Spypoint Corrosion Cleaning

[Gonzoman10]

Hey all,

Just wanted to share a little DIY project to try and bring one of my Spypoint cameras back from the dead.

I have a Spypoint Link-Micro-S-LTE that started giving me problems last year. Long story short, I believe it received some water damage from the door being left open when it was in my backyard for testing prior to mounting it for the season. It would work for a little while and then "turn itself off" I found out that the issue had something to do with the power switch and if it moved too far to the on position it would turn off. However, sometimes it would just turn off on its own even if it was just sitting outside for a while. It was a bummer because it really stopped working in the middle of the season where I hiked up the mountain to reset it twice thinking it got stuck but both times the log files on the SD didn't even show it powered on.

After buying a new battery pack for it and going back and forth with Spypoint about possible repair options (it was out of warranty) and bad firmware I finally decided this year to just crack it open since it was just a paperweight at this point.

When I opened it I found a lot of corrosion inside:


I took some isopropyl alcohol and q-tips and started cleaning the circuit boards and it actually started to turn on more consistently. I found that if I position the power switch just right it will stay on and have been testing it on my back patio. I am thinking about hot gluing the power switch in the on position and just removing the battery when I am not using it:


I think there is more cleaning and some corrosion protection that I still need to apply but it is at least a start. Does anyone have any suggestions? I am hoping this week I get some time to crack it open again and use a small toothbrush or straw cleaning brush to keep cleaning it. I haven't noticed anything odd with the way it operates since opening it except for slow picture upload but I think that has more to do with where it is in my backyard (under the metal patio cover) than anything.

Hopefully, this helps or inspires others to try and bring back to life other broken electronics, sometimes it is just the simplest thing.

Have a great season,

 

[petit_sauvage88]

Hey, just wanted to say thanks, I also had water issue with my micro link and after no answer from customer service, I found your post. I did'nt had as much corrosion as you but still, I cleaned it with alcool and I also remove the button ''cover'' as it seem to interfere with the camera case.
Now it is working, so far.
Now I use Gorilla tape to prevent water going in the camera.

 

[Netherman]

Not sure how it would work in this case, but I had a water issue with my washing machine's control board. The fix was to clean it then "paint" it with conformal coating. I've got a lifetime supply, but for $15 it was way cheaper than a new board.

https://www.amazon.com/MG-Chemicals-Premium-Acrylic-Conformal/dp/B07B8RY7M6/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=conformal+coating&qid=1699996069&sr=8-1

 

[Gonzoman10]

Hey, just wanted to say thanks, I also had water issue with my micro link and after no answer from customer service, I found your post. I did'nt had as much corrosion as you but still, I cleaned it with alcool and I also remove the button ''cover'' as it seem to interfere with the camera case.
Now it is working, so far.
Now I use Gorilla tape to prevent water going in the camera.

Glad I could provide some encouragement haha. I placed some electrical tape over the power "button" cover hole that was removed since I had to hot glue the switch to the on position... But though the season I still got water in the camera and corrosion again. I'm guessing my camera is leaking from the solar panel at this point.

Hoping to clean the camera again and use some sort of glue or caulking to seal around any seams on the camera exterior and some sort of tape or wrap around the battery door.

 

[Gonzoman10]

Not sure how it would work in this case, but I had a water issue with my washing machine's control board. The fix was to clean it then "paint" it with conformal coating. I've got a lifetime supply, but for $15 it was way cheaper than a new board.

https://www.amazon.com/MG-Chemicals-Premium-Acrylic-Conformal/dp/B07B8RY7M6/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=conformal+coating&qid=1699996069&sr=8-1

Thank you for the idea! I might just try that once I find the source of the leak in my camera.

 

[flipper98c]

Hey all,

Just wanted to share a little DIY project to try and bring one of my Spypoint cameras back from the dead.

I have a Spypoint Link-Micro-S-LTE that started giving me problems last year. Long story short, I believe it received some water damage from the door being left open when it was in my backyard for testing prior to mounting it for the season. It would work for a little while and then "turn itself off" I found out that the issue had something to do with the power switch and if it moved too far to the on position it would turn off. However, sometimes it would just turn off on its own even if it was just sitting outside for a while. It was a bummer because it really stopped working in the middle of the season where I hiked up the mountain to reset it twice thinking it got stuck but both times the log files on the SD didn't even show it powered on.

After buying a new battery pack for it and going back and forth with Spypoint about possible repair options (it was out of warranty) and bad firmware I finally decided this year to just crack it open since it was just a paperweight at this point.

When I opened it I found a lot of corrosion inside:
View attachment 582565 View attachment 582566

I took some isopropyl alcohol and q-tips and started cleaning the circuit boards and it actually started to turn on more consistently. I found that if I position the power switch just right it will stay on and have been testing it on my back patio. I am thinking about hot gluing the power switch in the on position and just removing the battery when I am not using it:
View attachment 582573

I think there is more cleaning and some corrosion protection that I still need to apply but it is at least a start. Does anyone have any suggestions? I am hoping this week I get some time to crack it open again and use a small toothbrush or straw cleaning brush to keep cleaning it. I haven't noticed anything odd with the way it operates since opening it except for slow picture upload but I think that has more to do with where it is in my backyard (under the metal patio cover) than anything.

Hopefully, this helps or inspires others to try and bring back to life other broken electronics, sometimes it is just the simplest thing.

Have a great season,

Great post.