wet electronics

[monk]

This may be old news but I just heard it.

if you drop your ipod or cell phone in water (or beer or whatever) there is a procedure for maybe keeping your device alive.

What you do:

get a bowl and fill it with uncooked rice.
Submerge watered electronics into the bowl so it's completely covered/surrounded by rice.
cover bowl and wait 72 hours.

remove item and test.

supposedly the rice will suck all the moisture out of your wetronic device.

please give feedback if you try this and it works.
thanks.

[The Other Lizard]

when my cellphone got wet I was told to immediately remove the battery, dunk it in alcohol and then let it sit somewhere dry and warm and let the alcohol evaporate. It didn't work but I think that was because I didn't do it right away.

[Rainbow Dolphins]

I have heard this before, but have never had a reason to try it.

[Chococat]

My friend tried this with her phone last weekend. It worked. You should take the battery out first, and sometimes leaving it to sit in sunlight for a few hours after the rice helps.

[Charli!]

Long as you take the battery out and let it dry out before you try to turn it on, it should be ok. I have an mp3 player thats been through the washing machiens laods of times, and it still works!


Don't pick up the sopping wet camera and instantly try to turn it on, Mom, obviously that was a bad idea.

[Aum]

Could someone explain to me why it works if you let it dry out, but if you try to turn it on while it's still wet it destroys it for good?

[rowan]

If it's off, *hopefully* there is no electricity running through the circuitry. If you turn it on, the electricity will flow and because it's wet and electricity flows through water, electricity will short-circuit and go where it shouldn't be going in ways it shouldn't be going.

However it still isn't good; water generally will have impurities in it, so even if it dries out you might still short-circuit the electronics. And I suppose it depends a little on how the switching mechanism works for any given device as to whether or not being off will keep electricity from flowing while it's wet too. But generally as long as electricity isn't flowing it won't fry stuff if it's wet.

[Bork]

You should also pop the battery out ASAP.

If someone were to hypothetically drop their phone in something sugary, like a margarita for example (totally speaking hypothetically here), should you rinse the phone off first, or just stick it in rice? Margaritas can get kind of sticky...

and, just in case anyone is curious, your phone will work for approximately 18 hours after it gets dropped in a margarita. Or, just long enough for you to go to sleep, wake up and go to work, and get to the store to buy a new phone, where you find out that you can only upload information to your new phone from your old phone if your old phone can still turn on.

[Tapioca]

If someone were to hypothetically drop their phone in something sugary, like a margarita for example (totally speaking hypothetically here), should you rinse the phone off first, or just stick it in rice? Margaritas can get kind of sticky...

A friend of mine had his liquid cooling system with random sticky additives explode all over the inside of his PC. He submerged the parts in distilled water for like a week and a half, then dried it out and it worked again. I guess that would work with margaritas too? Haha.

[Mathmo]

Yeah, I would have guessed that if it's really wet already, then soaking it in distilled water might remove impurities and therefore be a good thing? But if it's just splashed, I wouldn't try to wash it off.

[SakuraSong]

Aw, I have a habit of dropping electronics in the water all the time, so I wish I knew about this before I had to buy a new Gameboy ADV. What a waste of money.

I shall try this on my sister's cellphone.

[Bork]

If someone were to hypothetically drop their phone in something sugary, like a margarita for example (totally speaking hypothetically here), should you rinse the phone off first, or just stick it in rice? Margaritas can get kind of sticky...

A friend of mine had his liquid cooling system with random sticky additives explode all over the inside of his PC. He submerged the parts in distilled water for like a week and a half, then dried it out and it worked again. I guess that would work with margaritas too? Haha.

It might work if you don't keep it on and try to use it. If you take the battery out right away and then soak it, that's something that would probably work. where was this thread two years ago?

[cwbyrvr]

where was this thread two years ago?

Holy crap, that was two years ago? My God... how time flies.

[Bork]

where was this thread two years ago?

Holy crap, that was two years ago? My God... how time flies.

Freaking seriously. At first, I was just going to go with a year ago, and then I realized that realistically, it was two years ago. UGH I FEEL SO OLD.

[sarcasticgal1221]

I've used this on my phone multiple times. It works. It's amazing.
(disclaimer: I've never used it after my phone has been completely submerged in water for extended periods of time, I've used it when I drop a cup of water on my phone, and I've grabbed phone out right away. I don't know how it would work if the liquid had more time to permeate machinery.)

Take the battery out first.