Drying Out Electronic Devices

[Goodspike]

This forum reminded me I own a blue tooth device for my hearing aid, so I started using it again.

Unfortunately I had it in my robe pocket and my wife put it in the washing machine. As soon I discovered what she had done I stopped the machine, removed the battery and put it in a sealed container of rice.

Is that the proper procedure? If so, how long before I can try to power it up?

It's a front loader, so I'm not sure how wet it got. There did not seem to be any water in the battery compartment. This is a link to what it looks like, in case that matters:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41Ey+LD+3sL._SY300_.jpg

 

[olbriar]

Sorry to hear of the washing incident Goodspike. A couple of days or so.. more if you can wait. Water is corrosive and might bring grief down the line. Water shorting circuits with a wet powered device is the first concern. Let it dry until you are certain moisture can't bridge a circuit. That's the key. Good luck man.

 

[HanSolo]

Actually it's not the water itself that's the greatest problem, it's the residue it leaves behind when it dries out.

If possible, you might want to take the device apart and dip it in isopropyl alcohol for a while, and then dry it out in the rice.

How to fix a water damaged phone | Smart Mobile Phone Solutions

 

[Goodspike]

Thanks. I think I'll just use the rice first since the link that HanSolo posted itself has a link that says to try that first. The residue, if there is any, will likely be soap! Not sure what the effect of that would be.

 

[codesplice]

Moisture is the most immediate concern, so you're doing well to put that sucker in with some rice. I'd let it sit there for a couple of days and then take the isopropyl route that HanSolo suggested. Sounds like you're on the right track!

 

[Goodspike]

Moisture is the most immediate concern, so you're doing well to put that sucker in with some rice. I'd let it sit there for a couple of days and then take the isopropyl route that HanSolo suggested. Sounds like you're on the right track!

Thanks. I didn't use the thing for months until a post here reminded me of it. I now have much greater use for it though because I gave up my VOIP line, but I just need to have patience!

 

[Goodspike]

I tried it today without using the alcohol route because all I have is the stuff that's 30% water! Anyway it didn't fire up.

I checked pricing and it's a $500 device!

 

[Rukbat]

HanSolo has the right idea. In the cellphone store I used to own we'd open wet phones (if the battery hadn't been immediately removed by the customer, we told them not to get their hopes up) and DOUSED the parts in alcohol. It's 70% isopropyl, or rubbing, alcohol, but it will absorb any water on the device. And scrubbing it (we bought 1" alcohol swabs, the kind they use when they give you a shot, by the case) took off most of the dirt, impurities, etc. THEN we put the phone into a bed of dried silica gel to dry it out.

I recommend to people who aren't going to open the device (hearing aid, BT adapter or earphone, cellphone) to bathe it in alcohol, swishing it around so the alcohol gets inside and washes all the crud out. Drain it, change to fresh alcohol, do it again. One more time. Three washes.

THEN put it into a jar of uncooked rice and leave it there for a week with the top screwed on tight.

Wih a cellphone you have a 50% chance of saving it if you dropped it into water. Sitting in the pool at the bottom of a front loader, with that concentration of detergent? Alcohol is cheap, so I would have tried it, but I wouldn't have had any hope that it would work.

And I feel for you on the price. I wear OTE aids - 100db down at 4KHz, and when I got them they didn't make ITE or ITC devices that would go that far. So if it rains, I'm carrying $3,000 on each ear that one drop of rain could kill. People wonder why I wear a hoodie in the rain in 90 degree weather. It's because I'm too cheap to melt $6,000 I have better uses for, people. (No BT on these, though. The BT adapter is worn on a string around the neck, like 1940s aids. Not for me. I wish I could just push a button in my ear to answer my phone.)

 

[Goodspike]

The BT adapter is worn on a string around the neck, like 1940s aids. Not for me. I wish I could just push a button in my ear to answer my phone.)

I originally bought it for the car, because normal BT devices were never loud enough. With BT through the car stereo though, that's not an issue.

Lately I'd started using it as a hands free device while at the computer. I could just set it in front of me on the desk and talk. Not worth $500 again to do that!

 

[Rukbat]

Well ... when your choice is to pay $6.000 or watch people's lips moving, and you're still pulling in the bucks, you buy the aids. If they had had an "in the aid" BT, I would have bought one for the better ear - the $500 (or whatever it would have been) difference wouldn't have hurt so much.

Now I use the speakerphone and get the boost from the aid. But if the conversation has to be private, it's "let me call you back in 5 minutes", then go find a private spot.

But in a robe pocket? Never. Out of the ear, into the dryer.

 

[Goodspike]

Well ... when your choice is to pay $6.000 or watch people's lips moving, and you're still pulling in the bucks, you buy the aids. If they had had an "in the aid" BT, I would have bought one for the better ear - the $500 (or whatever it would have been) difference wouldn't have hurt so much.

Now I use the speakerphone and get the boost from the aid. But if the conversation has to be private, it's "let me call you back in 5 minutes", then go find a private spot.

But in a robe pocket? Never. Out of the ear, into the dryer.

It's not the hearing aid that was damaged, or that was put into my robe. It was the device I linked above, which acts only as a microphone, not the speaker. Your phone will make a BT connection to that device, and then that device sends audio (not via BT) to the hearing aid.