A lot of people I'm seeing are trying to replace the leaking battery in their Amigas. And I see some suggestions fly by as to how to remove the battery can actually do more damage to your motherboard than you think. One of those examples is using a 500-600 watt iron to remove a battery! Ever thought that battery could explode under intense heat?!
Since my experience in replacing batteries in many Amigas and pinball machines, I thought I pass on some important and safe tips for everyone to use.
First of all, you will need to remove all Zorro boards, power supply/disk drive cages and the motherboard from the case. You simply cannot perform a good job without removing the motherboard from the case.
Second, grab a pair of wire-cutters and snip the legs of the battery as close the board as possible. This way you can avoid using a high-powered iron and prevent damage to the motherboard from excessive heat. Long or larger legs from components will need more heat to remove them. Instead we shorten to reduce heat stress.
Third, while wearing eye protection (such as work goggles) use a toothbrush you don't need anymore and a little glass filled with 50% Isopropyl alcohol and 50% water to clean all the affected areas where the acid leaked. Do not clean partially; clean ALL the areas where they have been leaked onto. Even suspicious neighbor components should be cleaned. Using alcohol neutralizes the acid from continuing to destroy components and the board itself. Do NOT use baking soda! Baking soda only absorbs any liquid and doesn't prevent acid from destroying additional components. In addition, you have a bigger mess to deal with.
Then, using just isopropyl alcohol solution, rinse all affected areas. Allow it to dry without any additional means.
Any additional components you see damaged with battery acid must be removed from the board. Even if they work, they can fail in the weeks ahead. Remember which component you removed so you can order and place new components on the board. If you have a digital camera, take snapshots before removing them. It benefits us techs to help you quickly identify before ordering.
When you get the new battery and components, remember to insert exactly they were set onto the board before. Snapshots of your board before you attempt to repair do help as a guide. Remove the remaining legs still on the board with a 20-30 watt soldering iron and a solder-sucking pen. I find solder suckers very useful especially when removing leads. If you wish to keep the battery away from the mother board, solder only 1 wire for each lead to the motherboard and the each polarity of the battery and store it in a sealed plastic container like a 35mm film container. PLEASE REMEMBER THE CORRECT POLARITY OR THE BATTERY WILL OR EXPLODE AND/OR DAMAGE YOUR SYSTEM!
Return the motherboard back into the case, the PSU/drives cage and Zorro cards. You should have a working clock after rebooting or power-up reset.
(correction made with cleaning; sorry for the mix-up folks.)
If you have any questions, you can PM me here or if there's sugguestions you would like to share, you can reply here as well.
:-)
DanDude
