Dropped My Charge in a Maui Airport Toilet

[daThomas#AC]

Yup! Upon arrival for a one week vacation which all of our phone and internet connectivity was based on the Charge, PLOP! Right in the toilet!

There was that moment of shock and hesitation ("Did that just happen?!?!?"), and then I plunge my hand in there to retrieve my Precious. Off with the back plate! Out with the battery! No other option than to place it in the sun while waiting for the wifey to get through the car rental queue.

On the way to the hotel we add a bag of uncooked white rice to the needed "room refreshments". After leaving the store I can't resist the temptation to check out the Charge. It seems completely dry, what harm can come. So I pop in the battery and cross my fingers. Starts to boot up, but the boot sound is barely there and garbled . I let it boot completely up and check out the functionality and ... all seems fine! Except the speakers and mouthpiece seem f'd so into the rice you go. Left it in a ziplock bag with white rice and even a little desicant bag that was floating around my suitcase and VOILA!! The next day it was absolutely fine!

Here's the evil bathroom:

 

[deadpenguins]

LOL! What a heartwarming tale of love and [not] loss. Love the added touch of the bathroom picture.

 

[rorkin]

Well doesent everyone go swimming in Maui.? Even the phones

 

[Johnly]

Well doesent everyone go swimming in Maui.? Even the phones

hell yes!

 

[anon(94115)]

I am kinda thinking insurance would have covered it rather than toilet diving but then again, I think I would have done the same thing....instinct of saving a loved one....

 

[Cruiserdude]

Well I certainly wouldn't just leave it in the toilet and make an insurance claim without trying first, how much sense would that make? Glad you saved it, alot of phones seem to be able to hold up to a quick dunk pretty well if you do the right things, which you did. Rip the case off and pull the battery immediately, but DO NOT try and boot it up for at least a day. Put it in a bowl of rice as soon as you can, leaving it in the sun until then can help but you don't want it to get too hot. I've dropped 2 or 3 phones in water, always grabbed them immediately and followed those steps, and they were just fine.

Remember, a little water doesn't necessarily hurt it, what kills it is being powered while there's water in there, shorting things out and frying components. So make sure its completely dry before you power it on, and you should be alright. If you power it back on before then, you may not get a short, but you could still have enough moisture in it to cause corrosion, which will make your phone act all wonky a few days to a few weeks down the road. Thankfully, if that happens, you can usually still make a warranty claim, as long as it still turns on, and the stickers didn't get wet.

 

[daThomas#AC]

DEFINITELY was thinking I was going to have to find a Verizon store and make a claim but was hoping not (I'll stick my hand in a toilet to avoid paying a deductible ASSUMING the phone is the ONLY thing in there any day ).

To be honest I was worried there was water deep in there that was going to corrode or something so I actually kept the phone as hot internally as I could for a few days by leaving it on the charger and using the Mobile Hotspot and/or streaming video combined with rice bag/baths.

 

[AndroidXTC]

But Ewww didn't you just lay a big turd in the toilet? Did the phone touch the dirty turdy? Eeeeewww! Fess up that Charge landed atop that huge turd like a log raft thats why it didn't get damaged.!

 

[AndroidXTC]

I am kinda thinking insurance would have covered it rather than toilet diving but then again, I think I would have done the same thing....instinct of saving a loved one....

I hear some people like that sort of thing ^^^^

 

[Plucknbach]

ewwww.. did you even rinse the DC after retrieving it from the poop bucket? Just to think, thousands of strangers meditate on the lone bucket daily and who know what they eat? ewwww, gross,,,, and to think you put that phone right up to your face...ewwwww...that's nasty dude...

 

[delco714]

My mom dropped her charge in a bucket filled with water. She said it was in there for about 15 minutes. I desiccated it for 24 hr and it booted up just fine. It was 100%; couldn't even tell. So I'm not surprised by your "crappy" story. Kind of amazing, right?

 

[mkoronka]

Speaking of water the little tags you see on batteries and phones with the XXX usually in red, do they disappear when they get wet? I have never tried on purpose to see. I did not want to take the chance to void the warranty on my charge that still does not have a GB update yet!!!

 

[titanoman]

Speaking of water the little tags you see on batteries and phones with the XXX usually in red, do they disappear when they get wet? I have never tried on purpose to see. I did not want to take the chance to void the warranty on my charge that still does not have a GB update yet!!!

I thought they turned red when they got wet.




Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk

 

[mkoronka]

I just looked again on both batteries and phone I have little white tags with red XXXXX's on them and they have never been wet unless they got wet at Verizon before I got them!

 

[sv_one]

I thought you were going to say you dropped it in the toilet because you were so frustrated you hadn't gotten a gingerbread update!

 

[titanoman]

I just looked again on both batteries and phone I have little white tags with red XXXXX's on them and they have never been wet unless they got wet at Verizon before I got them!

I was'nt sure and did'nt want to open her up to see for myself.

Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk

 

[delco714]

Of course they turn dark pink on both the phone and battery! I heard you could buy replacement stickers (like as in a scam if you sell it) on ebay. Never bothered to check though.

 

[NHLou]

I had a similar/humorous experience with my Droid Charge. Two weeks ago, I went into the hospital for hip replacement surgery. As my release from the hospital neared, the one thing standing between me and going home was passing gas. Seriously! So, after a eating an apple, drinking a black coffee, and downing laxatives, I was sent to the bathroom to see if I would have any success. Between the anesthesia and all of the pain meds I was on, I knew this was going to 1. be an exercise in futility and 2. take a while. So, I brought my Charge into the bathroom with me for light reading.

After about 20 min of nothing, I slipped my Charge into the front pocket of my hospital johnny, not realizing the pocket is cut so tubes and wires can be run through the pocket. Needless to say, the only plop in the toilet was my freaking cell phone!!!

Not being as brave as Da Thomas, I paged a nurse to have it fished out. But it was in the water for quite some time and was dead as a door nail. I had the insurance plan on the phone and called Verizon when I eventually made it home and had the phone replaced. Here is the interesting thing about my replacement phone...battery life is significantly better than my old phone. For example, I went through the whole day yesterday with light usage (a couple of phone calls, e-mails, etc.) and wi-fi only connected and the battery had 40% remaining by the end of the day. My old Charge's battery would have definitely been dead by the end of the day. Not sure what the difference is, but it was a pleasant surprise.

 

[dubge]

He bought white rice but ended up with brown rice.

I hope you bought some Sanitizer along with that rice.

My Droid x was in my shirt pocket one day and I leaned over for something and it shot out and landed right in my dog's water bowl. Did the rice trick and all was well but the speaker. The water stickers didn't even change so I called vzw and said there was a problem with it and got it replaced free.