Amazing Smart Phone

[sparky961]

I was out enjoying the nice weather this weekend, out for a hike not too far from home.  The snow is almost gone, and the rivers and streams are at their peak levels.  20 minutes after crossing a stream (turned river), I realized that my phone was no longer in my pocket.  I also realized that it must have been when I was crawling over rocks and trees to get across the stream without getting wet, that my phone had slipped from my pocket and more than likely ended up in the water.

I thought for sure that the $300 phone was at least garbage, if not completely lost downstream with the current.  However, upon returning I did find my phone at the bottom under about 12" of gurgling ice cold water.

Even though I figured it was probably scrap.  I pulled the battery immediately and pocketed the two items separately.  Upon returning home, I blew out the phone the best I could with compressed air, and sealed it into a container completely surrounded by silica gel packets and put it beside the wood stove where it would get gentle heat.  It was a difficult 48 hour wait, but I was able to avoid the temptation of opening the container and powering it up. 

Tonight was 48 hours later, and as you may have figured out by this point, the freakin' thing WORKS!  It's alive!  No noticeable problems as of yet!  Power was on, 20 minutes, 12" under water and it works.  I'm very impressed.

I have no affiliation or loyalty with the company, but I will say that I've been very happy with my Samsung Galaxy S2, and it has surpassed my wildest expectations this weekend.

[Brass_Machine]

Nice!

One of my phones thought about getting wet and died 

Eric

[NeoTech]

Electronics dont really die. They just like to hibernate in water.

[Pete W.]

Hi there, all,

Years ago I read in a SCUBA diving magazine that in the event of an underwater camera case leaking, the rescue procedure was to first flush with fresh water (if the leak was in sea water) to get rid of the salt.  Then follow that up with a generous rinse with methylated spirit (UK terminology, = denatured alcohol in the USA?).  Any remaining water combines with the alcohol to form an 'alletrope'.  Tip away the bulk of the alcohol and ventilate the item.  When the residual alcohol evaporates, it takes any remaining water with it.

I eventually had an opportunity to try the procedure when one of our diving club members went into the sea wearing a family heirloom wristwatch!  I'm happy to report that, in that case at least, it was completely successful.  The only proviso is that, in the case of a wristwatch, the successive irrigations, first with water and then with the alcohol, completely remove the lubricant from the watch movement and potentially introduces dirt.  So the immediate rescue treatment MUST be followed up with a clean and lubrication by a competent watchmaker.

In the case described above, it was easy to remove the watch movement from its case.  In another event, a colleague's diving watch sprang a leak and we couldn't open the case to gain access to the works.  By the time the owner of that watch got it to a watchmaker, the sea water had completely corroded through the spokes of some of the wheels!  Time is of the essence!!

If the casualty includes electronics circuitry, then yes, remove the battery ASAP.

[sparky961]

... follow that up with a generous rinse with methylated spirit (UK terminology, = denatured alcohol in the USA?).  Any remaining water combines with the alcohol to form an 'alletrope'.  Tip away the bulk of the alcohol and ventilate the item.  When the residual alcohol evaporates, it takes any remaining water with it.

Be very careful with this method, as it is widely reported (on the Internet) that the glues used inside many of today's devices are dissolved by alcohol.

Flushing with fresh water is a definite must though when dropped in salt water.

[enginenut]

Walked into my office one rainy night to find out a broken roof tile was letting a nice stream of water onto to my new laptop keyboard , pulled the battery and left it under the heater for 24hrs and fingers crossed it still works only thing that died were the inboard speakers. Electronics are tougher than everyone thinks

[Pete W.]

SNIP

Be very careful with this method, as it is widely reported (on the Internet) that the glues used inside many of today's devices are dissolved by alcohol.

Flushing with fresh water is a definite must though when dropped in salt water.

Hi there, Sparky,

That's a very fair warning, thank you.

It does remind me of what the doctor said to his patient, 'If I don't give you this medicine, you'll die!  But if I give you too much of it, you'll die!'.