Majesty with no power after battery leak - fix tip

[fviana]

Hello guys!
I am posting this thread here in case it helps other fellows with same problem...
I had a 2 weeks break from playing my Majesty, and yesterday at our band rehearsal there was no sound coming from the guitar to the amp. Then it came to my mind that the batteries might have run out of power, so I should just change them into new ones. So I got new batteries and when I open the battery compartment in the back, I found a terrible mess... Two out of my 3 Energizer MAX batteries (the "no leak" ones...) had leaked pretty badly... those batteries are less than one year old. Well, I tried to take some of the mess with a screwdriver and put the new batteries in, but the guitar did not come to life... there was no power in it...

The solution:
I went home and started browsing youtube for "Majesty no power" videos, and got frustrated cos I couldn't find anything that could help me, then I searched for "battery leak damage" and found really good videos explaining what to do when a battery leak and how to recover a leaked device... well to cut short:

1- take a bit of (white/clear) vinegar, take a toothbrush, a piece of paper towel and some cotton sticks.
2 - wet the toothbrush in a vinegar, stomp it a bit in the paper towel to take off the drips of vinegar and leave the brush just "wet", then brush the areas damaged with the battery leak and then dry those with the cotton sticks. You may also try to clean the damaged areas with vinegar humidified cotton sticks, but I at least went straight to the point with the wet toothbrush.

Thats what I did, and the metal parts in the battery compartment were new again. The vinegar totally dissolved that alkaline corrosion that happened when the batteries leaked.

Be careful with your batteries, from now on I will change those 2 to 3 times a year just to play safe.

I hope this will help someone out there!

Cheers from Finland!

 

[DrKev]

Great post and welcome to the forum!

 

[tbonesullivan]

UGH. I am convinced that there is no such thing as a "no-leak" battery. I'm glad that the damage was not that severe.

 

[bhull]

UGH. I am convinced that there is no such thing as a "no-leak" battery.

I don't think there is. It's just the nature of the beast when sealing up a liquid like that.

One thing I have noticed is generic cheap batteries leak far far more than name brands. Maybe it's just me, but I've had the best luck with Duracell's. Energizer comes in second. Like OP, I''ve had an occasional Energizer leak. Duracell, almost never.

 

[tbonesullivan]

I've had duracell's leak in AA and D cell mag lights, kept indoors, long before the "expiration" date. I try to remember to check my lights once a month, as it's a ROYAL PAIN to get the bulging batteries out.

I wish there was a good rechargeable solution for 9V batteries.

 

[7enderbender]

Anecdotally, I'd say that things have gotten worse since most manufacturing has moved to China. I had batteries leak a number of times in recent years and I always use major brands.
I've had luck so far with the "professional" Duracell line (the orange ones). I change the 9V battery in my JP15 more often then necessary just to make sure.

 

[fviana]

Great post and welcome to the forum!

Thank you very much!

 

[fviana]

Hello guys!
I am posting this thread here in case it helps other fellows with same problem...
I had a 2 weeks break from playing my Majesty, and yesterday at our band rehearsal there was no sound coming from the guitar to the amp. Then it came to my mind that the batteries might have run out of power, so I should just change them into new ones. So I got new batteries and when I open the battery compartment in the back, I found a terrible mess... Two out of my 3 Energizer MAX batteries (the "no leak" ones...) had leaked pretty badly... those batteries are less than one year old. Well, I tried to take some of the mess with a screwdriver and put the new batteries in, but the guitar did not come to life... there was no power in it...

The solution:
I went home and started browsing youtube for "Majesty no power" videos, and got frustrated cos I couldn't find anything that could help me, then I searched for "battery leak damage" and found really good videos explaining what to do when a battery leak and how to recover a leaked device... well to cut short:

1- take a bit of (white/clear) vinegar, take a toothbrush, a piece of paper towel and some cotton sticks.
2 - wet the toothbrush in a vinegar, stomp it a bit in the paper towel to take off the drips of vinegar and leave the brush just "wet", then brush the areas damaged with the battery leak and then dry those with the cotton sticks. You may also try to clean the damaged areas with vinegar humidified cotton sticks, but I at least went straight to the point with the wet toothbrush.

Thats what I did, and the metal parts in the battery compartment were new again. The vinegar totally dissolved that alkaline corrosion that happened when the batteries leaked.

Be careful with your batteries, from now on I will change those 2 to 3 times a year just to play safe.

I hope this will help someone out there!

Cheers from Finland!

By the way, I forgot to mention that after the cleaning up, and putting the new batteries the guitar worked flawlessly again