Is 91% Isopropyl alcohol better for cleaning games than 70%?

[Urzu402]

Sorry if this belongs in the tech forum but, I think it would make some sort of difference, or does the slight higher percent in alcohol content not even matter?

[Emperor Megas]

In theory, yes, 90% is better. The higher the alcoholic concentration the better, since there's water in the solution. The more water that's present, the greater the chances of it corroding your board. With that said, I've seen videos of game cartridges being boiled, frozen, and cast in Jello, and they all still worked just fine, so in reality, I doubt it really matters. :|

[Aussie2B]

It really doesn't matter. This is another subject where a lot of collectors swear that you MUST use one specific thing, but they have zero evidence that it's any more effective or that anything else is detrimental.

Both will dry pretty fast, and if you wipe the contacts with a dry q-tip end when you're done, there's even less of a concern of moisture sticking around for too long. If you're buying diluted alcohol or are diluting it yourself, I wouldn't go lower than 50%, but that's just me.

[Gameguy]

I just clean them using water, I make sure to dry them properly rather than air drying them. After 10 years none of the games I've cleaned have begun to corrode.

[InsaneDavid]

I say 70% formulations for general cleaning and if it's something stubborn then use 91%. The key here is that alcohol is going to evaporate far faster than water. Also if you think of it in terms of active contents, using 91% is giving you 41% more punch per use than using 50%. Either way you should always clean up any remnant as was said.

What you do need to stay away from are things like mint rubbing alcohol which shows up at a lot of dollar stores. Yeah, that's not going to be good to clean with.

I've seen people use all kinds of crazy stuff to clean connectors from orange juice to windex. While straight water may clean off surface dirt the same way washing your hands with straight water will, using alcohol will eat at the dirt and grime, making cleaning easier.

[treismac]

I swear by Brasso metal cleaner. It does an incredible job of cleaning the contacts, which just so happen to be metal. After the Brasso, I use rubbing alcohol to clean off any Brasso residue that might be left. When you open up a NES cartridge with a 3.8mm security bit to clean the pcb's contacts it becomes very apparent how effective Brasso is for cleaning the dingiest of Flea Market rescues.

Also, I use a 70% Alcohol for no other reason than it was what my neighborhood Walgreen's had available. Below are links to videos of an experiment where I submerged a pcb from a NES' Jackal cartridge in rubbing alcohol for a week to see how it affected the game.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5kzFPnsYK4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iteXZkgRf_A

Feel free to jump ahead in the second video to see the outcome. ;)

[XYXZYZ]

But what about 91% IPA that expired five years ago? The alcohol I use to clean my games is really old.

[Icarus Moonsight]

I'd guess that five year old 91% is about 70% by now. LOL

[kedawa]

Call me crazy, but I use electrical contact cleaner to clean electrical contacts.

[Sunnyvale]

Call me crazy, but I use electrical contact cleaner to clean electrical contacts.

Crazy like a fox! I revitalize a dead NES in about 15 minutes with the magic spray. Try cleaning a cart with alcohol, and then hit it with contact cleaner. You'll never go back.

[Jim]

I use a big bottle of 99.99% anhydrous isopropyl that i picked up from an electronics supply shop years ago. Works like a charm on cartridges and plastic cases too. Just don't get any on the paper labels.

[Ze_ro]

I use 99% myself... Probably not necessary, but it's fairly cheap, so why not go for the best?

--Zero

[MachineGex]

I called Nintendo back in the day and they recommended a 50-50 mixture of water and Isopropyl alcohol. As long as you dont give your cart a bath in it, anything should be fine.

[Sunnyvale]

kedewa was right, contact cleaner is the way to go:
http://i1143.photobucket.com/albums/n629/ConneticutLeatherCompany/Picture413.jpg
I cleaned an NES cart with 99% alcohol. You can see the dirt quit coming off after a bit. Then I hit the same cart with contact cleaner:
http://i1143.photobucket.com/albums/n629/ConneticutLeatherCompany/Picture414.jpg
That much more residue that the alcohol wouldn't touch. The only thing to be careful of is the gold cart; the finish will flake off from the magic spray. And I wouldn't use it on Studio ii games, but I wouldn't use alcohol on them either.

[xelement5x]

Works like a charm on cartridges and plastic cases too. Just don't get any on the paper labels.

Very true!! I'll use rubbing alcohol to clean cases and mysterious gunk off, but never on labels, it'll remove the ink so quickly it's scary. However, if you're trying to get permanent marker off something it's pretty good for that.

I'll normally use 90% on areas where there is no paper nearby, but then scrub closer to the label with 70% just to be careful. Though to clean gunk/adhesive/stickers off labels it's normally lighter fluid (Ronsonal) and a little bit of water. The lighter fluid dries much faster though so I've got less worries about bleeding the ink in the label from it sitting around on it, but it can still take ink out of the label if you rub too hard with it.

[Gameguy]

kedewa was right, contact cleaner is the way to go:
That's not much dirt, I usually get off more with water(if it's really bad I'll start using the more serious stuff). Your games must be pretty clean to start with, I must be getting all the dirty ones. LOL

I usually clean the outer cases with Windex, seems to work fine without damaging anything.

[Rickstilwell1]

The original NES cleaning kit actually said in the manual to just use water. So I suppose water isn't all too bad as long as it is applied and dried properly (no leaking to the inside of the cart)

[Sunnyvale]

That's not much dirt, I usually get off more with water(if it's really bad I'll start using the more serious stuff). Your games must be pretty clean to start with, I must be getting all the dirty ones. LOL

I usually clean the outer cases with Windex, seems to work fine without damaging anything.

Yeah, that was a clean one, but I just pulled it out of a box of new to me games. But that little bit of dirt that was left, multiplied by the number of games I stick in and out of my system makes for some dirty connectors. And that game is now CLEAN, not any dirt on it. First timer, every time. I clean the old 72 pins on the NES and get them to be first time, almost every time. Not all (some are too loose), but most. And its a great tool to have around, as well. Next time you refurbish a 2600 joystick, try poking a small hole in the contact, all the way through both sides, and the spray it, and press it 20-30 times.

[treismac]

As far as removing marker or other mysterious marks from cartridges and consoles, I use rubbing alcohol and a toothpick or chopstick if I need something bigger. Basically, I cut a waffle grid into the chopstick or just break off the tip of the toothpick and I dab it into some alcohol and scrub the hell out of whatever unseemly mark I want gone. This works wonders! Try it and believe. :)

[kedawa]

Water is fine for removing dust or spilled beverages, but it does nothing to the oxides that build up over time.

[Sunnyvale]

Water is fine for removing dust or spilled beverages, but it does nothing to the oxides that build up over time.

And the acid ( a TINY amount) in the contact cleaner gets rid of the oxidation, when the alcohol gets rid of some, and smears the rest around.

[GameNinja]

Hm this thread has gone a long time without anybody mentioning Wiemans cooktop cleaner. It has worked wonders for me, is cheap and available from walmart and smells decent to boot!