How to revive a waterlogged cell phone?

Well, basically from what I know, most electronics was powered on will short out and render unusable if was exposed to water. If they were turned off and was in water,
yes it can be revived just fine. It just need to be dried and cleaned out before turning it on.
 
Sequoias is correct.

A friend of mine accidently dropped his cellular phone in water, he quickly remove battery and used hair dryer to dry out. And then he put battery back on and turned it on - it worked just fine.
 
I always (has happened more times then I can count) quickly removed the battery and let it sit for 24 hours. If it's just water they'll work again. If it's soda then some buttons won't work properly. Good luck
 
Have you ever handled the internals of an electronic device before, or even dismantled one?

If you are not a pro or even a novice at doing these things.. it may end up taking a lot of your time.

Basically what you are doing is reviving a shorted circuit like sequoias and the article is telling you to do. When electronics touch water, they get a "short" which means somewhere along the circuitry, the instant the water touches wherever it did, that short turned off the rest of the phone. An example would be like a city blackout, what happened at one spot suddenly affects the rest.

You take everything apart, screws, connectors, cables, and dry up the internals, let it sit overnight, then put in the (a new) battery and try it again to see if it turns on for you.

Certain things shouldn't be used if you don't know what you are doing, like a hair dryer. The hair dryer is like the portable microwave. Your average newbie might end up "microwaving" some of the components on the board from it getting too hot, if that happens, you have no option except to say good bye to that board and get a new one. Unless you are a electronics engineer and you know where to get a replacement component and solder it back on.

But if you are daring and have the time to do it all, by all means you should try it. If you get it working you'll feel good from doing so too.
 
naisho said:
Certain things shouldn't be used if you don't know what you are doing, like a hair dryer. The hair dryer is like the portable microwave. Your average newbie might end up "microwaving" some of the components on the board from it getting too hot, if that happens, you have no option except to say good bye to that board and get a new one. Unless you are a electronics engineer and you know where to get a replacement component and solder it back on.

But if you are daring and have the time to do it all, by all means you should try it. If you get it working you'll feel good from doing so too.
Click to expand...

Maybe I should have mentioned "air blowing" hairdryer (without heat).
 
Here's one scenario I did with an old cell phone - I had accidently washed it inside my jeans. At this point, I did not know it was in my jeans, so as usual, threw them along with other jeans in the dryer. Note I was using the medium setting. After the drying was done, my cell popped out of my freshly dried jeans, and
i thought Oh S#!t! But it felt thoroghly dry, so I turned it on and it works fine - for a short period of time. After roughly 3 months, the cell would start to fail to hold a charge, even if the battery is new. Water nowadays is not 100% pure (heard of hard or soft water?), it can very well establish some hard to remove oxidants on the board after drying. So basically, even after drying, once in the water, you just shortened its lifespan!
 
sequoias said:
Well, basically from what I know, most electronics was powered on will short out and render unusable if was exposed to water. If they were turned off and was in water,
yes it can be revived just fine. It just need to be dried and cleaned out before turning it on.
Click to expand...
turned off or on - it won't matter. it will still get short-circuited. The battery must be removed QUICKLY.

JMH said:
Sequoias is correct.

A friend of mine accidently dropped his cellular phone in water, he quickly remove battery and used hair dryer to dry out. And then he put battery back on and turned it on - it worked just fine.
Click to expand...
bingo.

chris' mom said:
I always (has happened more times then I can count) quickly removed the battery and let it sit for 24 hours. If it's just water they'll work again. If it's soda then some buttons won't work properly. Good luck
Click to expand...
For soda problem - quickly remove the battery and dunk your cellphone in isopropyl alcohol (preferably a very high percentage of alcohol). I don't recommend using typical rubbing alcohol found at any store because it contains 70% alcohol... If you can find one with 90% alcohol, use it. I don't really know where you can buy it... However - rubbing alcohol will do because you're screwed if your cell's been dunked in soda.

JMH said:
Maybe I should have mentioned "air blowing" hairdryer (without heat).
Click to expand...
ABSOLUTELY NOT! UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCE you are to use hairdryer to dry the electronic circuit. Like naisho said - you'll end up frying it. I used to be electrical engineer and I have soldered/dismantled/built circuit board for quite a while so I know enough NOT to use any form of air drying technique for circuit board. Here's a good tip to accelerate drying process - dunk your cell into a bowl of rice (yes uncooked). It makes a nice poor man's desiccant.

It's good idea to flush your cellphone with rubbing alcohol (preferably 90% alcohol) because the water (even a droplet) will leave a permanent damage inside even after 24 hrs drying period. Rubbing alcohol will flush everything out and it will evaporate quickly. another tip is to make a habit of collecting REAL desiccant from any packaging.
 
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