cellphones that got wet

[Bob Haller]

knowing some folks who got cell phones wet, one friend ran it thru the washer. it partially recovered, they could still do text messages with it.

I got wondering if you put the dipping wet cell phone in a sealed cyclinder and connected it to a vacuum pump, wnder if that would dry them out better?

ideally one would do this immediately after water exposure

 

[dfergie]

I washed one a couple of years ago, set it outside (100+ temp) then brought it in after a few hours and put in the oven (Propane) with just the pilot light on and left overnight... no display but it worked until I got a new one a month or so later... I jumped into a pool with one and did the same thing (it was a week old)same results, no display...

 

[KE4EST]

Yes those type of displays hate water. As far as your question Bob, I don't know. I would like to know if someone tries it. Say take an old one lying around the house and test it.

 

[Claude Greiner]

Remove the battery ASAP, open it up and wash out the inside with distilled water and let it dry out.

This works great with remotes, should work with cell phones!!!!!

 

[Bob Haller]

thanks for moving this. distilled water a good idea.

i might take a old junk one, drop it in water then try the vacuumn system

 

[dfergie]

I wonder if alcohol would work, the 90 % Rubbing alcohol...

 

[Inno]

Problem being is that usually when these incidents occur, the battery is on the phone and the phone is turned on. Given the tiny size of the circuits and components and their location to one another (very very close), it doesn't take much impure water to bridge the contacts together and create a short circuit which will damage components. For the most part, and from experience as a tech. I'd say you'll be very very lucky if the phone ever works properly again. If the phone wasn't turned on you might stand a bit of a chance..........odds are greater if the phone doesn't have the battery installed and is completely dried out before applying power to it. I do know someone who's wife washed his phone and it did still work but I don't think it was on........and she ran it through the drier too. I really don't think the vacuum pump would work at all........it'd compress any flexible part of the phone but still not draw the water out.
Oh, one more thing.......if a phone is under warranty and shows ANY signs that water even came near it, the warranty becomes void.

 

[Claude Greiner]

Forget about vaccuming it out, you really need to open up the phone and remove the battery ASAP!

Just last week I dropped a remote in the bathtub full of water. Removed the batteries and shook all the water out of it, let it dry overnight and all was good!

Didn't bother to open it because I only got 100 other remotes at the office I can take home if I damaged it

 

[Inno]

That'll work with a remote moreso than a cell phone because there's not much for circuitry in a remote and there's not much happening from an electronic standpoint until one of the buttons is pressed.......a cell phone on the other hand has a lot going on even when it's not in use.

 

[bhelms]

Forget about vaccuming it out, you really need to open up the phone and remove the battery ASAP!

Just last week I dropped a remote in the bathtub full of water. Removed the batteries and shook all the water out of it, let it dry overnight and all was good!

Didn't bother to open it because I only got 100 other remotes at the office I can take home if I damaged it

I can commiserate! I had one particular remote that I dropped into my hottub several times, each of which instantly killed it. I went through the same routine every time: popped the case open, shook it out, rinsed it with alcohol (displaces most of the water and stops any further galvanic damage), scrubbed any "suspicious" looking places with a q-tip, shook and blew out with a hairdryer as much liquid as possible, then baked the whole thing in the oven at 100 deg. F for a couple of hours. Worked every time! Then the last time I mistakenly set the oven at 200 F...

I managed to find an exact replacement for that remote on eBay for about $40. (The original was 12 y.o. hence no longer available from the mfgr., and no low-cost "universal" remote would give me all the functions.) While I was waiting for that remote to arrive the whole TV crapped-out never to run again. Story of my life. (Anyone looking for a Sony RMY-107, p/n 146576711?) BTW - that remote is rather complicated. No display or multilayer circuits, but rather packed with close-pitch (.025"?) IC pins. It was mixed technology, both SMT and through-hole components. It's tough to get water/alcohol out of everywhere except by evaporation.

Fortunately I haven't had the need to try any of this with a cell phone yet...

 

[Foxbat]

I didn't get my phone wet, but I did throw my ski jacket in the dryer between runs with my RAZR and some Chapstick in the pocket. I was trying to figure out what the cherry smell was, then my brain started to function again and I plucked one Very Warm cellphone out of the jacket. The display was black and the whole phone was covered with melted Chapstick! I wiped it down with a towel and after the phone cooled down, I had to pull out the SIM card since it had warped and the phone was not working. After I flattened it out and put the phone back together, I was very relieved to be greeted with "Hello Moto".

Of course, I don't recommend that anyone put a cell phone through a dryer, but if you do, take out the SIM card and the battery first!

 

[snathanb]

My son left his cell phone in his pants pocket and it went through our washer... I took the battery out and set the phone on the dashboard of my suburban for a day to completely dry out from the heat of the car and it was completely fine afterwards.