WEBVTT - Is it possible to rescue water-soaked electronics?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff from house stuff works dot com where

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<v Speaker 1>smart happens. Hi am Marshall Brain with today's question, is

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<v Speaker 1>it possible to rescue an electronic device that's been dunked

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<v Speaker 1>in water? In the brain household? For reasons that are

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<v Speaker 1>not necessarily the best thought out in retrospect, the key

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<v Speaker 1>rack hangs on the wall and the dog's food and

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<v Speaker 1>water bowls are on the floor underneath it. So one day,

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<v Speaker 1>about two weeks ago, I was grabbing Lee's keys for

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<v Speaker 1>I had a bunch of other things in my hands,

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<v Speaker 1>including the GPS, and in the process of grabbing the keys,

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<v Speaker 1>the loads shifted and I dropped the GPS. It landed

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<v Speaker 1>predictably right in four inches of water in the dog's

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<v Speaker 1>water bowl and submerged. Ah is approximately what I said.

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<v Speaker 1>I quickly grabbed the GPS out of the water and

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<v Speaker 1>shook it off. It was on when I dropped it,

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<v Speaker 1>and it was still on when I shook it, and

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<v Speaker 1>I was relieved. In fact, I was amazed. But three

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<v Speaker 1>minutes later my relief was replaced with dismay as the

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<v Speaker 1>GPS had completely died. The on off switch had no

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<v Speaker 1>effect at all. I assumed I would need to buy

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<v Speaker 1>a new one, and I wasn't really happy about this.

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<v Speaker 1>I left it on the counter overnight. The next day

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<v Speaker 1>it remained dead, but I had an idea. I hooked

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<v Speaker 1>it up to the USB port on my computer, curious

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<v Speaker 1>to see if I could extract any of the data

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<v Speaker 1>on it. I was surprised to see it turn on

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<v Speaker 1>and enter data transfer mode. The screen was discolored, but

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<v Speaker 1>I was able to move the data on and off,

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<v Speaker 1>and this indicated to me that there still might be hope.

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<v Speaker 1>The on off switch still did not work, however, so

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<v Speaker 1>then I plugged in the charger, thinking that this would

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<v Speaker 1>warm the GPS up a little. In this mode, it

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<v Speaker 1>would turn on automatically, but the on off switch still

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<v Speaker 1>would not work, and opening the TENNA had no effect.

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<v Speaker 1>It saw no satellites, the screen discoloration was getting better.

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<v Speaker 1>I left it plugged into the charger. About two days later,

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<v Speaker 1>the on off switch started working again, and about a

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<v Speaker 1>day after that, the satellites started coming in for perhaps

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<v Speaker 1>thirty seconds at a time, followed by several hours of

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<v Speaker 1>no satellites. Over the next several days, the GPS got

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<v Speaker 1>completely back to normal. Today, it's as though it was

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<v Speaker 1>never dropped in water. So what is the moral of

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<v Speaker 1>this story. Number one is the fact that the dog's

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<v Speaker 1>water bowl needs to be nowhere near anything important. Number

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<v Speaker 1>two is that sometimes electronic devices need a week or

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<v Speaker 1>more to dry out, even if they appear initially to

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<v Speaker 1>be dead on arrival. You can try the rice treatment,

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<v Speaker 1>which you can find all over the internet and YouTube.

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<v Speaker 1>What you do is you take dry, uncooked rice, put

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<v Speaker 1>it in a temperware container, and then bury your phone

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<v Speaker 1>or GPS or whatever you've gotten wet in that rice.

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<v Speaker 1>The idea is that the rice will absorb the moisture

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<v Speaker 1>kind of aggressively, as opposed to just letting it air

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<v Speaker 1>dry and take a lot of the water out of

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<v Speaker 1>the device quicker than what if you just left it

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<v Speaker 1>on the counter. So you can try the rice treatment,

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<v Speaker 1>or try just leaving it on the counter, try plugging

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<v Speaker 1>it into the charger if that helps warm it up,

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<v Speaker 1>or maybe leave it in a warm car or something

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<v Speaker 1>like that to try to get the water to have

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<v Speaker 1>a reason to evaporate more quickly, and then just give

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<v Speaker 1>it time, give it a week or two weeks to

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<v Speaker 1>see what happens. It's not gonna help in every case,

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<v Speaker 1>and if you drop it in soda or salt water

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<v Speaker 1>or something like that, it probably isn't gonna help at all,

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<v Speaker 1>But if you've dropped it in fresh water, there is

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<v Speaker 1>some possibility that the device will come back to life

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<v Speaker 1>over time. For more on this and thousands of other topics,

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<v Speaker 1>because a house staff works dot com