Repair a water damaged Smart Phone?

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pstar008

362 posts

Ultimate Geek

#112153 28-Nov-2012 08:54

Hi, I bought a Sony Xperia S for my wife and she love it. But one day it decided to take a bath. After we managed to take it out the water and took the un-removable battery out, the phone is already black screened, it wasn't when we took it out from water.

After a week of two attempt to dehydrate it, we managed to be able turn the phone on and normal operation seems fine, the LCD screen seems clear by now. But there are two problems: 1. No sound from speaker at all 2. battery deplete really quickly, I think it will last a few hours idle rather than a day or two.

I don't have any kind of insurance which cover the phone damage, so I have either to throw the phone away, or trying to spend money have someone else repaired it for me. So my questions is, is it economical to repair the phone fully, or it is really hard to say from the information I provided but it is probably too expensive for the price of the phone itself is something $500 brand new I believe.

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Hawkes Bay
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#724006 28-Nov-2012 09:27

In my experience, you will never be able to trust a water-immersed phone again.

You might get it going 100% but then corrosion may take its toll on components unseen, so any time effort and $$ is down the drain.

Cut your losses - new phone time.

Get the old one on Trademe for $1 reserve and be upfront about the problems, you may get $100 for it.

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keewee01

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#724044 28-Nov-2012 10:48

tonyhughes: In my experience, you will never be able to trust a water-immersed phone again.

You might get it going 100% but then corrosion may take its toll on components unseen, so any time effort and $$ is down the drain.

Cut your losses - new phone time.

Get the old one on Trademe for $1 reserve and be upfront about the problems, you may get $100 for it.

+1 - I've seen a number of water immersed phones and sometime they work well for a couple of weeks before they're stuffed, or they're stuffed straight away. Odd occasion they'll go on for a few months.

But ultimately it is going to have an untimely demise and you are better throwing your money at a new phone straight up, rather than at repairs and then having a high likelyhood of having to buy a new phone down the track anyway.

wellygary

7384 posts

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#724048 28-Nov-2012 10:56

+1 Get your data off it and bin it.

Water is like the anti-magic smoke,

pstar008

362 posts

Ultimate Geek

#724064 28-Nov-2012 11:12

tonyhughes: In my experience, you will never be able to trust a water-immersed phone again.

You might get it going 100% but then corrosion may take its toll on components unseen, so any time effort and $$ is down the drain.

Cut your losses - new phone time.

Get the old one on Trademe for $1 reserve and be upfront about the problems, you may get $100 for it.

Thank you guys, good advice. I heard about water damaged phone could be hard to repair if can be done at all, seems like more than one person had experiences with that.

I will put it on trademe sometime after figure out which phone to buy, probably wouldn't get much out of it, but assume it can still be useful for someone else, that alone is better than thrown the phone away.

CYaBro

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#724126 28-Nov-2012 12:07

I took my old iPhone 3GS for a swim in a salt water pool.
It was in my pocket and as I jumped into the pool I said "Oh sh!T!"

I immediately took it apart as much as I could and stuck it in the hot water cupboard for 2 days.
It wouldn't work after that so left it in the hot water cupboard for about a week just for laughs.
Tried it again and it worked!
Everything worked as it did before and it worked for a number of months after that too.
I have since sold it and the person who has it is still using it after almost 2 years.

wellygary

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#724128 28-Nov-2012 12:11

CYaBro: I took my old iPhone 3GS for a swim in a salt water pool.
It was in my pocket and as I jumped into the pool I said "Oh sh!T!"

I immediately took it apart as much as I could and stuck it in the hot water cupboard for 2 days.
It wouldn't work after that so left it in the hot water cupboard for about a week just for laughs.
Tried it again and it worked!
Everything worked as it did before and it worked for a number of months after that too.
I have since sold it and the person who has it is still using it after almost 2 years.

YMMV

Technofreak

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#724418 28-Nov-2012 22:15

CYaBro: I took my old iPhone 3GS for a swim in a salt water pool.
It was in my pocket and as I jumped into the pool I said "Oh sh!T!"

I immediately took it apart as much as I could and stuck it in the hot water cupboard for 2 days.
It wouldn't work after that so left it in the hot water cupboard for about a week just for laughs.
Tried it again and it worked!
Everything worked as it did before and it worked for a number of months after that too.
I have since sold it and the person who has it is still using it after almost 2 years.

Yep, I saw one get dunked in a jug of beer, A prompt disassembly and washing out of all beer residue and then a few days in the airing cupboard and all was well.

My old laptop had a glass on red wine spilt over it, the laptop stopped responding properly and I was unable to turn it off. I removed the battery tipped out as much wine as possible and dried it out. It worked faithfully for several more years.

The secret is getting the battery out ASAP, then make sure any contamination is removed and then dry the unit properly prior to reinstalling the battery.

Having said all that you do have to be prepared for a premature failure.

Sony Xperia XA2 running Sailfish OS. https://sailfishos.org The true independent open source mobile OS
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lerlnz

1 post

Wannabe Geek

#724494 29-Nov-2012 08:45

If you do not have a hot water cupboard then put the device in a container of rice for a week. This worked for an iPod that had gone through the wash in a dressing gown pocket!!

pageweon

393 posts

Ultimate Geek

#724507 29-Nov-2012 09:00

I've repaired many a moisture damaged.. open them up and scrub them with isopropyl alcohol was always my method (once they had dried out) but it's never a guaranteed repair. +1 for new phone

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pstar008

362 posts

Ultimate Geek

#724546 29-Nov-2012 10:10

Technofreak:
CYaBro: I took my old iPhone 3GS for a swim in a salt water pool.
It was in my pocket and as I jumped into the pool I said "Oh sh!T!"

I immediately took it apart as much as I could and stuck it in the hot water cupboard for 2 days.
It wouldn't work after that so left it in the hot water cupboard for about a week just for laughs.
Tried it again and it worked!
Everything worked as it did before and it worked for a number of months after that too.
I have since sold it and the person who has it is still using it after almost 2 years.

Yep, I saw one get dunked in a jug of beer, A prompt disassembly and washing out of all beer residue and then a few days in the airing cupboard and all was well.

My old laptop had a glass on red wine spilt over it, the laptop stopped responding properly and I was unable to turn it off. I removed the battery tipped out as much wine as possible and dried it out. It worked faithfully for several more years.

The secret is getting the battery out ASAP, then make sure any contamination is removed and then dry the unit properly prior to reinstalling the battery.

Having said all that you do have to be prepared for a premature failure.

Seriously, beer and salt water? My one just dropped in bath water!

Interesting pattern I observed and I am sort of expecting: first there is always general consensus option after the thread owner asked a question, then a few follow on, then, there is interesting bit, there will always be some other option/options which certainly interesting but are normally rarity rather than norm.

I think those are lucky cases or my one is unlucky case, and I think my phone do have shorted circuit and probably the speaker been damaged by that.

pstar008

362 posts

Ultimate Geek

#724565 29-Nov-2012 10:40

lerlnz: If you do not have a hot water cupboard then put the device in a container of rice for a week. This worked for an iPod that had gone through the wash in a dressing gown pocket!!

Yeah, did put in a rice bag for about two weeks.

Technofreak

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#724571 29-Nov-2012 10:50

pstar008:

Seriously, beer and salt water? My one just dropped in bath water!

Interesting pattern I observed and I am sort of expecting: first there is always general consensus option after the thread owner asked a question, then a few follow on, then, there is interesting bit, there will always be some other option/options which certainly interesting but are normally rarity rather than norm.

I think those are lucky cases or my one is unlucky case, and I think my phone do have shorted circuit and probably the speaker been damaged by that.

What was in that bath water, bath salts? soap? The water out of the tap isn't free of contaminants either.

Providing the item has the battery removed promptly and the contaminating fluids cleaned out promptly I'd give it a better than 80% chance of working without any issues. My experience with water damaged devices isn't huge but with the ones I've been involved with I have had excellent results. As mentioned above mileage may vary, there might be a little luck involved, but IMO it comes down to prompt action right at the time the problem occurs.

Did you clean or flush out the bath water prior to drying it out? If you didn't might I suggest the speaker could be gummed with dried soap. The battery life could be due to contamination somewhere in the device. Had you tried another battery?

If it were my phone I'd give it a good clean with isopropyl alcohol and see how the battery life and speaker were after that, then, if necessary, try another battery and if that sorted the battery issue I'd source a new speaker and replace that. Unless you have the ability and or confidence to pull the device apart and are prepared to muck around cleaning it etc then you're probably better off buying a new one as the costs of paying someone to repair it will not be economic. I guess that's why quite few here are saying don't bother with the old one get a new one.

Sony Xperia XA2 running Sailfish OS. https://sailfishos.org The true independent open source mobile OS
Samsung Galaxy Tab S6
Dell Inspiron 14z i5

DrStrangelove

368 posts

Ultimate Geek

#724660 29-Nov-2012 13:39

Sony XPERIA V coming out soon.
It's a good high mid-range phone (Sony always behind the times) in today's market.

Probably just the phone for the 'active' person.

- IP57 certified - dust and water resistant
- Water proof up to 1 meter and 30 minutes.

Problem is, everybody'll keep on wanting to put it in someone's beer or be throwing it in water.

I know this cause we threw a guys(never brag) keys into a garden at a restaurant at night and he spent 15-20 minutes whistling before the key-ring 'chirped' and he found them. Not a happy camper. :-)

Coffee with milk and sugar is almost a death sentence to electronics. Quick rinse in water and then airing cupboard for a day or so and you may be lucky.

Technofreak

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#724662 29-Nov-2012 13:44

DrStrangelove: Sony XPERIA V coming out soon.
It's a good high mid-range phone (Sony always behind the times) in today's market.

Probably just the phone for the 'active' person.

- IP57 certified - dust and water resistant
- Water proof up to 1 meter and 30 minutes.

Problem is, everybody'll keep on wanting to put it in someone's beer or be throwing it in water.

I know this cause we threw a guys(never brag) keys into a garden at a restaurant at night and he spent 15-20 minutes whistling before the key-ring 'chirped' and he found them. Not a happy camper. :-)

Bit like the "Don't Touch, Wet Paint" sign, everyone needs to check if it's true.

Sony Xperia XA2 running Sailfish OS. https://sailfishos.org The true independent open source mobile OS
Samsung Galaxy Tab S6
Dell Inspiron 14z i5

pstar008

362 posts

Ultimate Geek

#724753 29-Nov-2012 16:34

Technofreak:
pstar008:

Seriously, beer and salt water? My one just dropped in bath water!

Interesting pattern I observed and I am sort of expecting: first there is always general consensus option after the thread owner asked a question, then a few follow on, then, there is interesting bit, there will always be some other option/options which certainly interesting but are normally rarity rather than norm.

I think those are lucky cases or my one is unlucky case, and I think my phone do have shorted circuit and probably the speaker been damaged by that.

What was in that bath water, bath salts? soap? The water out of the tap isn't free of contaminants either.

Providing the item has the battery removed promptly and the contaminating fluids cleaned out promptly I'd give it a better than 80% chance of working without any issues. My experience with water damaged devices isn't huge but with the ones I've been involved with I have had excellent results. As mentioned above mileage may vary, there might be a little luck involved, but IMO it comes down to prompt action right at the time the problem occurs.

Did you clean or flush out the bath water prior to drying it out? If you didn't might I suggest the speaker could be gummed with dried soap. The battery life could be due to contamination somewhere in the device. Had you tried another battery?

If it were my phone I'd give it a good clean with isopropyl alcohol and see how the battery life and speaker were after that, then, if necessary, try another battery and if that sorted the battery issue I'd source a new speaker and replace that. Unless you have the ability and or confidence to pull the device apart and are prepared to muck around cleaning it etc then you're probably better off buying a new one as the costs of paying someone to repair it will not be economic. I guess that's why quite few here are saying don't bother with the old one get a new one.

Hi, the water is rather clean, but definitely not pure water, and it did contains soap.

The thing is I was in another room after the phone dropped, as wife didn't know what to do and called out. It took some time to figure out what happened. Then there was a rather hard to remove phone shell, and I realized that the battery is not removable. Then it took few more minutes to find screw driver and take out the battery. After that, I just open the internal of the phone without took the main board out for a few days. So I didn't clean it.

As the battery is not removable/user replaceable I don't think I can found another battery.

I am still not sure that I want took that phone apart, but since it couldn't get any worse, it could be an interesting project during holiday. So wipe it using isopropyl alcohol? In the mean time, I think I will buy a new phone anyway.

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