Ok, here's my "save the electronics" procedure. It may save you, it may not. It does have a 50+% success rate in SALT water, and a nearly 90% one in fresh though for me over more than a decade....
This assumes you DUNKED the phone. If it got SPLASHED, this is a tough call - you can make it worse doing this! This procedure is a last-ditch effort to save your equipment when the alternative is certain replacement.
Note that I have used this on HID dive lights (lots of high energy running around in those) along with various consumer electronics that are not meant to get wet.
1. FIRST, GET THE POWER OUT OF THE DEVICE IMMEDIATELY! This means removing the battery - PRONTO! Seconds count here. Once it starts to "fizz" (and it WILL in salt water) you're almost certainly screwed.
2. Next, DO NOT remove the phone from the liquid it fell into until you are ready to proceed. This means get a BUCKET full of the water it fell into, plus phone, and transport it SUBMERGED. As soon as you remove the device from the water corrosion begins and salts begin to deposit on connections - in minutes. A couple of hours later you have nothing worth saving. This is especially true if the water is salty or brackish.
3. Get yourself to the store and buy several gallons of DISTILLED (not "spring!") water and three or four bottles of the highest percentage isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol you can get. 90+% is what you want, but its hard to find. 70% will do (the pedestrian stuff) if that's all you can get at your local drug store. Ask the pharmacist if they have the 90% - they may behind the counter. Tell him why you want it if he asks - druggies use it to "cook" cocaine (its very flammable), which is why its getting hard to find. You will also need a FAN (NO heat! Just air movement!) DO NOT use acetone or other strong solvents. Acetone in particular, while an excellent water dispersant, eats a lot of plastics! There is no way to know if the plastics in your phone are safe around it or not. Acetone also is much more dangerous to your health (inhalation) and poses an extreme vapor flash-fire risk if used indoors. Don't.
4. Find a good place to work, and at least two containers big enough to hold everything that got dunked. The kitchen sink area is good, provided you can prevent anything small from going down a drain.
5. Take one of the containers and put distilled water in it. Transfer the phone to it. Disassemble it to the maximum possible extent WHILE UNDER WATER. If you can get the torx screws out, do so. The idea is to maximize contact area and not have any places for the original liquid to "hide". Its especially important to get any keyboard membranes off, because any contaminents in there will hose that key, sticking it "on" perpetually and may destroy the carbon buttons that make contact when you press the key otherwise.
6. Now agitate gently for a few minutes (5 or so) to insure that the clean water gets everywhere the dirty water did.
7. Fill the second container with NEW distilled water, and transfer the parts from the first to the second. Discard the water in the first.
8. Go back and forth like this AT LEAST TEN TIMES, with a change of NEW distilled water each time. You are diluting any contaminent content by doing this, and getting it out of the phone before it solidifies and crystallizes - it is those salt/mineral crystals that cause shorts and corrosion. Pure (distilled) water has NO conductivity - its the impurities that conduct electricity. A minimum of ten changes is required to reduce the concentrations of ions in the water to neglible levels. Don't skimp here - distilled water is a buck a gallon - how much is your phone worth again?
9. Once you've done this, replace the water with rubbing alcohol. Again, perform several "flushes" with the isopropyl alcohol - at least three; more is better. Again, DO NOT permit the unit to come into the air any more than necessary to exchange it during this procedure. The alcohol carries off the water, and the alcohol itself will flash off, leaving nothing. Again, the alcohol is cheap - a buck a pint or less.
10. Take a towel and remove the pieces from the last isopropyl rinse. Tip (allow to run out) and blow free any remaining alcohol you can from the assembly. Place on the towel and direct the fan at it at reasonably close range. Turn the fan on high and move the parts occasionally so all sides and parts are exposed to the airstream to speed drying. This will require some time - as much as a few hours - BE PATIENT! If you used 70% alcohol significant WATER will remain (distilled though) which must also be evaporated quickly. DO NOT USE HEAT. Alcohol fumes are explosively flammable and using heat risks a flash-fire. Better is to let it dry under forced air for 24 hours before attempting to power it up.
11. When you are SURE its completely dry, attempt to power it up. If it doesn't act normally, you're probably screwed, as you either (1) didn't dry it completely, or (2) too much damage occurred.
Finally, be extremely careful with lithium ion batteries - which is what you find in most phones nowdays. Lithium ion batteries, if their case is compromised, are pyrolithic (that is, they ignite spontaneously!) on contact with atmospheric water vapor. Worse, water won't put out a lithium fire, and it burns hot enough to go through solid plate steel. A short in a lithium ion battery pack will almost always cause it to thermally run away and burst its case. There have been several recalls of notebook computer battery packs over incorrect assembly issues causing fires, and contamination from being dunked can do it as well. I would NOT use any lithium battery that got dunked, as the risk of it going up on you in your PANTS POCKET is not to be ignored. If it happens you will be very seriously injured, and if it happens in your home while on charge you'll have a dandy, and very hard-to-extinguish, fire. Go get a new battery or borrow a good one before trying to power up the device, and dispose of the old one properly (and before you do, keep it OUTSIDE away from anything that can burn!)
my phone has been in the washing machine for 5 minutes before i discovered it it was flashing i took the batt out put it near the fire 2 dry then 2 days later tried cleaning it in alcohol. tried to power up the screen turns on as soon as batt is inserted and is a light blue colour it stays that way till i remove the batt and when i plug it into charger(without batt) does same thing i hold the power button down and it switches off cannot switch off with battery inserted is my fone stuffed and why does it the screen come on can somebody please help if i can save it i would like too
Did you see my post right above yours? Once you let it start to dry out without properly getting the contaminents out of there, or if the power was left on for that length of time while submerged, you are almost certainly screwed.
hi, a noob Electronic tech here.
I have a question and some additional comment.
Question: is there a way to detect if the cell phone has been dropped into water? like UV light or some sort? I am always afraid to buy an used phone.
Add. comment.
pure water is a bad idea. NOT if you are using the pure H2O. which means 0 ppm.
I forgot what's the procedure call. but the water is product from combine H2 and O2 via some chemcical reaction. coz pure H2O (no electron adrift ) is a non-conductive medium.
It wasn't popular coz it is expensive as hell. (please correct me if I am wrong)
hi, a noob Electronic tech here.
I have a question and some additional comment.
Question: is there a way to detect if the cell phone has been dropped into water? like UV light or some sort? I am always afraid to buy an used phone.
You could examine it with a jewler's loupe, looking for mineral crystals, but that would require a fairly complete disassembly and is not conclusive proof either way.
Add. comment.
pure water is a bad idea. NOT if you are using the pure H2O. which means 0 ppm.
I forgot what's the procedure call. but the water is product from combine H2 and O2 via some chemcical reaction. coz pure H2O (no electron adrift ) is a non-conductive medium.
It wasn't popular coz it is expensive as hell. (please correct me if I am wrong)
Distilled (also called "deionized") water is as close to pure as you're going to get in the consumer world. From a sealed container it is very close to pure - close enough to work for the rinse procedure I outlined above.
V710 in pool and High Pitch Noise when charger is connected.
This past weekend, a friend of mine threw me in the pool while my phone was on in my pocket. I have to say that the phone was in water for about 10 secs, till I threw it outta there. Let the phone dry for 24 hours..all the mostuire came out from the LCD screens, put the battery back in. Nothing. Plugged the charger in and all I hear is a high pitched noise from the phone. No display or light, just a High Pitched Sound. is my Phone messed up for good?
Hii..
my 6610 got some water in it !
but the battery was there for a long time n i tried to turn in on for abt more than 5 times !
i opened the phone n sprayed it with parfume (as it contains some alcohol) and rubbed it nicely with tooth brush then let it to dry for abt 4 ~ 5 hrs ...
now it doesnt work !
can someone help me ??
MILLION Thanx in advance !!!
hi, a noob Electronic tech here.
I have a question and some additional comment.
Question: is there a way to detect if the cell phone has been dropped into water? like UV light or some sort? I am always afraid to buy an used phone.
Add. comment.
pure water is a bad idea. NOT if you are using the pure H2O. which means 0 ppm.
I forgot what's the procedure call. but the water is product from combine H2 and O2 via some chemcical reaction. coz pure H2O (no electron adrift ) is a non-conductive medium.
It wasn't popular coz it is expensive as hell. (please correct me if I am wrong)
now answer my question :electrify
Most companies now have a red or white dot on the phone under the battery or under the battery door, that will change color or distort if it comes in contact with water. Otherwise just check the contacts for corrosion, or if it has removeable faceplate check under the keypad on the contacts there.
ok wow, wish i had read some of these things earlier, um so about that whole, "dont use a battery after its been in water," wow, ok so it started out, my friend had a v400 that he let me use, it died, bc b4 he let me use it, he informed me that he dropped it in the lake, well, w.e bc it worked. but then, it died, and i forgot about the battery, but i get a new V400, and being stupid, i put that battery in my new phone, bc the battery that came with it is a 3rd party battery, ( i got it off ebay, bad disecion, long story). ne way, so not thinkin about it, i charged it with that battery, and right away i noticed a dim screen where i have to hold it in direct light to read ne thing, but then it started working fine, and then, completely died. so i used the other battery, and now the outside screen works, but doesnt light up, and the inside screen is still really dim. but id really appreciate ne help, i spent way to much money on this phone, and i really could use some help.
thanks
ok wow, wish i had read some of these things earlier, um so about that whole, "dont use a battery after its been in water," wow, ok so it started out, my friend had a v400 that he let me use, it died, bc b4 he let me use it, he informed me that he dropped it in the lake, well, w.e bc it worked. but then, it died, and i forgot about the battery, but i get a new V400, and being stupid, i put that battery in my new phone, bc the battery that came with it is a 3rd party battery, ( i got it off ebay, bad disecion, long story). ne way, so not thinkin about it, i charged it with that battery, and right away i noticed a dim screen where i have to hold it in direct light to read ne thing, but then it started working fine, and then, completely died. so i used the other battery, and now the outside screen works, but doesnt light up, and the inside screen is still really dim. but id really appreciate ne help, i spent way to much money on this phone, and i really could use some help.
thanks
Did you check the phone with the battery supplied to see if it powered up before you put the battery in the phone that had been wet? I cant see where the water would make a diffrence. I have tested lots of batteries and water damaged phones to see that the parts work. Some batteries may be ruined if they are submerged in the water for a period of time but most of them look to be sealed. I have only had a few that didnt work when dropped in water.
Did you check the phone with the battery supplied to see if it powered up before you put the battery in the phone that had been wet? I cant see where the water would make a diffrence. I have tested lots of batteries and water damaged phones to see that the parts work. Some batteries may be ruined if they are submerged in the water for a period of time but most of them look to be sealed. I have only had a few that didnt work when dropped in water.
yeah, ive been using the battery that came with the phone for a while now, and it seems to be better now, but the screen is still dim, but everything eles on the phone works. and i would say its a problem with the screen, but every now and then, the phone will work perfectly fine, as in the screen on the out side lights up, and the screen on the inside lights up. However, this rarly happens, so idk, ne help would be greatly appreciated.
yeah, ive been using the battery that came with the phone for a while now, and it seems to be better now, but the screen is still dim, but everything eles on the phone works. and i would say its a problem with the screen, but every now and then, the phone will work perfectly fine, as in the screen on the out side lights up, and the screen on the inside lights up. However, this rarly happens, so idk, ne help would be greatly appreciated.
It could be a lot of things. My first thought would be that it may be a loose ribbon cable on the board from the inside lcd. If it has been doing this since you got the phone why didnt you send it back to the guy that you got it from if it wasnt working as described in the auction? But I would say that its either the ribbon cable loose or an LCD may even be some hardware problem, that isint fixable well not unless its done by a shop that has some serious technical equipment that can do component level troubleshooting.
Good Luck!!
Last night I was out and I dropped my phone in the snow. When I dropped it the back popped off, so I picked it up, took the battery out, wiped it quickly and put it back in. A while later my phone starts ringing, I pick it up but I can't hear anybody. They could hear me but I couldn't hear them. I decided I would look at it later, so when I got home I tested it, and I can hear alright when my phone is on speaker phone but if I'm off speaker phone I don't hear anything at all. I gave up and went to bed, when I woke up this morning I looked at my phone and the screen is all foggy in the one corner.
It's pretty ****** considered it was only dropped in the snow, and then picked up right away. Whats even worse is that it's a temporary phone! My other phone is out being fixed because suddenly it started to display "no service". Anyway, I really need a solution to this because I'm afraid they are going to want the loaner phone back soon. :/ I didnt want to try all the extreme options I previously read because I was unsure if there was another way to go about it. I can't find the extremely tiny screw driver to further open the phone, but I'm going to keep looking.
Oh yeah, and I have a Motorola V220 by the way. :|
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by qoo
Bookmarks