Smartphone rescue.

[MarkJunedd]

Thought i'd post this in case any body else foolishly does the same ! Had a lovely day on a local beach yesterday ,sun was shining, beach was full, water was lovely, anyway while walking to a different part of the beach across some rocks my wife slipped and went in the drink complete with her bag which contained her brand new Samsung smartphone! Totally submerged it .Water dripping out of it, Thats it i thought its knackered !. Any we came home and i read on the net that the best thing to do is put it in a bowl of uncooked rice for a few hours. I took the back off and battery out and left it overnight and its now working absolutely fine, no issues at all !!! Apparently the rice draws out any moisture from the insides and in the absence of silica gel is the next best thing. How long it will last now is another thing !

 

[jay1983]

I've heard this from a friend who also done it with an iPod.
Approx 1 year on and still working fine. Only problem is the warranty will now be void as the water indicators inside the phone will be red now

 

[High-Lo]

Excellent tip!

 

[brucemillar]

Apple recommend this on their web-site. make sure you power off and remove the battery as soon as possible after the drowning. You can also use fresh water to rinse the phone as the salt water may well corrode it at a later stage. This would also be true for fizzy/sugary drinks spills.

Leave in rice for 48 hours and then a further 48 hours in an airing cupboard.

As mentioned above the moisture indicators on the innards will have tripped so your warranty is voided.

 

[Gazz270]

the moisture indicators can be bought now off ebay and other sites,just take the back off remove the old ones and replace them,they are just stick on,
done this a couple time now with iphone,

 

[Sp!ke]

the moisture indicators can be bought now off ebay and other sites,just take the back off remove the old ones and replace them,they are just stick on,
done this a couple time now with iphone,

Wow, I never knew that, I've been carefully re-colouring them all this time.

 

[DSM10000]

Wow, I never knew that, I've been carefully re-colouring them all this time.

Spike, do you have a lot of "accidents" leading to 'phone wetting??

 

[Sp!ke]

at work we do

 

[DSM10000]

at work we do

That reminds me of a coleague who, several years ago was trying to take a history from an elderly Yorkshireman who had just been admitted.

She asked him the routine questions including if he had ever been incontinent.

"Nay lass never" he said. A few minutes later he said "Ey lass, I am reet sorry, I clear forgot, t'wife and me went ont' day trip t' France last year, thats incontinent int it?"

 

[Benzster]

Gosh, I wish I had known that when my wife had such an accident with one of her previous phones, I note further down the page that one can puchase new 'moisture indicators' too.

 

[Gazz270]

ebay item number

270994566257
these are the ones we use and are a perfect fit,
just remember on most smartphones they will hide one,on iphone 4 its under battery,and 3gs its under logic board

cat litter (unused)is also good for wet phones,

 

[gaz_l]

cat litter (unused)

Lol. Used cat litter might make the phone ming a bit..

Cheers,

Gaz

 

[John]

You can also use fresh water to rinse the phone as the salt water may well corrode it at a later stage. This would also be true for fizzy/sugary drinks spills.

Salt water, fizzy drinks etc. I understand can bridge joints whereas fresh water wont - so it would be better to wash the phone if it is has been dropped in anything other than fresh water...

 

[Flatflr]

Salt water, fizzy drinks etc. I understand can bridge joints whereas fresh water wont - so it would be better to wash the phone if it is has been dropped in anything other than fresh water...

Yup salt water can cause real problems. Demineralised or fresh water is often ok (demin is what's they use for cleaning circuits in manufacturing after all the nasty stuff was banned). but if it's anothing other than those it's really easy to identify liquid damage on circuit boards.