Old SNES Games

I'm no brit, but rubbin Alcohol is a pretty common thing. Its in our Walmarts, our Targets, our grocery stores and pharmacies. I don't know whats the limey's equivelent to Walmart is, but whatever you may choose, look in that store's pharmacy sections.

Yeah, thing is I'll probably have to ask my parents to get it since I'm under 18 and am therefore obviously going to use it for solvent abuse (or whatever). Still want to know if any Brits buy it and know where to get it?
Any ideas on strength to get? From my google searches 70% is the standard and that should suffice for my SNES carts, right?

Surgical Spirit is what you'll be looking for over here. Should be able to find it at a pharmacist.

70% is plenty. I use that to clean contacts on my electronics all the time. Just be sure that they are completely dry and dont have any residue on them before you put them back in.

Just curious, remembered my Dad has White Spirit he uses on occasion. Could I use this to clean the contacts or would it simply melt the plastic connector?

It shouldn't melt the plastic but it could get flaky or brittle so it could break easily

Ok so using White Spirit would be ill advised and diluting it to avoid that would probably cause problems with my electronics inside the cart and make it less effective...

If you are using somethin like a cotton bud, you should be able to use a tiny amout, enough to clean the contacts, and not enough to damage the plastic, or even to come into contact with the plastic if your careful.

That's true. If you used a damp but not dripping Q-Tip (cotton swab, ear cleaner, whatever you want to call it) then you could avoid getting it on anything it might damage.

So if I lightly swab diluted White Spirit (will ask my dad for advice on this) onto the connector

(US cart used for demo purposes, I have a PAL or SFC style system)
I should be able to clean the connectors with little to no damage to my SNES cartridges as long as I make sure the cart is dry before I use it?

Ask your parents if they have any Surgical Spirit about the house or in the garage or shed as it's pretty common to have some lying around.

It's that purple stuff that tramps drink in case you're not sure!

[quote name='xist' post='2888052' date='Jun 4 2010, 08:00 PM']Ask your parents if they have any Surgical Spirit about the house or in the garage or shed as it's pretty common to have some lying around.[/quote]
Asked earlier today when I found these contact issues, I think the closest to surgical spirit we have is some Savlon Disinfectant, and as I already mentioned we have White Spirit. Will ask my dad anyway. When using Surgical spirit I assume I wouldn't have to be as careful.

I just tried a cotton bud on a PAL SNES cart and it is a little tighter than I thought. If diluted it shouldn't really have an effect on the plastic.
You could try swabbing the contacts without any chemicals if you haven't already, I was suprised by the amount of dirt I got off mine just now with a dry swab.

Definitely need some q-tips before I do that, should be able to get them in any pharmacy/chemist. The thing's too tight for cotton buds really and the only kind of cotton swab things we have at the moment are for removing make up and are big and unwieldy as such.
Luckily I have work tomorrow so shall be able to nip into the chemist on my way home.

Update: Asked my dad about it, turns out he has a small bottle of Isopropyl Alcohol he used to use for cleaning cassette tape readers. Go figure, all I need to do now its buy q-tips tomorrow and I'm all set Thanks for all the help guys

If you have regular Isopropyl Alcohol then I wouldn't worry. A bit of soft toilet paper wrapped around a pencil or pen or toothpick, whatever's handy, should work just fine. I've used that over the years to clean everything from SNES carts to DS cart contacts. Isopropyl alcohol is gentle enough for what you need. Just make sure it's dry Don't need any short circuiting. I did that once XD killed my first N64 system that way.

Yeah, since its probably at least slightly diluted I'll need to be careful. Ruddy water! You are such a crappy conductor yet so pesky. I'll buy some q-tips anyway. Could be handy for other things (e.g. cleaning out dusty PC heatsinks or collecting DNA evidence) and they'll probs be quite cheap anyway.
This is gonna be the first time I go about cleaning electronics. I take the apart regularly but tend to avoid touching anything.

Yeah I've always been a bit broke cash wise and my parents were never big on replacing game systems, so I learned to do self maintenance. Once a system was out of warranty, I started opening and cleaning and maintaining them all regularly. The only system I own that I haven't opened is my PSP and that's because I've had NO problem whatsoever and I'm not too comfortable openin a system so much more delicate than, say, the DS which is pretty straightforward. Granted, it's an original PSP 1000 so it's sturdier than the smaller newer ones, but still...no problems, no reason to touch it. If it ain't broke don't fix it right? XD

I have to replace the ribbon cable in my DS again but I've lost my triwing...it's an original DS Phat from about a month after they came out and I've maintained it since I got it

Snap! I got a DS from about the UK release date too. Never had to replace anything on the old girl apart from her casing (I through it against a wall by accident and broke the hinge). The touch screen could do with a replacement but that's it. I tend to take very good care of my electronics and they rarely die on me (only my first Mobile Phone has and I fell on that thing so many times when I was 13 it was unbelievable)

I try to treat my systems like gold but they get used so much...I've got 3 younger siblings and even though I'm 21, I live at home doing full time day care for the 2 youngest and I've always had to share my systems with my siblings at least I convinced my parents that the DS wasn't allowed outside with the 7 year old after she tripped while playing it and nearly killed it D: She's a great gamer but the girl is so clumsy. The only game system no one but my 18 year old brother and my mom has touched is my PSP. I bought it years ago with money I earned myself babysitting and therefore I get full jurisdiction over it. Plus I need it for my job as a game reviewer and can't afford to have anything happen to it since I can't afford a replacement XP so no one touches my PSP unless they're sitting RIGHT NEXT TO ME under supervision. >_>

I tend to monopolise my handhelds. My sister has her own DSlite but she barely plays these days