Questions tagged [cleaning]
The cleaning tag has no usage guidance.
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Washing potentiometers with de-ionized water, or with distilled water?
I am aware water conducts electricity because of its impurities.
However I am not sure if distilled water is pure enough to be safe to use to wash the potentiometers(and electronic boards in general), ...
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Removal of No-Clean Flux After Reflow
I'm looking for suggestions for fully removing no-clean, non-water soluble, liquid flux after reflow. Isopropanol alone is not doing the trick.
What I've found from my research:
Aggressive Flux ...
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Can NiCad battery leaks destroy an EEG circuit?
I need to get an old HC11 based EEG circuit at Ebay because I need to copy the firmware for my corrupted unit. It has had old NiCad batteries in it since 1999.
I just want to know if NiCad fluid leaks ...
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Drying populated PCB with compressed air
We clean populated PCB with alcohol and dry with an air compressor. What is the proper distance and psi to consider when doing this? If we check data sheets for information will this give us an idea.?...
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Could isopropyl damage a PCB?
I cleaned a PCB with isopropyl alcohol, 75%. When I turned it on, something strange happened. The microcontroller GPIOs that drive the LEDs started to behave like they have relatively low resistance, ...
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How to solder through-hole components like potentiometers and switches on PCBs quickly and without having to clean flux as a small company?
How to solder through-hole components like potentiometers and switches, 1/4 sockets on PCBs, quickly and without having to clean flux near the joints and little splashes around the PCB as a small ...
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How to safely clean electrical equipment
I’ve got some MCCB circuit breakers similar to the one in the photo attached which could do with a good clean.
What’s the safest way to clean something like this ? I was thinking isopropyl, but not ...
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How to clean oxidized IC Vcc pin?
After probing around to find out why there is no voltage, I noticed that the Vcc pin in the power management IC doesn't have the 12 volts I need. Here is a picture of the IC:
The second pin from ...
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Old computer socket disconnection, cleaning, and repair [closed]
I have very old computers; from time to time the RAM disconnects. I remove the DIMMs, clean the sockets using Isopropyl alcohol many times until it works again.
It will be fine for few weeks, but I ...
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Recovering from failure to clean off solder flux
I'm currently building a prototype device at work, that involves a QFN-64 0.5mm pitch IC (a PIC microcontroller) soldered onto a SchmartBoard|ez prototyping board. The SchmartBoard instructions call ...
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Can green goo discharged from cables through PVC and copper reaction be cleaned by electrical contact cleaner?
I have an old power supply but the wires have a green slime (goo) discharge running through it and in the pins as well, I want to clean it so it can have good conductivity, however, after researching, ...
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oscillators tolerance to ultrasonic cleaning
I use clock oscillators like ACHL-10.000MHZ in pretty much any board that contains a micro-controller. Recently, I've started using MEMS clock oscillators like AMPMAFB-33.0000T for their claimed ...
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Where or when is it unsafe to clean using compressed air? [duplicate]
There's this lesson on ICT for us in cleaning computers and their equipment. One of the components that can be used for cleaning is something called compressed air.
Just to make sure, which computer ...
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Can I clean/Salvage this board?
wondering if anyone could help me out here. I don't work with PCBs, but troubleshooting a salt chlorine generator for my pool and believe the board in the pics below is the cause. My question is, does ...
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Cleaning a PCB w/ w/ Isopropyl Alcohol - What Type of Deionized Water Should I Use?
I read a post on this sub-stack from seven years ago, which detailed exactly what I need to do. I will be soldering some components on a laptop PCB, and I'll be using rosin flux. Therefore, I'll be ...
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Which alcohol is bad to use when cleaning computers?
I heard there are some alcohols that are prohibited to be used when cleaning a computer or an electric device.
Apart from beverages, which ones are these?
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What are the advantages and advantages of ceramic and Langevin transducers for ultrasonic cleaners?
I have an old large ultrasonic cleaner with 5 ceramic piezo electric transducers (pictured below) epoxied to its tank's underside. They use around 40W of power each.
Newer ultrasonic cleaners, ...
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using citric acid alcohol solution to clean rusted terminals
I used to clean old computer sockets and terminals with citric acid solution in alcohol. It worked fine for long time, but for the tiny connectors of DIMM Ram sockets it works for a very short time ...
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How to fix a RJ45 connector patina without poison or with common tool?
The RJ45 connector from the wall of my house is rusted. The copper pins are covered by thick patina. The patina is so thick that it looks black. It definitely reduces communication quality so I would ...
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What can I submerge my keyboard circuit board in that would remove the corrosion from it?
The contacts are between two thin plastic(?). In order to expose the print, I'd have to peel them apart. That's a lot of work since I'd have to perfectly align them to put them back together.
What can ...
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Malodorous transformer and the cleaning thereof
I’ve bought a lab power supply of the variable transformer type, that unfortunately smells of cigarette smoke. I’ve tried airing it.
I need a gentle method for cleaning the outer windings that won’t ...
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No alternatives to isopropyl alcohol to clean TFT displays?
I'm using pure (99,99%) IPA to clean the surface of small TFT displays (less than 2 inch) to eliminate any trace of dust and (accidental) silicone before mounting them in a sealed slot beneath a small ...
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How bad are dusters on PCBs?
There are 3 types of dusters that I know of:
Microfibre
Electrostatic
Vehicular
AFAIK, the microfibre variant relies more on contact with dust than on electrostatic attraction, unlike the ...
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What causes a potentiometer to get "jittery" after cleaning?
I recently cleaned a potentiometer's resistive element by using general purpose contact cleaner (CRC). I now find that there is "jitter" or non-linear increase in the resistance as I rotate ...
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Sanitizing of electronic items during COVID [closed]
I am considering to purchase a new desktop PC ( components, will assemble myself ). I am worried about the inability to use everyday sanitizers to clean, for example, a motherboard.
Is there any ...
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IPA becoming unobtainium, can I use denatured alcohol to clean vintage computers?
Due to COVID-19 and peoples' practice of hoarding, IPA is becoming incredibly difficult to find where I live (and online). Since we are all home so much these days, I like spending some of that time ...
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How to clean solder flux paste
I gave a motherboard circuit board to local a repairing professional. He traced and soldered some chips but it is not still working and advised to show motherboard to manufacturer service center.
But ...
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How to clean DUST stucked due to moisture on pins of chips ICs of motherboard circuits
Which chemical can I clean my old motherboard with, whose electronics components chips pins like ICs capacitor transistors diodes have dust stocked their color has been changed to black yellowish ...
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Cleaning with less than pure IPA (isopropyl alcohol)
I want to clean a SO-DIMM memory that was contaminated with bottled drinking water. This was not "mineral water" intended for drinking. It was the high volume bottled drinking water from one of the ...
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How to best clean this sealed mechanical rotary encoder / volume knob?
How can I best clean, replace or lubricate this fairly well sealed digital rotary mechanical encoder?
The equipment operates, but the encoder is super finicky, often encoding in the wrong direction ...
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Clean vs no-clean for high voltage circuit
I have a board that has fairly high working voltages up to 100V with small clearances down to 12 mil between the high voltage and ground or low voltage nets. This is unavoidable because the whole ...
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How to clean circuit damaged by bleach?
I was trying to remove stains on a fiber optic party tie using bleach, however it seems a small quantity has leaked inside the controller overnight, causing some corrosion and preventing it from ...
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Does alcohol set off liquid contact indicators?
I have a MacBook Pro PCB that has lots of yucky, gooey and sticky grime from a spill that thankfully didn't damage the board. I would like to clean the PCB thoroughly, but I fear turning the liquid ...
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solder wire makes solid & glassy residue
I know using flux makes some residue which makes unwanted contacts between components pins. I dont have any washing liquid or spray to remove it so i simply decided to not use them.
But my solder ...
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Can you tell me more about "re-enterable" potting compound?
I heard the term "re-enterable potting compound", which is a gel-like (possibly hard?) material that can be used to fill electronics enclosures for water intrusion protection and other things.
What ...
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Ultrasonic cleaner control with Arduino
I'm trying to build a small sized ultrasonic cleaner. I bought a couple ultrasonic transducers (ranging between 40kHz - 102kHZ and 15 - 35 watt) which I want to play around with.
There are already ...
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Can I clean PCB using petrol?
I was advised to clean PCBs using petrol if alcohol is not available.
I have tested doing it. Petrol and isopropyl alcohol both work good on PCBs.
I have also tried with acetone but it makes white ...
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Can acetone be used on electronics? [duplicate]
So my local dollar store doesn't sell rubbing alcohol, but does sell acetone.
Can I use acetone instead of rubbing alcohol on electronics?
I know acetone does attack some plastics but rubbing ...
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Solution for refurbishing sealed switches
I don't know if this is the right stack to ask this in, but I could not find a match, but I feel this question may have enough common interest to find a solution anyway.
I am attempting to refurbish ...
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How to clean solder paste needles?
I am looking for a good method to clean used solder paste needles immediately after usage. I know they are for one time use, but at this moment I have to clean the needles.
Currently, I clean them in ...
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Using “Video 90” spray to clean up a cell phone motherboard
Can I use Video 90 Spray with electronic motherboards, like smartphones?
My cell phone was dropped in water while the battery was out, now I have dried it out using rice and instant oat!
Before, ...
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How to clean this volume control? Which deoxit cleaner should i use?
Of all the contact cleaners deoxit offers, i'm not sure if i should use D series or faderlube. (Note: This is NOT a volume control of the newer ones that just sends a signal to the software, this one ...
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Cleaning a computer CPU - Do gauze pads with polyester in them cause ESD?
Do gauze pads, the type used for scrapes or burns, cause ESD if they have a mix of polyester in them?
What if the polyester mix gauze pads have rubbing alcohol on them too?
They don't have any lint ...
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How to clean dirty test pins in bulk?
Is it possible to clean lots of dirty test pins reliably? We have about 6000 of these test pins and most of them are very dirty. If I cleaned them, what kind of lubricant should I use to relube them? ...
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What metal is recommended for soldering iron tip wire mesh cleaner - brass, copper or steel?
There are many low-cost options out there for metal wire mesh tip cleaners. Three types of wire metal are dominant - steel, brass and copper.
I was wondering if there is a metal that is superior to ...
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Vacuum-drying of cleaned PCBs?
De-ionized water is generally regarded as an effective cleaning agent for PCBs, as shown here and here. However, removing that water means compressed air, oven, and/or lengthy drying-time. Even if all ...
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Why is distilled water used for cleaning circuit boards
I've been reading up on distilled and deionized water and I've come across conflicting information.
If compared to regular tap water there are little to no minerals, is this the reason they're used ...
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How to clean solder stencils?
I have had great success in the past using the reflow soldering method, using a syringe and needle to apply the paste to the board. Since I found myself repeatedly making the same boards, I decided ...
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How to clean resistors [duplicate]
So I accidentally spilled milk on my resistor and I have no idea how to clean it. I wrapped the resistors with a towel but they still smell really bad :/.
Is it okay to put them in water and dry them ...
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Can I wash my PCBs denatured alcohol
I have denatured alcohol which, according to wikipedia, is composed of roughly:
85% ethanol
10% water
3% methanol
1% aceton
1% pyridine
My solution has a blue color.
Can I use this as a replacement ...
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