EOS T6i Rebel : blue spot on pins (battery and lens) and won't start : is this serious doctor?

[fantomasmusic]

Hi,

Happy new year !

I don't know the "technical" name to my problem, probably an electrical term  but electrical thing, it's not for me 

4 photos to my google doc 

It's an EOS T6i Rebel (bought in 2018)

As you can see on the picture, there is "blue spot" is on the pins (battery side) AND another on the pins between my EOS and my lens!

For the story, two day before (the 28 december), i took some photos, eveything was fine until the EOS shut down, no battery I tought (It was probably that because the outside temperature was about -10 Celcius (14 F)).
I charge the battery and today (the 2nd january), after insering battery in my EOS slot, i checked and the EOS won't start. At this moment, I checked the battery and I saw the "blue spot" in the battery slot. After that, I unmounted the lens and... surprise..., an another blue spot.

I tried to "clean" the blue spot and the pins with alcool. I reload the battery and tried to start my EOS.. and nothing ! 

So :

1/ did I do something wrong? or it's "100% back luck" ?

2/ In your opinon, is it repairable ?

Thank you a lot for your contribution (answer, compassion, advice) to my investigation 

[MikeSowsun]

Those blue spots are corrosion. It is not bad luck. I suspect your camera has been exposed to salt water.

You might be able to get it professionally serviced, but I think the cost may be more than the camera and lens are worth.

I have included your photos here so that other people can view them easily.

[fantomasmusic]

Thank you Mike !!! Very helpful !

[Ray-uk]

Remove battery from camera, using a small brush apply a little vinegar to the corrosion, leave a little while and using a cloth dampened with clean water wipe away any loose corrosion and vinegar. Rpeat this until the corrosion has gone.

This should remove the corrosion and prevent it getting worse but will not repair the damage that has been done to the gold plating on the contacts so if it does make it work then you can still expect further problems later when the contacts slowly build up a layer of oxidation.

[shadowsports]

A baking soda paste is also good for neutralizing corrosion, but requires extreme care and complete removal.  You can use your judgement here.  Vacuum and canned air can also help.

I would use swabs with isoprophyl alcohol over vinegar.  Vinegar is acidic.  Alcohol is closer to neutral pH.

We wish you luck, but be prepared for further issues as Ray-UK mentioned.

[fantomasmusic]

Thank you shadowsports !!! Very helpful ! I will try alcohol ! But i think everything is dead. Try just to be sure is my only solution!

[fantomasmusic]

Thank you Ray-uk !!! Very helpful ! I cross my finger !

[wq9nsc]

As Mike noted, your camera has either been exposed to salt water/salt spray or has been in some other corrosive environment.  Have you been storing your camera somewhere that it has been exposed?  A lot of common household stuff, like the laundry area, creates fumes that are corrosive over time.

You can carefully clean using a brush with vinegar but if the contact plating has been damaged then neither the battery nor the lens contacts will work properly again AND if this is from a corrosive environment then there is going to be more damage inside the camera because the Rebel series aren't well sealed.

Because corrosive residue is conductive, you will need to clean both the lens mount and the battery/battery compartment to know whether there is some hope of saving the camera.  If your model has a separate coin cell to back up date/time and other data then it needs to be removed and checked also.

If it were just the battery compartment or just the lens, I would be more hopeful but for both of them to show advanced signs of corrosion then the exposure was significant and there is likely to be more damage inside because if it can get to the lens contacts it also got inside the optical department where it has free access to everything else in the body.

Rodger

[fantomasmusic · Accepted solution]

Hi wq9nsc, 

My camera is store in a dry environnement, but i think my "mistake" was to juste drop my camera at home after a long period outside. I imagine, in this condition, condensation will occurs and somes water drop in my camero and it's enough to create a "electrical contact" that destroy everything ! I clean my battery pins, i wait a lot et let the battery slot dry. I put again the battery (recharged) and nothing. I take care to connect only the camero (the box), i disconnect the lens to focus on 1 problem at the same time. And sadly, as I mentionned, nothing happens, so my conclusion is "it's more serious than i thought" and very certainly my camera is dead, maybe my lens (the regular that come with the T6i) is ok but i'm not sure, very scepticism about it. 

The word is this story : It's a beginner mistake, I should have remove my battery when I came home. I should have put my camera in a "ziplock" bag after a long exposure to cold temperature. 

I'm sad that's happens, but if I learn my mistake, it will help me to avoid to do it a second time 🙂

So, i would like to thank you guys, the community to make this situation more understandable for me ! I understand my mistake and i will work on it all my life 🙂

Thank you, I love you and happy new year !

[wq9nsc]

Just normal condensation shouldn't cause what your camera experienced, condensation by itself is very "clean" and when cleaning electronics I often use the water collected from a dehumidifier as the next to final rinse (the final rinse is distilled or with high voltage gear I use de-ionized water). 

So to get the sort of reaction those contacts saw there had to be something in the environment to react with the moisture.  It could have been something your camera was exposed to long ago and it finally got moist enough to activate whatever residue was left after condensation occurred due to your cold camera coming into a warm environment.  Whatever it was likely was a one time exposure but to make sure that it doesn't happen to the next camera, play detective and make sure that nothing in your home is causing the issue.  A not exhaustive but example list of typical consumer products leading to corrosion includes laundry products (detergents and softener sheets outgas), softener salt (especially if it includes rust removal compound) and isn't stored in a well sealed container including the salt in the softener itself, chlorine products (i.e. swimming pool chemicals), and some "clumping" cat litter. 

And there are many other possibilities.  I had a box of "miracle grow" plant food in a cabinet in the mudroom and its internal plastic bag was twisted and sealed with a tie but even in this dry environment everything close to it in the same cabinet that was metal was showing signs of corrosion within a month and the closer things were to the plant food the worse the corrosion.  A friend found terrible metal corrosion with several things in his basement that normally stayed dry.  The problem was traced to a poor vent system for a recently installed water heater that was back drafting at times.  He was in a rural area like I am and reliant on propane which has exhaust products far more corrosive than natural gas. 

Although my EOS 1 and 5 series cameras have better weather resistance than your Rebel, many of my lenses are not of the weather sealed variety and although the 1 series has better battery compartment sealing I don't expect it is fully vapor tight.  I get condensation all of the time from shooting sports on a cold field followed bydriving home in my warm car or pickup.  Yesterday I shot some snow and ice scenes with two of my camera bodies and the only thing I did was to leave them in the open to come to temperature and dry before putting the lenses and cameras back into their cases.   You don't want to get your camera wet but condensation without another catalyst should not be causing that level of damage.

Rodger