Water Damaged Wii - is it gone for ever??

vtmil

My wii won't switch on and i've just discovered a little water coming out of it. I haven't a clue how it got there, but is there a best way to dry it out? Or is it best to leave it in wii heaven, being electric and all?

Really appreciate your help guys

thanks vtmil

geewhiz

If it's just water there's a very good chance that it won't be a permanent failure.

Leave it for at least two days to dry out by itself, don't try to heat it up or anything else to help it, just unplug it and do nothing then try it again in two or three days.

vtmil

Oooops i tried to dry it with a hairdryer - have i ruined my chances?
Thanks for replying geewhiz.

geewhiz

As long as you didn't melt it your still in with a chance !

If all else fails it will be covered by your home insurance if you have accidental damage cover.

Oblivion

geewhiz wrote: »

If it's just water there's a very good chance that it won't be a permanent failure.

Leave it for at least two days to dry out by itself, don't try to heat it up or anything else to help it, just unplug it and do nothing then try it again in two or three days.

I agree it shouldn't be heated up, certainly not to any great extent, but placing it in a warm airing cupboard won't do it any harm and should speed up the drying out process. Not sure if these units have any batteries in them, but if so they should be removed immediately.

Dave.

geewhiz

Oblivion wrote: »

I agree it shouldn't be heated up, certainly not to any great extent, but placing it in a warm airing cupboard won't do it any harm and should speed up the drying out process. Not sure if these units have any batteries in them, but if so they should be removed immediately.

Dave.

They do have a battery for the memory but wii's are not that simple to open up although it can be done, if you want to try have a look at this!

Electron_2

The hairdryer will just move the water about inside and possibly get into the optical parts of the unit.

Ideally you need to unscrew a casing panel to let the water vapour escape, if its possible.

I hope the fluid is not pet wee because thats likely to kill your wii.;)

Oblivion

geewhiz wrote: »

They do have a battery for the memory but wii's are not that simple to open up although it can be done, if you want to try have a look at this!

Hmmm, I see what you mean. Definitely not for the feint-hearted.

Dave.

vtmil

Thanks, i'm going to try and open it up a bit using the video. I have removed the battery already, and am now trying to remove some of the casing. Bit scary tho. Thanks again guys, hopefully it will work, i'm hoping so! I brought the wii fit today after months of searching, got it home and the wii had broke!! Typical.

If it doesn't work, i can claim on the home insurance but my excess is £100. I've noticed that damaged wii's sell quite well on ebay - does anybody know if this would apply to a water damaged wii?

Thanks

vtmil

jo132000

Also do have a look on the nintendo site about a repair, they are really good about repair and it maybe cheaper than claiming on the insurance...

Here's the link to nintendo's site and they offer some help about water in wii's..
http://wii.nintendo-europe.com/6542.html

Hope it helps!

evilgoose

The fluid (i assume water) only really does damage if its dirty or if there is current running through the unit when it gets wet.
(Water can can contain salts etc which when the water evaporates leave a residue which could cause a problem).
I'd say leave it longer than a few days, make sure that it is good and dry before switching on. We use to use special keyboards in work, they were pretty expensive, so rather than get new ones when dirty I'd wash them under a tap dry them off and leave them by a radiator for a week and they work fine, We've even had a server get soaked by an aircon when the server was on, once dried it worked (for a while). so its not lost
(not that I'd recommend anyone else do this! modern keyboards use a plastic membrane which trap water and washing wont work)