Corrosion on battery terminals

I have tried searching several times and have found nothing and I know next to nothing about electrical systems so I am hoping you guys can help me solve a problem I am having. Alright my problem is my battery terminals keep getting corroded and I want to know why and how to stop it. I will start at the beginning, shortly after I bought my MSP brand new from the dealership one of the first things I had done was take the stock sub enclosure and amp out and put in a more powerful amp and two 12"s. Well I should say my friend put it all in because as I mentioned I know nothing about those sorts of things and he was always the stereo expert out of all my friends. He has hooked up many systems for himself as well as other friends of ours. At first I had complete confidence in him but over time I began to think he didn't know what he is doing. I am still undecided but have given up on having friends work on my car for free. When I do decide to do the stereo again I am going to a shop. But anyways, he took the stock stuff out and put the new stuff in and it bumped hard and I was happy. Not to long after that my alternator died because apparently the new system was to powerful or he didnt put in a bigger cable or something, sorry I don't know more. So I had a new alternator put in and since the mechanic figured it was killed by the new system I went back to my friend that put it in and he said it probably needed a bigger gauged wire. So he put that in and the system worked again for awhile and never killed the alternator again. Over time I noticed corrosion forming on the battery terminals. I took it to my mechanic and he didn't know what the cause was but assumed it had something to do with the stereo. He replaced the terminals with new one but over time they corroded as well. Then something really odd happened, one day out of the blue one of the subs started making this horribly annoying whine. I once again called my friend up and he came over and messed around with the subs but couldn't figure it out. If I remember correctly it only happened when both subs were hooked up and I think when he hooked up one at a time they worked fine. He said he had no idea what the problem was and posted it up on sounddomain but nobody on there had any idea either. He described it as Orca the killer whale busting a nut which got some amusing replies but nobody knew what the problem was or how to fix it. So fed up with all of this which nobody understands or could figure out I just disconnected the subs and amp and took them out. That was a while ago and I cleaned off the battery terminals after taking everything out and over time they just got corroded again. Anybody have any ideas? Oh and I don't know if it is related or not but I get shocked every time I get out of my car. So any help is greatly appreciated. Here is a picture I took a while back which shows a little bit of the corrosion. It is much worse now and if another picture will help let me know and I will take one.

The corrosion on the battery terminals happens when the battery vents out gases and the gases mix with oxygen on the metal post. Any lead acid battery vents normally. On the older automotive batteries and in aviation, these caps are removed to service the battery if the water levels become to low. On nonspillable batteries the caps are not removable. You didn't mention what type of battery you have but I am assuming you don't have an Optima battery. Optima batteries are a non venting type which should eliminate your corrosion problems. If you don't have the $120+ to get one (I would recommend a yellow top for systems) then here is what you can do:

#1: Remove terminals from battery posts

#2: Mix baking soda and hot water in a cup (keep adding baking soda to water until it looks like it is not disolving any more)

#3: Using a stiff wire brush, brush off corrosion on the battery post and terminals, pour the water mix over all the corrosion and brush again. Repeat this step until all corrosion is removed. (The baking soda neutralizes the corrosion)

#4 Dry all parts

#5 Reassemble everything and hook up all connections

#6 Apply a thin layer of vasoline over all terminals

The vasoline acts like a barrier to the oxygen preventing corrosion from happening. The vasoline is also nonconductive so it is important to put your terminals over your battery posts before you cover everything with vasoline to ensure you have a good connection.

After a while, the vasoline will get dirty from normal under-the-hood dirt, so when it starts looking dirty, just take a rag and wipe off the old vasoline and reapply.

Hopes this helps!!

Just a thought...keep in mind that water is a conductor. You don't want to do both posts at the same time so cover up one while you work on the other.

Good call ..

use coca-cola on them then wipe them dry, the acid will eat the craplike baked catfish.

Thanks guys. After a couple days of no responses though I googled and found a bunch of info. I ended up going to Advanced Auto and getting a battery terminal cleaning brush thingy, some spray to prevent future corrosion as well as these lil felt rings. I cleaned the terminals and the cables all up with the brush and baking soda and water, then sprayed every thing down with the spray and put the felt things around the terminals and hooked the cables back up. So far so good.