My phone survived getting wet

[SternWake]

Samsung s4 mini.

It was not a full dunking/ submersion.  It was playing music, upside down, and some water had accumulated in the little pool formed by the protective casing around the camera lens and LED light.
  It shut itself off.  I ripped out the battery, SIM and microSD card, then used my buckethead shop van on a reduced speed via my router speed controller to suck out all the moisture I could, and left it to run for 20 minutes moving the hose occassionally to suck air through/around/across a different area of the underside.

Then I stuck it in my bag of Trader joe's Brown rice medley,  and left it for about 18 hours with a fan blowing over the top of the bag in low ambient humidity and only spilled about 1/3 the contents of the bag all over the place about 3 different times

Today I cleaned all contacts of sim SD and battery with Deoxit d5, replaced battery, held the power button and it vibrated and fired up and I danced a jig.

I was not looking forward to paying for or learning a new phone and it appears I do not have to.

Posted just incase it can help someone else. 

If you get it wet, time is of the essence, get the battery out, suck out all moisture possible, and let a dessicant works its magic for at least 12 hours before trying to restart it.

Those 18 hours without a phone was also enlightening, Heck i had to turn on my stereo or laptop or TV just to know what time it was.

 

[regis101]

and I danced a jig.

Well Ok.  But we need pic's or it didn't happen.  Thems da rulz.  

 

[MrNoodly]

A few years ago, a friend accidentally dropped my new iPhone in a glass of water as he was handing it back to me over the lunch table. It was submerged for two or three seconds until we managed to recover it. I thought that was the end of it. But after a couple of days it dried out and worked fine. The speakers were the last to recover.

 

[SternWake]

 But we need pic's or it didn't happen.  Thems da rulz.  

got me, it didn't happen. 

 I might have let out a Homer Simpsonesque 'Whohooo' though.

 

[regis101]

No.  It happened.  I know it.  You left a visual with all of us.  
You jig and the world jigs with ya. It's all good.  

Thanks for the tip, as always.

 

[Ballenxj]

Well Ok.  But we need pic's or it didn't happen.  Thems da rulz.  

So, his phone has to take a selfie while submerged? You drive a hard bargain.

 

[regis101]

hee hee hee.

 

[carlex.escapade]

You are such a lucky man, mine didn't work as I immediately turn it on after it fell down in the pool.
Maybe I should purchase an S4 mini then to see if it will work. LOL

 

[Weight]

Two winters ago, trying to visit a colony of Pitcher Plants, I fell through the ice, submerged to my waist, with phone in my pants pocket. A scary time getting my self out of that spot. Phone was a HTC and I could pull the battery. Left it in the sun on my dash. After a day it worked fine, until I got this latest piece of junk.

 

[mayble]

i once had a motorola that survived THREE trips thru the washing machine
i'd probably still have that phone if i hadn't switched carriers

 

[rvpopeye]

Similar story here.
I dropped a phone in the toilet once and after pulling the battery I dipped it in 91% alcohol , dried it in rice overnight , then put it in front of the heater vent in the car and drove around for a few hours.......
I don't know if that all was necessary but it worked fine after putting the batt and cover back on..

 

[lenny flank]

The "instant rice" trick works with cameras too.

 

[SternWake]

My phone actually has a bunch of screws under the back cover I was considering removing and seeing if I could further increase ventilation to the mysterious innards. If it was a full submersion I likely would have

The reduced speed ShopVac sucking air/ moisture was likely highly effective, more so than the rice. The hardest part was just deciding to not put the battery and power it up instantly, but letting enough time to pass for the dessicant to do its job.

Perhaps it would have fired up after the 20+ minutes of a shopvac sucking air across through and around the backside components with lid off, but I'll not be doing it again to figure it out. Hopefully.

The 'buckethead' vaccuum sells at home depot for 21 dollars. It draws about 32 amps powered on my 400 watt pure sine wave inverter. Surprisingly powerful and fits on top of a 5 gallon or 3.5 gallon bucket.

The router speed controller is about 25$ and is also quite useful for reducing amp draw and noise when full power is not required

 

[rvpopeye]

Buckethead , funny name .
Makes sense and...
Good price for a shop vac though.