AA batteries leakage and the threaded lid won't open

My family uses at least a one to two hundred AA and AAA batteries a year all. I am also a flashlight nut. Never seen the likes of what happened to my eighty year old parents wireless keyboard (know why they started to use older keyboard of Apple USB variety. Battery cover not removable (must have been screwed on too tight by eighty-six year old). After months of soaking etc. going back to it now and then tried impact tool with a fashioned bit and eventually finally opened with cutting tool mid battery? Duracell batteries inside dated 2019 swollen and corroded. Why? Inside room temperature in just a few months? Ever seen this many people have same problem on same item requiring batteries? Apple's lack of responsibility is shameful. Owned and recommended Apple for twenty years. Years back when Apple realized a problem they fixed it or replaced it. They took responsibility. In hindsight wish had tried removing mid-section plastic. It too has corrosion leaking. Think I should take in to busy Apple store along with someones MacBook Pro battery that bulged so bad was warping bottom cover. (They never used any charger but Apple that came with it since all they owned.

Hi All... I have the same problem with this ingenious bit of design too... I'd be most grateful if finddarkpoet or anyone else could let me know how they got on. As for removing the electronics, I'm having a lot of trouble loosening the tiny screw on the bluetooth module as it's really tight, and I'm in danger of burring the thread. I'm going to take the kb to a jeweller's and ask them to release it.

Also, how is the membrane on the module safely released? There is a plastic grip that holds it on to the circuit board, and I don't want to brutalise it unless I know there's a tricky technique for removing and re-fitting it first!

Finally, I'm hoping that once this is out that vinegar or some other solvent will loosen the battery and thread. If anyone's had success with this , please do tell!

Many thanks,

Barry
<Email Edited by Host>

This is the BEST suggestion! Should have thought of this myself. Got the keyboard compartment unscrewed in 10 seconds when I was trying to hulk it for 30 min hahah.

Today's lesson.... TORQUE

THANK YOU!!

I have this same issue and plan to try an old metal-working trick. A drop or two of turpentine works like magic on stuck aluminum slugs in a punch press die. I will let you know if this works the same magic on the stuck battery door for the Magic Trackpad.

Even if you were able to get the cover open, you've likely got damage to the electrical contacts, so you likely will still have to get a new keyboard anyway.

Having gone through many Maglites with leaking batteries, I can tell you that battery acid on aluminum is not just a pain in the tuckus, the odds are that they pieces are effectively "welded" together. Thus is does not surpise me that you can't open the cover. (Well, there are ways you can open it, but not without damaging the unit. 😟 )

There are chemicals that can "remove" the corrosion, but they will do more damage to the keyboard. You'd still need to get to the corroded areas first anyway. (IOW, you still need to open the cover first.) Otherwise, if you apply the chemical to the outside, the chemical will effectively eat away the "good" aluminum to get at the corrosion, which is definitely not what you want.

So bottom line is you need a new keyboard.

I have the exact sam problem... I have not taken the electronics out yet, and am hoping that there is still a chance to unscrew the battery cover.

Were you able to unscrew the cover? Did the vinegar soak work? Friends recommended that I use baking soda instead of vinegar to neutralize the acidity of the battery corrosion.

Would appreciate any update on this topic.

Thanks.

I'd like to know what came of this as well. Just got a KB from a friend that was shelved. Lo and behold a bleeding battery has corroded the end cap. I too thought of where you're going but haven't done it yet.

I like my toqued nickle though, blew my mind you could apply that much force and not have it budge.

I followed the suggestion above (same way as show in the posted photos) and removed the electronics, then soaked both ends of the battery compartment with vinegar and baking soda, but nothing really helped except maybe loosen a little. Then, I wrapped the screw end in a towel and started hammering it while holding the keyboard on a carpeted surfaces. Slowly, one battery started coming out of the center opening, then I pulled it out with pliers -- was really stuck. Interesting that there was not much corrosion but the battery seemed to have swollen. Then poured more vinegar in the compartment and after soaking for a while, I used the hammer again to get the second battery out of the same center opening. I had to do a lot more vinegar soaking, empying and soaking again to loosen the threaded screw. I think I even applied WD40, and finally got it unscrewed. Nothing got damaged. The batteries are out, but I still have to clean all the corrosion residue before I attempt to replace batteries.

Good luck!

Having seen several recommendations to give up, I decided to just fix it forever.

I decided that being able to turn the screw with much more force was needed.

I filed down the outer case right where the battery cover screw slot was, and about an eighth of an inch more in the "unscrew" direction.

Then I used a hacksaw blade to extend the "coin" screwdriver slot right ouf the end.

This meant I could push a screwdriver SIDEWAYS into the screw slot, snd have much more torque.

So I suffered a little cosmetic damage that is only on the far side ... not visible when using it.

It now works fine.

Use a coin or washer with the correct diameter and thickness, and place it firmly in a bench vice.

Now place the keyboard on the coin/washer and apply pressure while turning the keyboard.

This did the trick for me.

For the benefit of other people looking at this thread with similar issues:

I managed to get the compartment open after applying huge amounts of torque, but the threads on the inside were caked with battery acid and getting the batteries out was a huge pain. Scraping the acid away with a screwdriver allowed me to get the batteries out after some considerable banging on a soft surface.*

What I hope to add here is that even though I could get new batteries into the compartment and had thought I'd cleaned everything up, the keyboard wouldn't power on. I thought I'd destroyed the electronics and gave up for a few days until I figured I'd give it one last shot.

After taking a q-tip doused in vinegar (expensive red wine vinegar, at that) and cleaning the threads on both the compartment and the cap, it all worked again. I took some care to really soak the areas, listening to the fizzy reaction, and making sure all the contacts had been treated. There is still some caking on the surface and the threads appear to have been somewhat dissolved from the battery acid, but that doesn't mean things are beyond repair. So don't give up!

*Huge testament to how these devices are constructed. The keyboard took a serious beating, yet now shows no signs of it, except a rather marred screw surface 😟

I had the same issue, on a keyboard which is no longer used very often. I used domestic appliance descaler (concentrated acetic acid, I think) to disolve the worst of the gunk as in finddarkpoet's first picture. Then I clamped a large flat-blade screwdriver in a bench vice, and unscrewed the battery cap by turning the keyboard as KWVarde suggested, using brute force & ignorance (plenty of ignorance). The batteries were stuck fast. I drilled a small hole in the negative terminal of the first battery, then used a corkscrew to get it out. That was messy, although it came out in one piece! The second battery was free to move, but would not come out past the residual gunk on the inner bore until I scraped it off (using a dental pick to clear the threads, and a small file to scrape clear the bore). The innermost end of the battery tube looked OK, as did the positive contact at the bottom of it. I used the file, pick, and fine emery cloth wrapped round a pencil to clean up the bore, finishing off with a detergent soaked rolled up kitchen towel and a final drying stage. The inside bore near the battery cap looks a right mess, but it is clear of all potassium hydroxide residue.

The bluetooth module cover removes by squeezing the sides of the plastic tube together, which allows a jeweller's screwdriver to get under the rear edge and gently lever it up. Everything within was clean and shiny. I used a bit more of the appliance descaler to clean the screw-in battery cover, and the dental pick to scrape the thread in the aluminium body clear so it would make contact. Once everything was dry, I fitted 2 batteries and screwed the cap in. I checked the supply voltage inside the bluetooth compartment using a DVM (negative terminal is the Philips screw, positive terminal is the coil spring (bottom of finddarkpoet's first picture) and got about 3.6V which is OK. I did not find it necessary to remove the electronics module or disconnect the flex cable from the PWA (fortunately).

It took about 15 minutes after inserting the batteries before I was able to pair the keyboard with a Mac - I don't know why. I took the batteries out & put them back in a couple of times during this period, trying to get it to work. Eventually one of the 'power on' button presses gave me the green LED and we were operational.

Thanks to all the posters on this thread: I was about to put the keyboard in the WEEE bin for recycling before I tried one last Google search!

Hi everyone, I'm having the same trouble and I find it so absurd because it is something the engineers should have imagined when they created the system.

I was keeping my iMac in stand-by when I got back to it and discovered that the keyboard suddenly wasn't working. Just a couple of days ago I've got problems with Magic Mouse - it scrolls and clicks but it doesn't move the cursor anymore!

There's no way to open the cap on the keyboard. I have tried with anything that fits into it but **** it, no way! Batteries level was 62% so I really can't understand how this could have happened in a while.

Everything has worked perfectly for about 20 months but honestly I'm really ****** off with Apple because there's no trace of an advice and it's just a shame to pay 49,00 Euros for making a question to an operator when you're in a big trouble like this.

Btw guess I'm going to buy a new keyboard but the USB one, won't buy another bluetooth one even if that would be the only model available.

I could not believe how stuck battery acid could make that screw. I wouldn't have persisted without reading this thread. I took out the bluetooth insert and the first battery. Second battery and the screw were way stuck. I bent the heck out of a nickel, tried the vice, and any other options I could get my hand on. So, I took a hacksaw and sawed off the edge surrounding the screw so I could grip it with a pair of pliers. Finally got it off and the battery out. Vinegar and a small screwdriver to scrape and clean out as much acid as I could. Only a brillo bottle brush would be able to get it all. Got enough off to easily slide in AAs. Put it all back together and it works. Initially one strip of keys didn't work (23wesdxc) but I readjusted the strip that slides into the bluetooth apparatus and it worked again. Shows some damage, but not too bad and its functional again.