Washed mobile

Jay_Wiseman

this problem was tested on channel 5's thegadgetshow not so long ago, their advice was to try and take the phone appart as much as possible, even get some torx screwdrivers (poundshop!) to undo the casing a bit the idea is to try and get air to all the parts, then stick them underneath a strong light (energy saving bulb! ) or in an airing cupboard for a few days. But dont turn it on, until your sure its completely dry!

They did it with a nokia and it worked fine after, even after being dropped in a pool and muddy lake etc etc.

thesealeyboy

Alison_B wrote:

We dried everything and powered it up and it appears to work. We have tried plugging it in and it was charging for a short while, then came up with not charging. Presume that the battery is ruined. Where can we get a battery at a reasonable price - not Ebay.

Thanks

All may not be lost, the type of battery used in mobile phones is one that doesn't like to go totally flat, and of course the battery contacts being bridged by water will totally flatten the battery. You may find all it needs is a bit of encouragement, try charging the phone as much as it will go, then run the battery down again (playing games and calling people will do this quicker) then charge it up again and repeat the process, fingers crossed your battery may begin to hold some charge.

What phone/battery is it?

J

mobyfix

A quick note about Flat batteries on mobile phones.......

A phone with a completely flat battery is unlikely to charge... this is because the phone looks for a battery to charge and because it is flat cannot find one. The secret ? Connect a 6v battery across the terminals of the phone battery for about 20 seconds and then put back into the phone and try to recharge again... this time the phone should recognise and start to charge the batter. this trick works well with phones left in the cupboard for 6 months as well as fully discharged been in water etc batteries.

Good luck - hope this will save you some money b4 you go and buy a new battery ! :beer:

geekgirl

When my daughter went to have her phone fixed at carphone warehouse the guy there told her that if a phone company want to they can always get out of fixing any problem on a phone, as they do not fix under warranty any phones that have been wet.
We explained that the phone had not been damp in any way and he said that all phones at some time or other get slightly moist when taken from a cold atmosphere into hot i.e from outdoors to indoors.
Don't know how true that is but was reminded of it with all this damp phone talk.
Then guess what! My daughters phone came back from being assessed and they said it has been wet and would cost £40 to repair and wasn't covered by warranty. We told them to stick it and got one of the bargain phones from the virgin online offer. Thanks to money saving experts yet again. :j

Millionaire_Wannabe

nokia's are pritty good.
mine got wet, left it to dry over night.....works fine, apart from the zero key has a tendancy to stop working, but thats happening less and less now (only took 6 months!).
oh, and mine went in hot choclate....literally in the cup.
remember, never drink n mess with a phone!!!

pault123

When I worked in mobile retail stores (for over 3 years) I must have sent over 1000 phones for repair. Around a 3rd would could back Beyond Economical Repair, or water damaged. Along with an xray photo (not sure if it actually was, but it shown a bright highlight wherever water had damaged) showing the water in the phone.

Lost count of the amount of people who swore blind their' phone had not been near water.

The phone doesnt have had to been dropped in a bath or toilet to get water damaged. Using a phone in the rain, leaving it in a damp coat overnight, putting it on the bathroom shelf while you have a shower.. It only takes a small fraction of water to get into the phone where it spreads.

Usually reception will start to suffer, the screen may play up, or certain keys on the keypad will stop working. Every case I seen it would gradually get worse and worse till the phone died completely

I've not yet seen a dried out phone that has carried on working for over 6 months, but with some of the drying out suggestions on here I suppose it would be possible

mikewebs

My wife washed my phone a little while ago. I claimed on household contents insurance and got a brand new phone (better model as well). They may ask you to return phone to them or their agent for examination but if it has genuinely been washed I don't see a problem. The insurance company was very helpful and I had a new phone (with my original sim card) within 5 days.

thor

geekgirl wrote:

When my daughter went to have her phone fixed at carphone warehouse the guy there told her that if a phone company want to they can always get out of fixing any problem on a phone, as they do not fix under warranty any phones that have been wet.
We explained that the phone had not been damp in any way and he said that all phones at some time or other get slightly moist when taken from a cold atmosphere into hot i.e from outdoors to indoors.
Don't know how true that is but was reminded of it with all this damp phone talk.
Then guess what! My daughters phone came back from being assessed and they said it has been wet and would cost £40 to repair and wasn't covered by warranty. We told them to stick it and got one of the bargain phones from the virgin online offer. Thanks to money saving experts yet again. :j

I'm pretty certain that is what happened with my motorola v220. I only had it a month and it began to power itself off after a few seconds of being turned on or even not power on at all sometimes. I got it from the mobileshop and they told me to return it direct to the manufacturers as it would be quicker. This I did but it was returned unfixed because they claimed there was damage caused by liquids. I know for a fact that my phone had not been anywhere near any liquids so I got onto to the mobileshop again. True to form they passed the buck again as well and told me to claim under the free insurance that came with my network deal. I was informed by the insurance company that there would be an excess charge of £25 and it was at this point that I gave up and stuck the sim in my old phone. I figured that even if there was genuine liquid damage then this phone cannot be very reliable if it is damaged so easily so what is to stop it happening again?
I advise all my friends to steer well clear of motorola now. It might be a spiteful thing to do but I did not expose my phone to any liquids in the short time that I had it and I do not trust them anymore.