How to Deal with a Droid thats Gotten Wet–THE RIGHT WAY

[tex]

good ol' bag of rice

Last Wednesday, wife's nephew thought it would be funny to drop her droid in a cup of water (his nickname is tazmanian devil). I towel dried the big droplets, took battery out and pushed keyboard open. Let it sit open in warm dry room for the night and rebooted it the next day. It worked for about 20 minutes, but then locked up with black screen. I broke it back down and put it in bag of rice and left it for 2 days. Pulled it out and it booted right up. I should have not have booted it within the first 24 hrs, thankfully it recovered.

Took the phone to VZW later that week to have it looked over and get insurance. I was honest and told them what exactly had happened. After taking it to their "mysterious" back room, they came out and said fully functional, the watermark was still intact and they would put the insurance on it, no problem.

Don't know if this helps anybody out there, but it worked for us. Good luck.

 

[tetontroll]

Droid With A Beer Chaser

Everclear (190 proof ethanol) resurrected my Droid from full immersion in beer. I would hesitate to use hardware store denatured alcohol because of the nasty stuff added to make it undrinkable. Spend the extra ten bucks and throw what's left in the punchbowl.

 

[Johnly]

aw shucks, I just gotta add another point or 2.....

Water, electricity and conductive surfaces and compounds are really the problem. Corrosive residues follow closely. That's why getting the battery out instantly is so important. Water with any salt whatsoever is just enough of both to do real damage. Human sweat qualifies!

,,, which are facts some know well, and assume others either also realize - or are too dumb to understand

If there is no electrical current (or potential) present or available, a further rinse with clean, pure water is not a bad idea, IF it is effectively used to remove other impurities such as conductive compounds (salt being probably the most common) or corrosive compounds (uh, salt again!). If Alcohol is effectively used for those same purposes, great!

Dessicants, compressed dry gasses, and heat are only good when they effectively remove clean, pure water or alcohol which leave no corrosive or conductive residue, and haven't harmed factory applied sealants and heat conductors. If clean water is the only foreign substance that ever got into the device, then any method of drying, which does no damage to any part or element of the device, is just fine!

I actually got a cell phone soaked in salt water once, and was able to get the battery out quickly enough that the phone suffered no immediate damage. I then cleaned it out (after some careful disassembly) and let it air dry slowly, and all was well. This was a days long process though! I could have sped things up, but I didn't want to press my luck too much.

The tiny, tiny spaces between the leads on microchips, and electronic connectors inside the phones rarely get water in them, but are the most sensitive to damage from conductive compounds or debris. Gold-plated connectors are impervious to corrosion per-se, but once again, residue can be a problem if it is conductive, OR non-conductive OR barely conductive.

PURE water is non-conductive. Very clean, but not PURE water can be BARELY conductive.

If it got in your phone, how pure can it be?

I keep zip-lock bags and paper towelsand napkins in my car, duffel back, lunch bag, tackle box, boats, etc.. When I go out boating I wrap the phone in the paper towel, and put it in a zip-lock bag. Without the absorptive paper present a bag can be worse than anything.

Good point, sweat is an enemy of electronics. You sound better prepared than most my friend, but don't get caught in the purest of holy water while the toaster gets dropped in, It will kill, as this is earth, not the deep hidden springs of pure artisan water from 10million years ago ha ha. Salt does intensify the effect tenfold, so does many impurities and additives. Sweat is worse than water...thanks for pointing that out! I like to get my sweat on!

 

[housefull]

I accept with information:This is the tough one. Wait. Wait until you think it is dry, then wait 2 more days. The alcohol that you rinsed your phone with displaced the water, now it must evaporate. There are risks to long term alcohol exposure for your phone–it can break seals(just like in people…) and break glue bonds. I’ve done this to 5 phones(not all mine, but for family/friends) and never experienced any alcohol related failures(the same can’t be said for their owners). I recommend waiting at least 4 days. 5 is better. I know, you can’t live without your phone for that long… but this is an attempt to save you some cash. Live with it.

 

[alienware777]

Great advice. Thanks!

 

[Shamey]

Almost makes me want to get someones phone all wet so I can try this

 

[EmmVeePee]

Also, if available, anhydrous sulfate salts works well as a desiccant. Epsom salt (Magnesium Sulfate), for example (so long as it is anhydrous).

If we're talking about "pure" water, rain, snow, toilet (freshly flushed), sink, pool, bath, et cetera, then you can skip the isopropanol washing. It won't do anything but make it harder to dry. Any kind of solution (soda, beer, urine), you should consider the isopropanol bath.

 

[GMofOLC]

Say I spilled some wine of my Droid a couple days ago, is this something that can be done now, even though it's already dry? It's not sliding as smoothly as it was before, and I'm fairly certain this is the reason.
Or is there some other way to make it slide better?