Axim x50v water accident...

SO my girlfriend invites me along to one of her family gatherings... a pool party. I get there and we are having a good time. I have my axim in my pocket (it's also my wallet) and my new Casio S600 in my side pocket (I was wearing cargo shorts). I wasn't planning on swimming so I stayed well away from the pool.

At one point.. my gf's very bright aunt decides to push me in while I was near the pool... and everyone had a good laugh.... until I jumped out of the pool as fast as I could.... look at her aunt... and took the components out of my pocket... to watch the horror on her face unfold. I was PISSED for a good hour... and the aunt was in tears apologizing.... she has offered to replace both units so that's cool.

I dried them off and took out the batteries. To my surprise, the casing of the battery on the axim is sealed in tight so no water got in there... there was water behind the screen though... I shook them both very well until no more drops of water came out and let them sit ... I brought them home and I'm letting them sit under the fan overnight before I put the batteries in and turn it on....

SO... what are my chances? I'm thinking 60% "everything is gonna be ok"... 40% "aunt smooth is gonna be out about $1000 CDN to replace my stuff"

[BrickCityAxim]

I'd Say your chances are good if the devices were off at the time, you should be okay, but you know if the water gone in deep into the device, an overnight fan wouldn't dry it up... good luck!

This will void the warrenty if you have any remaining.If it were mine I would take the back off and make sure all the water is out.It will also help the unit to dry faster.If you don't want to take it apart I would give it several days to dry completly.

[Eitel]

Take the batteries out and don't turn them on for at least a week. You want them completely dried up before turning them on. Even a drop of water inside when you turn them on can damage them.

[Mokubai]

Swimming pools generally mean chlorine which isn't good for electronics... I know this sounds odd but, working under the assumption that the devices are already dead, I would get some de-ionised water and try to rinse the devices thorougly, it's better than letting the chlorine corrode the insides...

Make sure you take the batteries out first though.

Then I would leave them in an airing cupboard for a couple of days to dry out and see what happens after that.

[Tankman]

Perhaps some compressed air drying might help also.

Too bad the pool wasn't filled with Holy water. I use Holy water in my auto's windshield washer fluid, helps me see the day more clearly.

Good luck and, don't use the microwave to speed up the drying, air dry!

If the dry fails, take the Aunt out (qualitiy time) shopping online! :approve:

i'd say the chances are 50/50 with both units.

dsmy daughter's teen/young adult years was pretty rough on telephones. let's just say, cell phoe insurance was actually a money winner from our side. on more than one occaison, hers would end up in the toilet. (you don't want to know).

The advice about complete drying, taking apart opening up, as much as you can as well as compressed air are good. A complete dry is imperative, patience will be necessary. Our experience 2 phones turned on, of those one actually seemed to be alright and met it's death, and actually just ended up being traded in. The other one only worked sporadically -- so on going issues can be a problem. 2 more were just dead immediately.

These 4 were just the water accidents.

auntie may have to wait awhile to be off the hook.

[rlarson_mn]

Id say both are non functioning units now. It will not hurt to wait a lood length of time before trying them out though just in case. Having a fan on the units to help dry them out.

[Jon C]

Thoroughly rince with deionized water. Syfo makes one which you might find in the grocery store. You need to get rid of mineral deposits and the DI water will do it. DI water is what they rince off with in production.

[digital_nomad]

Yes, I'd concur, they need a thorough washing to remove the chlorine.

I'd start with truly deionised water, not distilled, but deionized, though I wouldn't
wait around more than a day to find it.

*then* submerge them in 100% pure isopropyl alcohol or any similar printed
circuit board washing solvent that can be used to clean post-soldering flux from
an assembled PCB. A good industrial (not radio shack or hobbyist) electronics
supply store should carry several spray-can as well as plastic-bottle circuitry
washing solvents which are probably mostly alcohol or TCE or some similar
easily vaporizing hydrocarbon or non-CFC-refrigerant type stuff.

A vigorous wash in the alcohol / solvent wash will clean up most of the minerals
and salts left in by the swimming pool, though a prior deionized water rinse
will help pull the salts better than the solvent, and the solvent will displace the
water and help get it clean and dry.

When you rinse (water as well as solvent) use several stages of rinse in
different tubs, e.g. the first rinse produces dirty water/solvent but a somewhat
cleaner PDA, but the solvent/water is too polluted still to clean fully, so transfer
them to a second stage rinse that's pure unused water/solvent, rinse to get the
devices even cleaner, then maybe a third stage rinse for final cleaning.

There's no inherent reason the water or alcohol / solvent will terribly hurt anything
in the devices, the problem is short circuits due to conductive dirt and salts and
impurities. Fully assembled electronics are almost 100% all pressure washed
in deionized water or some solder flux cleaning solvent / alcohol after they're
soldered before they assemble the cases onto them.

The touch-screen film and plastics in the LCD are the main things that could
suffer from some contamination or harm from water or solvents, the rest of the
things are pretty OK. The electret microphone guts may be hard to dry out and
might sound kinda funny or weak if it's still damp.

Unfortunately to really effectively clean the salts, though, it's really best to
disassemble the cases on the units so the DI water / flux cleaning solvent can
really effectively rinse the PCB components and so on, but unless you follow
pristine electrostatic discharge safety steps, grounding yourself with a wrist strap
that's 100% connected to a grounded pipe / ground prong on the AC outlet,
and working over a conductive foil / foam covered section of table, not rubbing
your feet on the carpet, etc. you may zap the naked components while handling
them if you disassemble the cases somewhat or fully.

Also if you do take off the cases, intricate tools / care may be needed or you could
strip the fine small screws or mar the casing etc. I've seen sites / links telling
you how to disassemble an Axim; I don't know about your CASIO.

At a minimum an eyeglasses repair kit if not a cheap watch / glasses / jewelry
repair kit of tiny screwdrives may be useful.

The disassembly pics for an Axim are here, though I think somewhere
there was a write up on HOW to disassemble it, and I'm not sure if that
was elsewhere.. I think it might be just some plainly visible screws and
maybe a couple under labels / warranty seal, though maybe there's more
tricky latches too..

http://handhelds.org/moin/moin.cgi/X50Pictures

http://pdasmart.zftp.com/instruction...ssembly_18.pdf
http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:...ient=firefox-a
http://www.pdasmart.com/aximpartscenterx50.htm
http://repair4pda.org/disassembly_dell.html

Anyway give it at least a day in a warm room / area to dry before you
expect it to work right, especially from a water soak, though the alcohol can
dry faster if you get enough on it to thoroughly dehydrate / replace the water
in most places.

Put it a foot under an 100W incandescent desk lamp or so where it'll be around
85F or so but nothing will get too hot as to melt maybe.

[LordArt]

SO... what are my chances? I'm thinking 60% "everything is gonna be ok"... 40% "aunt smooth is gonna be out about $1000 CDN to replace my stuff"

Well, it might be a little late for my advice...

I was giving my two year old a Bath, and I still had my x30 Axim. Unfortunately, the belt clip gets filed down with use (because the clip is plastic and the nub is like a metal file), so it wouldnt' stay in at that time. I forgot I was wearing it, and *Kerplunk* it went into the tub. Needless to say, I wasn't happy. I immediately pulled it out of the tub. I took it out of the carrying case and wanted to see if it still worked and so powered it up. It actually came up, but that didn't last too long. Basically, because I had an SD card in, the water mainly went in the SD card entrance, but more from the speaker port.

In anycase, instead of doing something more stupid, I took the whole thing apart and took the motherboard out of the case and dried it off. I used corners of paper towels to get the larger drops out. It still wouldn't come up, but that was because the batteries had shorted and discharged. Basically, after about 8 hours OUTSIDE of the case, drying off, the motherboard (and speaker, which was holding the water most of all), was dry. I had recharged the batteries in the charger and I crossed my fingers, and it came up fine. Admittedly, it hard reset itself, but that was to be expected. However, the on-board flash was still intact, so I pulled all my files off. I then put the motherboard back in the case. I tested all the functions (wifi/bluetooth) and it was no worse for wear.

The screen had a little water behind it, and was discolored in a corner. I was worried about that, but that went away in a day or so.

Since I didn't know if I could trust it, I bought a x51v (which I'm still running), and moved everything to that. I gave my x30 to a friend of mine, and he's still using it many months later without issues.

Honestly, if I didn't take it out of the case and dried the motherboard directly, I don't think it would have been salvagable. I'm also lucky I didnt' short anything perminantly when I powered it up initially after the tub.

But in anycase, there is my story. Perhaps something useful is in there for you.

Arthur

Hey well good news everyone...

I let it sit over night under a blowing fan. The next morning I popped in the batteries into both the Axim and the Camera... neither turned on. I then realized that the back panel for the battery was still at the place where the pool party was so I called up my gf's cousin and told her to bring it downtown to work today where I would meet her to get it. Once I put the panel in, the damn thing turned on and it works! The screen has a big smudge on it so that's permanent but it does work.

I told the people who are replacing my items that it worked and that I would sell it and return them the money from it... seemed fair... everyone is happy....