How To Save Your Wet Cell Phone!

First off, Hello and thanks for viewing my instructable.

Most of us have experienced dropping or spilling liquid over our over priced sensitive cell phones or gadgets and lost them forever.

Most people try to save their gadgets the wrong way . ex using a hair dryer witch may force moisture further into the small components and giving your phone a complete knockout .

In this instructable i will show you how to increase the chances of saving your phone/gadgets from drowning.

Also If you wish to view the video of this instructable for a better understanding or a quick review of the hole project click below. http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-save-a-wet-cell-phone-2'

Note for this instructable you will need :

1. One or more wet hand held gadgets.
2. One dry airtight container.
3. One pack of household cocking rice.
4. One or more small screwdriver.

Enjoy !

Step 1 Step 1 : Act Quickly !

The most important thing you have to do is to get that phone out of the water as soon as possible don't just look dumb at it while it's drowning, act fast !

Remove it from the water [pic.1].[pic.2]
Even doe the phone was under water for only a few seconds the vibration function short circuited, resulting in the phone vibrating out of control to view this watch the video http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-save-a-wet-cell-phone-2 or in [pic.3] .

So remember, removing it from the water as soon as possible makes the life/death difference !

Comments

[basekiller]

Hi, another method that will work faster.
I've only used it once to rescue a friends phone - but all went very well.
Do this at own risk of course, but this method repaired a broken phone and didn't damage screen or anthing...

Follow the first steps in this instructable (get it out of the water ASAP, take out battery)... then submerge your phone in pure alcohol. Yeah, I know it seems strange but let me explain:

The alcohol level should be as high as you can get (I used 90%). The trick is that the alcohol will 'pull' the water out of your phone and dissolve it, while the alcohol won't damage it.

Only leave your phone in for about 30 seconds or so, move it around a bit while it's under to make sure the alcohol gets everywhere. Let the alcohol evaporate completely (like 30 minutes) before reassembling the phone.

Et voila!

(BTW, just discovered this site and this is my first contribution...hope it helps!)

[mjursic]

Good but very scary! 12 years ago, I dropped a brand new flip phone in a cup of coffee 3rd day out. $350.00 up front! Took the battery out immediately and got it into a bowl of rice. Left it for a week, but by that time, it was dry and worked amazingly well for the next 4 years. Rice I have lying around. Alcohol, not so much. Thanks for the instructable.

[catmen]

I have to agree with that. Submerge quickly and shake for about 7 seconds and put it onto a towel, and flip every 3 minutes for 15 minutes, and should be back to normal. This must not be done with battery.

[piperstarwixom]

You could just put the phone in a bowl of rice

[amohanty]

Really informative article. But the recent spray from Ross,demonstrated a waterproof iPhone.It makes the surface superhydrophobic !
http://goo.gl/3eD4x

[Constantine]

Good Instructable, but I've got to ask; are you saying doe on purpose instead of though?

[catmen]

He actually talks like that. He's from romania, give him a break.

[smcmosley]

"Household cocking rice."

[framses]

haha, orez romanesc ;)

[danielozzo]

I remembered I "stumbled" in this instructable a while ago... well, yesterday my phone fell in the worst place, you know which one... so I tried to dry it with a towel and ran to my pc to look for your instructions... 'till now, it isn't fully fixed, damned "ok button", but at least it works!!! now it's sleeping again in a rice bed... let's hope for tomorrow!

thank you

[fallenleif]

Very cool, I have had the phone in the pool experience but that was back in the day and phones were not as advanced as they are today. First thing was to get the battery out, put it in distilled water and then let it dry for a long time. I wished I would have thought about the rice trick, even if you do not put it in the rice having it in a air tight container with the rice will be better than in open air. Thank you for the Instructable!

[The nerdling]

LOL :-{)

[mulcbone]

I gave my iPhone an accidental bath recently. Despite what you say, it's a completely different method than your phone above. The biggest difference is that you have no easy access to the battery...and, even though you can turn the iPhone off, there's still a bit of current running in the battery. I took out the screws on the bottom and pried it open. Let it air-dry and it's been fine since then. I tried the rice method but found a lot of tiny particles and dust that I wanted to avoid. Good advice for all other phones, tho! :)

[PrettyME]

how do u open up itouch or iphone? i dropped my itouch yesterday into the toilet. i was in school and taking a break i put my touch to my back pocket jeans while i walk around then i forgot to take it out when i went to washroom. im doing the rice thing now but i didnt open my itouch. hopefully it will help.. my itouch is charging and if i put it into my ipoddock it will play the last playlist it played and using the remote control i can skip the song in the playlist but i canot changed it like going to the main menu since i cant see anything on the screen. its all white!!

[struckbyanarrow]

for the iphone 3g you take out the 2 screws on the bottom, then place a suction cubnear the bottom of the screen near the home key (but still on the screen) then carefully and slowly pull up whamo its open!

[ac1D]

your lucky. my friend sister dropped her ipod touch on the swimming pool, she let it dry for about 2-3 day open, and then the touchscreen was acting weird. Anyway she bough a new one at walmart, put the old one in the box and return it, they are stupid and took it hback.

[ellion5656]

why did they took back that ipod touch??? is there any problems in their heads?

[ac1D]

Just did that with a ps3 slim. I dropped it, it was no more reading bluray(altough it read dvd, maybe the lense gone wrong) Bough a new one, put the old in the box and get a refund. You see, it's how it work at walmart: stupid 16yo kid in blue cloth with a blue brain does what you want- alway!

[ddpedersen]

Ok dude, not to be a cop, but this is basically stealing.  If you are clumsy and drop your stuff, then take some responsibility.

The reason stuff is more expensive is because of people like you.

[ac1D]

Do you think a company who make a million every hour really care about you bringing back a game console that don't work?
You are like all these eco guy who scream when you drop trash outside. Not like if they never had did it, too.

[severepb]

i have had a pair of black headphones i stepped on one (looked brand new still) and they werent that old. i had bought them at best buy. went to walmart the next week, bought some black headphones. went home, put my old ones in the package from my new ones. exchanged them for another color. i still have yet to do this with my blue ones that broke. (these are JVC gummies btw)

[mrfixerupper]

"they are stupid and took it back"? I hope you can see the error is this irresponsible behaver on her part.

[PKTraceur]

"Behaver." Lmao... -PKT

[cknuts17]

This is by far the best way to save a cell phone from water damage:  http://www.ehow.com/how_5854392_save-cell-phone-got-wet.html

[superhendrix]

what do you do if it happend=s to a touch phone like mine??????????

[ellion5656]

maybe that instructable makes the phone almost completely destroyed but its a nice instructable, nat least having an effort to save your digital junk!!!

[throckmorten]

Go to your local shoe store ask for a bag of the the silica desiccant packets. The ones that say DO NOT EAT. Take your electronic item and bury it in the packets, it will suck the moisture out really quickly. This method is very effective but rice is usually a lot easier to find.

[tazerl494]

I dorped my pohne in the tolite a week ago while this still work

[jonathan95123]

My dad's phone sat in rain overnight and was perfectly fine.

[Mortizner]

Dropped my Motorola Q into a swimming pool and didn't get it out for about five minutes, still works, know why? because I submerged it in Everclear (grain alcohol) for a few minutes (shaking and turning the phone to soak every nook and crany) now it works fine. Want to know why? Do a little research on Ethyl alcohol. I trust this way more than rice.

[lil jon168]

i drop a $10 walmart phone in a glass of coke and it turned back on right when i pulled it out

[margann]

The other thing you can do is, remove the battery and put the phone in the oven set to its lowest setting. On my oven, that is 170 degrees. I left my phone in for about 4 hours. Works great. Remember: evaporation is an electronic devices best friend. : )

[Kwitmeh3]

i believe you mean to say 'cooking rice'

[rick.leasure]

I believe the word you were looking for was "tho" or "though" instead of "doe".

[brassmnkys]

There's a higher chance that there will be rice on hand as opposed to magnesium sulfate, unless you drop you phone in a petri dish.

[lanceearlhaines]

Epsom bath salts are ubiquitous as well though rice may be more commonly on hand. Be sure the epsom salt has no other added ingredients.

[neckbreker2000]

Couldn't you use Magnesium Sulfate (baked Epsom salts) instead of rice as the drying agent, as it complexes with water and pulls moisture out of the air. The desiccators in my analytical lab class use them to dry things out and keep them dry.

[lanceearlhaines]

that would work better than rice but make sure none of the dust or crystals can get onto and into the phone remember from chemistry that salts corrode or oxidize metals especially in the presence of water or moisture, which is the situation in this case. complete separation wrapping each in filter paper then placing a barrier like a small plate between them inside the air tight container. Baking the salt will drive off the water making it anhydrous but don let it sit out too long before packing it into the air tight container or it will rehydrate from the moisture in the air.

[lanceearlhaines]

Complete dessication using the most hydroscopic crystals are not critical unless precision mass measurements are warranted like when calculation percent yield of a reaction or when using a chemical as a starting material in a reaction. The rice might be more practical in this case.

[lanceearlhaines]

removing the battery is the key! Flushing the electronic parts with deionized or distilled water would be ideal before drying. This will remove conductive salt ions that could corrode or oxidize metal parts integral for function. yes add more water! just make sure that it really is deionized water use sparingly and don't soak. They should put fuses in the batteries! but alas they make so much money off of swimming pools oceans and washing machines. I mean The people who use these. The saltier the water (more dissolved ions) the less likely your phone will recover if you leave the battery in. Lab dessicants can be used instead of rice. wrap the phone in a dry paper towel or TP first to prevent dust and debris from clogging up the works.