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Aqueous Cell Phone

06/19/2009 1:32 PM

How many of you have experienced the humbling effect of going for a swim, only to realize your trusty phone was still in your pocket?

Last night, I did just that, with one exception, I had just received the brand new phone the prior day... DOH!

Well, all stupidity aside, I have had a phone survive after taking a plunge into the deep abyss... this current one, well, I suppose time will tell. A Co-worker suggested that I put the phone in a container with dry white rice, which I suppose I will try tonight. My current plan is to allow 1 week for the phone to dry out before attempting to apply power to it.

It was under water for well over 20 mins before I made the realization that it was still in my pocket, so the screen was full... along with every other available orifice large enough for a couple of molecules of H2O to squeeze into. the battery was fully charged, and the phone was powered on before the incident.

My questions are these:

The water was from a heavily chlorinated pool, will this have any possible extra corrosive effects on the phone vs non-chlorinated water?

If so, is there any hope of my brand new phone to regain consciousness?

Do you have any recommendations that may increase the chance for my phone to live through its watery existence?

and lastly... and maybe most interestingly, Do you have and good stories to share about any similar experiences? and how did your electronics fare?

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#1

Re: Aqueous Cell Phone

06/19/2009 1:46 PM

The chlorinated water will have a corrosive effect on your phone, but more importantly the deposits left from the chlorine salts are conductive. It might be too late now but I would dunk it in distilled water before you dry it out.

About a year ago I had a phone that was about one week old that I dropped into the toilet. Half of me considered just flushing it and calling it a loss, but I fished it out.

The first thing I did was remove the battery, the second thing I did was put it in distilled water. Rubbing alcohol might work and dry quicker, but I would be worried about anything in the phone being soluble.

Not wanting to wait a week the third thing I did was to take my new phone apart as much as possible and pat it dry with a towel. I then left the phone taken apart over night to dry. The next morning I assembled it and it worked fine.

I also noticed they use moisture sensitive stickers on the phone and battery so they can tell if it has gotten wet and been dried out.

Lucky for me my old phone was the same brand and the stickers were the same so I carefully swapped them so I could get a new phone if needed. Its been over a year now and my phone has been working fine, and not gotten wet since.

From others I know, the main thing that seems to die and sometimes stay dead from water, is the ccfl backlight.

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#2

Re: Aqueous Cell Phone

06/19/2009 1:47 PM

My kid has done this repeatedly, usually with 50/50 chances for the phone except one: the SIM card would take on a curl, impeding proper contact. This was fixed with a scrap of folded paper.

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#3

Re: Aqueous Cell Phone

06/19/2009 2:02 PM

Been there. Mine was under water for about 30 minutes. I took everything I could remove off. Put all the pieces into a container of isopropyl alcohol and let it soak for 2-3 hours. Then I removed as much water as possible by swinging it around my head for a few minutes. I then put it outside in the AZ sun for a day. Put it all back together, turned it on, and have been using it for over a year now, no problems.

There is a small shadow on the face of the display, inside, where the last of the liquid dried, leaving residue.

Good Luck!

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#4

Re: Aqueous Cell Phone

06/19/2009 5:22 PM

The most prone to corrosion due to chlorinated water, are aluminum parts, but it would take more chlorine than a super-chlorinated pool. Whatever you do, don't let the phone dry slowly thru the days without disassembling it, that would cause heavy deposits and lots of oxidation on the delicate conectors.

First thing, keep it immersed in water (distilled is great) 'till you can FULLY disassemble it.

Then clean it with ispropyl alcohol, and use a hair drier to completely dry it (don't let it get hot).

As per the display issues, if the back light was off, then a short circuit thru water to the high voltage illuminator is not likelly to have happened.

Yahlasit

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#5
In reply to #4

Re: Aqueous Cell Phone

06/19/2009 5:28 PM

Never saw a post and avatar so perfectly matched before.

Yahlasit

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#6

Re: Aqueous Cell Phone

06/19/2009 11:43 PM

Aside from using distilled water first and removing the battery, I would shake it to remove as much water as possible. Then spray it thoroughly with WD-40, or LPS 1. Then shake some more, and repeat.

Take as much of the phone apart as you can get back together.

Dry as much as possible, and put in heated area for a day. A blow dryer on high fan and low heat would work to drive out some water.

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#7

Re: Aqueous Cell Phone

06/20/2009 12:00 AM

I remember seeing an article in one of the ham radio magazines, QST or CQ-VHF, by a ham who had dropped several handheld transceivers into lakes or ponds while fishing.

His technique involved the distilled water soak, to dilute or remove the nasty stuff in pond water. In his case, he changed water several times to be sure to get all the nasties out.

I don't remember too many of the details, but a couple of my own thoughts: Avoid spraying anything electrical or electronic with anything flammable. Also, you might want to open it up and use cotton swabs to dab away excess moisture or residue.

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#8

Re: Aqueous Cell Phone

06/20/2009 2:48 AM

I wonder which is worse, sea water or chlorinated pool water?

this story appeared here some time ago, about a Nokia that was swallowed by a cod, was fished out, still found to have been working!

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#9
In reply to #8

Re: Aqueous Cell Phone

06/20/2009 5:23 PM

Those old nokia brick phones were amazing! I loved mine.

One night, while slightly inebriated, I wanted to prove how indestructable my phone was so I threw it off of a third floor fire escape on to the parking lot below. Needless to say the phone completely shattered. The next day, I grabbed up all the pieces and was able to put the thing back together and it worked!!!

...Minus the fact that I couldn't find the little rubber keypad thing and had to use a stick to dial from then on, but it worked!!!

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#10

Re: Aqueous Cell Phone

06/21/2009 7:07 PM

I had my USB memory stick go through the full wash cycle once...I opened it, rinsed with tap water, sprayed flux cleaner over all pcb and components, then hair dryer. It's worked ever since. I'm glad that it kept it's memory why mine didn't.

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#11

Re: Aqueous Cell Phone

06/22/2009 3:26 AM

As they don't work well under water, the temptation to flush the lot of them is very strong....

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#12

Re: Aqueous Cell Phone

06/30/2009 10:42 AM

I flushed one. Got a hell of a weird message as if it was crying out. That was after I did the hair dryer thing et al. It worked for awhile, but then later began malfunctioning.

Had another jump from my tool bag in the pickup into a cup of coffee.

Got another.

Cracked the face on that with a wheelbarrow handle while it was in my pocket.

The screen was going blank sometimes, but a wide piece of clear packing tape worked as a repair.

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#13

Re: Aqueous Cell Phone

06/30/2009 11:29 AM

Well, I've been using the phone now for over a week without a single glitch... I never did get the phone rinsed with distilled water, it was already drying out when i got that recommendation. I took it all apart, stuck it in a bowl of dry white rice, and a week later, it turned on, and works great!

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