I have a Flash remote control, which I cannot get to turn on.
There was some internal corrosion (almost like rust), but I have scraped that off, and I have cleaned everything up with a little WD40, and have wiped that all off. The insides look scrupulously clean.
I tried putting in four new unused AA Duracell batteries yesterday, but the screen remained blank.
I bought four new Duracell batteries today and inserted them. But still absolutely no sign of it switching on.
Any ideas?
Probably would have been a lot easier if you hadn’t used WD40 Graham. That’s completely the wrong stuff for a job like this. You need to get every last trace of it off the contacts and then get all the corrosion off the contacts, scraping might work but you may need something rougher than that, like fine emery paper. The problem is that you are going to take the plating off too, but that can’t be helped.
I find that if a remote is a big old, sometimes putting the batteries in and rotating them a few times can sometimes help to establish a good contact.
Warnings not to do this, have been posted before… 
WD40 should be left in the garage… 
The wretched thing hasn’t worked for years.
I will try anything, frankly. It’s fuggling useless as it is.
Try putting three batteries in, and then snapping the last one in really fast.
Thanks, I knew of that, and tried it.
It could be stand-in for Monty Python’s parrot!
Signs of internal battery corrosion are bad news. Using WD40 won’t have helped here.
Try what others have suggested but do be careful as once corrosion hits the battery contacts they can go brittle and just break off. I have a very early Flash that is dead from just this problem.
Hi Graham
I have a 25 year old Flash and couldn’t get the thing to work when I replaced the batteries. As HH has said snapping the last battery in place can work. I didn’t know this and out of frustration put the batteries in back to front - there was a puff of smoke. I put the batteries in the right way round and the Flash worked fine.
I’m not convinced that the batteries from my local shop are ‘good’. I will buy some fresh ones later, and try again.
I usually go for Duracell Ultra. Is there another brand that I should try instead?
I like your Profile photo, RWC. Where was that photo taken? It reminds me of a Highland loch in Scotland.
Might be worth if all else fails is to watch out for a community repair cafe event.
Hi Graham, the photo is of Keldas which is a promontory overlooking the head of Ullswater. I am a keen walker and this view is used in Alfred Wainwright’s guidebook for the Eastern Fells.
Thank you, RWC - same sort of setting, just a few hundred miles out!
Haha. That’ll be it.
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