Optimus V Drowned- HELP

[sdxben]

My optimus V drowned in the Cheseapeake Bay today, along with my wife's optimus :'( It was under for 5-10 minutes before I fished it out. Nothing is turning on with mine and my wife touch screen doesn't work... I was quick to fling the water out and dry it then stick it in rice with back off and sd card out. Its been 4 hours in rice with no luck. Does anyone have any other tips? Or should I put it beneath a heat lamp, I heard that could mess up my phone worse.
If the phones will not turn back on, could I buy more Optimus V and use the nandroid backups I have to restore my old phone on a new one- has anyone tried this?
Many thanks to any suggestions!

 

[Smitty_82]

I would leave them overnight and see how they are in the morning. Worked for me before, but that wasn't a touch screen. Sorry about your luck.

Haven't tried using a nandroid on a different phone, so can't comment there.

 

[nvelez]

4 hours is a little quick in the rice. You should have left it in the rice for days if not a week.
The water isn't what kills the phone its the short that occurs when trying to turn on a wet phone.

I'd pop it back into the rice and hope you didn't make matters worse.

 

[whyaphoenix]

delete

 

[sdxben]

By falling into the Bay- it is brackish water- half salt half fresh.
UPDATE- Good news for my wife's phone, hers works great now by just being in the rice overnight. Just a little muffled on the earpiece. As for mine, I tried turning it on and I have no cell signal, the phone thinks I have headphones in and it keeps trying to launch audiogalaxy and doesn't let me do anything else. I will report back tonight Back into the rice!

Again with the nandroid- does anyone know if it will work on a seperate phone?

 

[takehull]

i drowned my intercept in water for about thirty seconds, left it in rice overnight, and tried turning it on, but it was acting weird. I let it sit for a couple of weeks, powered it on, and everything worked fine(except for what I screwed up)

And a nandroid backup will work on any phone of the same model. It's how my stock solution posted here and on sdx works.

 

[ashton4life]

Rice is a soggy phones best friend!!!!! Blackberry fell into toilet with yellow water and survived after 4 days in rice!!! I didnt try to turn it on for the entire 4 days and whalla!!! like new and it didn't even smell like yellow toilet water!! lol The trick is to get the battery out ASAP! and dont press anything! Then Rice it for many many days!!!!

lol

 

[JerryScript]

For anyone reading this thread because they just dunked their phone:

1- Don't attempt to turn on the phone! Take the battery out IMMEDIATELY!

2- Place the phone in the bag with rice and the battery removed and cover off.

3- LEAVE IT ALONE FOR AT LEAST THREE DAYS!!! Do not test it early, you can ruin it that way

4- Twice a day, tumble the bag gently, do not shake it, just turn it over 2 or three times, this helps shake out remaining water without getting rice particles into your phone.

5-When testing after the 3 days, keep the battery cover off when you try starting it. If you hear or see anything strange, pull the battery as fast as you can and put the phone back into the bag of rice for 2 more days.

Something else I like to do, since I do tech support, is always save those little silica/diotomaceous-earth (sp?) bags you find in different packages. They are designed to soak up humidity and moisture. The rice is a great trick, but sometimes you get bits of rice inside the equipment you are drying out. The little dry-bags work pretty well, but take just as long.

 

[drezliok]

has anyone tried the silica based cat littler crystals? They do well with drying a basement and can be "recharged" or dried out with with a little tie in the sun.

 

[Eollie]

has anyone tried the silica based cat littler crystals? They do well with drying a basement and can be "recharged" or dried out with with a little tie in the sun.

Hmm maybe toss your phone in the sink and try it haha kidding.

Not sure. Sounds like it could work.

Maybe take a old phone thats not in service and dunk it and try it.
Although a intentional test is bound to fail.

 

[sdxben]

UPDATE- I tried put my phone this morning with not much luck. Let me know if you think there is no hope based on what happened. My phone turned on when I put the battery in, NOT when I pushed the power on. Then it successfully mounted the sd card, but no cell signal detected (in an area where my wife and I usually get 3 bars). After that the phone off menu kept flashing in and out (turn off/ reboot/ profile menu). I did not touch any buttons. I pulled the battery out and back in the rice. I think I had ruined my phone back on Saturday morning ( only after being in rice for 12 hours- now knowing that wasn't long enough) The mic problem on my wifes phone has now gone away after being in rice for 24 more hours!

 

[cpshelley2]

UPDATE- I tried put my phone this morning with not much luck. Let me know if you think there is no hope based on what happened. My phone turned on when I put the battery in, NOT when I pushed the power on. Then it successfully mounted the sd card, but no cell signal detected (in an area where my wife and I usually get 3 bars). After that the phone off menu kept flashing in and out (turn off/ reboot/ profile menu). I did not touch any buttons. I pulled the battery out and back in the rice. I think I had ruined my phone back on Saturday morning ( only after being in rice for 12 hours- now knowing that wasn't long enough) The mic problem on my wifes phone has now gone away after being in rice for 24 more hours!

it sounds like something may have shorted on your phone... my most sincere condolences i know how horrible this may sound, but you may need to replace your phone... keep ricing it for as long as you can stand, it can't do any more harm than what's already been done. i wish you the best of luck <3

 

[denshigomi]

UPDATE- I tried put my phone this morning with not much luck. Let me know if you think there is no hope based on what happened. My phone turned on when I put the battery in, NOT when I pushed the power on. Then it successfully mounted the sd card, but no cell signal detected (in an area where my wife and I usually get 3 bars). After that the phone off menu kept flashing in and out (turn off/ reboot/ profile menu). I did not touch any buttons. I pulled the battery out and back in the rice. I think I had ruined my phone back on Saturday morning ( only after being in rice for 12 hours- now knowing that wasn't long enough) The mic problem on my wifes phone has now gone away after being in rice for 24 more hours!

It sounds like you didn't clean your phone after it got wet. Even after the phone dries, the contaminants in the water are left behind, and can continue to react with the metals inside the phone. The reaction can unfortunately be sped up by heat and electron transfer caused by running the phone.

From the sounds of it, your phone is probably already permanently damaged, likely from when it fell into the water (5-10 minutes in brackish water is pretty bad). It could also have suffered permanent damage when you put the battery in, and it exhibited abnormal behavior.

If your phone is not permanently damaged, this is likely the best chance you will have of saving it:

1. Take your phone apart (http://forum.androidcentral.com/lg-optimus-s/57527-all-up-them-guts-tearing-apart-your-optimus.html) *Be very careful!*
2. Pick up a couple buckets of reverse osmosis purified water (should be available at any saltwater aquarium shop). Alternatively you could substitute any kind of purified water, but I recommend against using hard water.
3. One by one, dunk each part of your phone in the first bucket of water, and gently swirl it around for about 5 minutes. I would make an exception for two parts:
   
   LCD: It's hard to give a recommendation for the LCD without seeing it in person. If the screen looks clean, I would probably skip it or wipe it down with a wet cotton swab. If you noticed water marks/contaminants under the screen when you had the phone on, you're going to have to play it by ear. Ideally, this part should be taken completely apart, and each layer should be cleaned by hand. Unfortunately, I don't know of any instructions to disassemble the LCD. Also, this part is terribly delicate.​
   Battery: Give it a quick dunk and a swish in each bucket, then pull it out. The battery is sealed, so it just needs the surface contaminants cleaned off.​
4. Remove the cleaned part from the first bucket of water, and give it a dunk rinse off in the second bucket of water.
5. Set the part somewhere to dry.
6. Repeat steps 3 through 5 for each part of the phone.
7. Let all parts sit in a warm dry environment for 7 days.
8. Put your phone back together.

 

[JerryScript]

It sounds like you didn't clean your phone after it got wet. Even after the phone dries, the contaminants in the water are left behind, and can continue to react with the metals inside the phone. The reaction can unfortunately be sped up by heat and electron transfer caused by running the phone.

From the sounds of it, your phone is probably already permanently damaged, likely from when it fell into the water (5-10 minutes in brackish water is pretty bad). It could also have suffered permanent damage when you put the battery in, and it exhibited abnormal behavior.

If your phone is not permanently damaged, this is likely the best chance you will have of saving it:

1. Take your phone apart (http://forum.androidcentral.com/lg-optimus-s/57527-all-up-them-guts-tearing-apart-your-optimus.html) *Be very careful!*
2. Pick up a couple buckets of reverse osmosis purified water (should be available at any saltwater aquarium shop). Alternatively you could substitute any kind of purified water, but I recommend against using hard water.
3. One by one, dunk each part of your phone in the first bucket of water, and gently swirl it around for about 5 minutes. I would make an exception for two parts:
   
   LCD: It's hard to give a recommendation for the LCD without seeing it in person. If the screen looks clean, I would probably skip it or wipe it down with a wet cotton swab. If you noticed water marks/contaminants under the screen when you had the phone on, you're going to have to play it by ear. Ideally, this part should be taken completely apart, and each layer should be cleaned by hand. Unfortunately, I don't know of any instructions to disassemble the LCD. Also, this part is terribly delicate.​
   Battery: Give it a quick dunk and a swish in each bucket, then pull it out. The battery is sealed, so it just needs the surface contaminants cleaned off.​
4. Remove the cleaned part from the first bucket of water, and give it a dunk rinse off in the second bucket of water.
5. Set the part somewhere to dry.
6. Repeat steps 3 through 5 for each part of the phone.
7. Let all parts sit in a warm dry environment for 7 days.
8. Put your phone back together.

Just wanted to mention that this should only be done by someone with experience. If you don't know what you are doing, you should never put any component in water of any type. An alcohol based solution might be ok, but even then I wouldn't recommend dunking.

 

[sdxben]

Thank you for everyones suggestions and comments.
I am sure this will be very helpful to many others who get their phone immersed.

Unfortunately I feel it is too late for me. My whole phone works fine now with the exception of one part--- the RADIO/antenna -my phone just consistently searches for Signal. I believe it is permanent. I saw where the radio was located in step5 of the optimus teardown, and am sure its borked. I was running a hybrid PRL so I have tried flashing back and forth the virgin and sprint prl with no luck. Also the phone thinks I pushed the power button every 60seconds so that menu continues to pop up.

I now have an Android-like iPod touch.

Hopefully my next Optimus V will overclock higher than the 806 stable this one could do. I am looking at this as a glass half full learning experience.

ps- I was able to get a nandroid done in Recovery so no problem setting up my next Optimus

 

[whyaphoenix]

delete

 

[sdxben]

NewPhone---

Ok so I bought another Optimus this morning at Target and already have it running aosp's rom. Definitely looking on the bright side now since my new Optimus is capable of running stable at 864 my old one was only stable at 806. I will make taking apart the phone a weekend project when I have time.

 

[mmarz]

FYI for next time. Remove the battery immediately. Get high concentration rubbing alcohol (at least 97%). Dunk your phone in a large amount of it. Remove, drain the phone, and then repeat. Do this a few times. After the last dunk and drain, you let the alcohol naturally evaporate which shouldn't take long. Your phone should be as good as new if it didn't short itself or suffer rusting before you could do these steps.

I work with electronics a lot, and I use alcohol all the time when soldering. It is completely safe on all your components and most plastics. Plus, you can easily get it at any drug store.

Warning: Don't set yourself on fire!

 

[Eollie]

Warning: Don't set yourself on fire!