The battery has “Pb” written on it, so I assume it’s lead battery.

  • Roman0@lemmy.shtuf.eu
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    66
    ·
    4 months ago

    Lead ain’t that dangerous. Just take it out and dispose of it like you do with normal batteries. Clean your hands afterwards and you’re dandy. As for the clock, the battery contacts, and whatever they were attached to, are likely eaten away, but I can’t say that for certain from this photo. If you’re lucky and they’re mostly intact, some IPA scrubbing and a dip in vinegar, and a bit more scrubbing, should take most of the crust away. That rust though, probably some vinegar, maybe a deoxidating agent (like navy jelly?) could clean it off. Even cleaning all of it doesn’t guarantee that it’ll work any way.

    • shalafi@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      edit-2
      4 months ago

      Bingo. I fixed or built clocks with these exact units.

      And you made me realize I can do this with an antique General Electric clock! It’s 120V and whines like mad, can’t get it right.

  • CM400@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    7
    ·
    4 months ago

    As long as the decorative side isn’t affected, it should be fine (and that’s only an esthetic thing anyway).

    Just clean it up and try to get as much residue out of the back as you can. The easiest thing to do is just throw out the whole clock mechanism and replace it (very, very easy), but if you don’t want to do that, and the mechanism itself isn’t affected, you could probably just buy a new battery enclosure with the same battery capacity as the original, and wire it to the same connections the original batteries had.

    • mozz@mbin.grits.dev
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      4 months ago

      Perfectly right, and the only thing I would add is take the battery to your city’s hazardous waste recycling thing, don’t just throw it in the trash can

  • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    7
    ·
    4 months ago

    Well, it’s not going to explode because it already has…

    But if it’s really so old that it’s lead you should be careful. Is it an antique clock where it has value sentimental or other? If not just toss it.

    The mechanism is pretty standard, so if you really want to salvage it, you can replace that (and keep the same hands) but definitely mask up and take it outside to clean the corrosion off. If it’s an antique then this has already happened at least once.

  • irotsoma@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    6
    ·
    4 months ago

    Just clean it up. Wear gloves and a mask to prevent anything getting in your body. Just be careful about what cleaning products you use to prevent releasing dangerous gasses and do it in a ventilated room or outside. But I would recommend that for any battery or strong acid or base or other reactive chemicals, not just lead containing ones.