So I recently picked up a beamspring keyboard (Displaywriter to be precise). It was horribly, horribly dirty when I got it...but otherwise seemed functional. All the keys felt good. So I cleaned it up as best I could, got an xwhatsit controller, and tried it out. To my frustration most of the keys worked fine but there were a few that simply would not register correctly no matter how I set the reference voltage.
I had read that a dirty PCB could potentially cause keys to not register correctly by interfering with the capacitive sensing. Taking a look at it...it's not the cleanest thing in the world but I don't see anything obviously wrong with it. But I'm certainly willing to give cleaning it up a shot.
However I'm not entirely sure what the best method for cleaning a PCB is. I want to be thorough but of course I don't want to damage it. What do you suggest using to clean a PCB? Isopropyl?
Thanks.
I've done some research on this recently actually, and there have been several suggestions depending on what you're cleaning.
First and not so recommend option, for cleaning just regular dust and grime, was just to use distilled water. Not much of it though, and make sure it is COMPLETELY dry before connecting it to a lower source.
Second, and most used method, seems to be using a 90% or higher isopropyl alcohol and an old toothbrush. This seems to be recommended for things like flux, oils, grease, etc. The recommendations seem to be to use little of it, on small spots at a time and to brush gently.
Lastly, there are actual products specifically for cleaning PCBs and electronics. I did not look into these much because they seem to cost more and aren't as readily available as the other two.
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