Can Electronics Be Dumped In water, if there is no power anywhere on the electronic, and survive after a week of rice

[Nudgy]

Can Electronics Be Dumped In water, if there is no power anywhere on the electronic, and survive after a week of rice?

[Nudgy]

If i dumped a iPhone with no battery, in water can i still work when i put the battery back in?

[EarthboundHero]

As long as there's absolutely no electricity or corrosion, it should be fine. 

[Jack Longman]

it always depends, my galaxy s6 has been in the sink and in swimming pools more times than i like to mention and is still alive and well to this day. It depends on luck mostly and you will have more luck if the device is not on. However i would advise not putting in in water at all of course

[TheRandomness]

Why are you asking?

[Jack Longman]

It also depends on the salinity of the water, tap water or distilled water will be nowhere as bad as salty water such as some lakes and the sea.

[Sakkura]

The water can still cause corrosion. It's down to luck and how the device is built.

[Evanair]

Laboratory DI water... probably.  Anything else, probably not.

[xgn]

As long you let it dry yes. Not for a week then corrosion will happen. But 1 or 2 days possibly.

[TidaLWaveZ]

Depends on the device.

 

I've had my LG G2 and G3 fully submerged while on more times than I can count and they both still work perfectly.

 

I did end up having to replace the LCD and digitizer at one point, but the actual system boards have never been damaged.

[mariushm]

It depends on how much crap is in the water, how many minerals, how much salt and other conductive substances are inside.

 

If there's no battery or electricity through a device, then in theory your device should be fine, but in practice as the water dries up there are "sediments" left on the printed circuit board (salt and other crap).  Some of those can be conductive, meaning this junk can sometimes form a "bridge" between two uninsulated points (traces, pads where components are soldered to). In rarer cases, the extra junk deposited on some components can influence the behavior of those components, for example you may have a resistor and the value of that resistor may slightly increase which could affect the behavior of the circuit that resistor is in.

 

Also, even if you think the printed circuit board is dried up, often water can still be trapped under chips soldered on the pcb so as you put power through the circuit you can basically do electrolysis, which may dissolve or oxidize thin traces on the printed circuit board.

 

Professionals usually clean the boards with plain water, then bathe the boards in isopropyl alcohol (or other gentle solvents solutions) to remove the impurities that are left on the printed circuit board and then they dry the boards in a reflow oven configured at a low temperature (something like going up to 80-100 C gradually over the course of about 20-30 minutes) to slowly dry out the chips and whatever is left under chips.

 

If you put something in water with battery on it, wherever there's electricity like i said already in the paragraph above electricity and water don't mix well, the circuit can be damaged easily.

 

In the case of iphones and other devices, these have some sensors that measure the internal humidity and once the humidity goes above a threshold they simply won't work anymore. If you're unlucky and some sweat or a few drops of water fall directly on the sensor, the whole printed circuit board, the whole phone may be functional but the sensor may not reset itself so you will have to send the phone to be repaired (basically have the sensor replaced)

[Curious Pineapple]

You can get corrosion with no power applied. Boats that are moored and powered from the shore can suffer galvanic corrosion without the correct isolator in place. It's not the electricity from the supply that causes the problem, but rather the boats hull, water and the minerals in the ground creating a voltage potential, and the earth connection creating a short circuit. Same as dropping a zinc plated washer and a copper coin in a liquid. If the 2 touch, you get current flow and corrosion

[ProtectNull]

It all depends on what electronic is dropped into the water.

[You_are_a_cunt]

Depends on water content, quality of PCB traces and a handful of other things.

 

Theoretically, it should still work after completely drying (and assuming no electrical charge is present in caps), but it's still a dice roll

[vanished]

12 hours ago, EarthboundHero said:

As long as there's absolutely no electricity or corrosion, it should be fine. 

True.  The trick is there will almost certainly be at least some corrosion or trapped water when it's powered back on or some residual charge that was shorted when it was dunked, etc....

[Quaker]

Simply immersing electronics in water does not normally cause problems unless the water is allowed to remain on surfaces and/or it's salt water.

If you do get an item wet, particularly with salt water, you should rinse it off with tap water as soon as possible, and then shake off any excess.

To make sure that any water has been removed from the insides of switches, etc, you can put the item in a zip-lock baggie with some rice or kitty-litter for a few days. Or you can just power it up and watch for sparks.

 

[Brian McKee]

Yes, people use soap and water treatment as a common fix for old Mac motherboards.

[Bleedingyamato]

11 hours ago, Brian McKee said:

Yes, people use soap and water treatment as a common fix for old Mac motherboards.

Are you joking?  I can't tell...  Do people actually do that?

 

Sorry it just seems to me like washing a computer part like you're washing your hands might be a bad idea...

[Brian McKee]

1 minute ago, Bleedingyamato said:

Are you joking?  I can't tell...  Do people actually do that?

 

Sorry it just seems to me like washing a computer part like you're washing your hands might be a bad idea...

Not joking at all!

 

 

[ZimFreak]

I think after all the help we at least deserve the story behind this...