard. You basically want to lightly pass it over and be able to feel it just scraping the contacts. I then used rubbing alcohol and q-tips to clean up the leftover. (you need to get the shavings off) You just need to make sure you do both sides and that the cart is dry before inserting it. It will leave noticable scratch marks on the contacts, but your game will work as long as you regularly maintain it.

I agree with ziggy that you probably shouldn't use cue tips, but in a pinch they are good. Especially if this isn't a rare/valuable game.

I had an unplayable super mario rpg that I did this to and it worked seamlessly as soon as I cleaned it up. I've also used it on at least 15 or 20 other carts for various systems and I've had absolutely no problems.


You'll know you did a good job when the q-tip or rag is turning black / green.

[vxbinaca]

Yup, worked flawlessly so far. Had to wait a while to test the cart but I revived it. The contacts still look like shit but it plays great so far.

I really need to hit this thing again with sand paper and then seal the contacts.


Thank guys!

Edit:

I use 600 grit wetsand stuff as thats the finest they had.

[Hobie-wan]

I use 600 grit wetsand stuff as thats the finest they had.

Heh, I use some 150 I've got lying around for dire cases. Just meant to make sure you weren't going to use something with grains the size of table salt. Glad it's working.