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What to do with a wet phone? If you dropped your phone in water, you can still save it. To make this possible, and to keep the costs of such repairs to a minimum, it is important to hand over the flooded smartphone to a technician who will take care of it. What to do when there are no service centers nearby? How to restore a wet device? Can a phone fall into water but not break?
What to do if water gets into your gadget? A wet phone does not mean that the gadget needs to be thrown away. A few steps can save a flooded smartphone.
What to do? How to remove water
Flooding of a phone or other electronic device (flooded laptop keyboard, speakers, monitor) is a very common and serious problem. Even the most expensive phones are afraid of water. Without proper protection, even rain can damage your gadget.
Any device can fall, so the main thing is not to panic.
When your phone gets wet, you need to dry it as quickly as possible. Short circuit is the most common cause of equipment failure. It damages the board as well as the processor inside the device. The most important rule is to not try to turn on or charge a wet phone. You can't waste time turning it off.
The next step is to remove the cover and remove the battery. What to do with a non-removable battery? Owners of expensive smartphones from Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi and other brands with a non-removable battery will find it difficult to do this. In such models it is impossible to quickly remove the battery. Disabling it will prevent further serious disruptions. It is also worth removing the SIM card and memory card.
Read also: Protective film or glass on a smartphone: How to apply a protective film
Turn off all external gadgets. It is necessary to open all connectors so that liquid can easily escape from them.
The next step is to thoroughly clean and dry the smartphone. To do this, we use a towel or rag, that is, things that quickly absorb water. The more water we can remove, the better. When your smartphone falls into a sweet liquid, you should clean it with distilled water.
Turning off your smartphone
Even if the device seems to be fully operational, after being removed from the water, it must be turned off. The possibility of liquid getting inside cannot be ruled out. If a short circuit occurs, it will be extremely difficult to restore the device. The cost of repairs will increase several times.
The power is turned off in the standard way - by pressing the screen lock button for 3-5 seconds.
During the entire “rescue operation”, do not turn on your gadget. Think about what is better - wait a few days or completely destroy the device.
Step-by-step instruction
Water got inside, what should I do? We provide first aid to a phone that has fallen into the water:
- Remove the battery, SIM card, memory card.
- Remove everything that can be removed.
- Open the phone to remove the motherboard.
- Remove the plates covering the elements on the motherboard.
- Clean the board with distilled water and then wipe with a dry cloth.
- Clean the connectors on the motherboard with a stiff brush, but only gently.
- Wait until all the parts are dry.
- Collect your smartphone.
There is no one hundred percent guarantee that it is possible to restore the functionality of a phone that has fallen into water. Quick, correct actions will help save the gadget. Electronics are electricity, and electricity and water are not very good connections.
Note:
- The battery needs to be cleaned. Let it air dry.
- If water gets into your phone's speaker, play loud music with low frequencies. This will help push the water out of the speakers. If the sound after drying the phone is hoarse, the speakers need to “clear their throat.”
- Some small parts, such as the microphone, may trap liquid droplets. Disassemble and remove liquid with a dry cloth.
- If water gets into your smartphone’s camera, you should take it to a service center.
- If the phone is filled with sticky liquid, disassemble it, rinse with distilled water, and dry.
Options
If the situation is not critical or there is no way to take the damaged Xiaomi for repair, then you can try to revive the smartphone at home. If you stay in a humid environment for a long time, the likelihood of a short circuit increases, Fastboot unexpectedly starts and does not work again. In such cases, you cannot do without a master. But some measures need to be taken before contacting the service center.
Emergency drying
The first step is to remove the case, turn off the phone and unplug the charger cord if the device was charging. For emergency drying, wrap the device in a dry cloth or other soft, clean material that absorbs moisture. After removing drops from the surface of the case, all SIM cards are removed from the tray. The cable connector hole and speaker grilles are wiped with extreme care with a swab or cotton swab.
Uses of rice
Rice grains absorb remaining liquid well. To do this, the gadget is completely immersed in a bag or sealed container with a food product. Absorption of water is not a quick process, you will have to be patient. White grains are mixed once an hour and replaced as needed.
Silica gel has the best hygroscopic properties. This absorbent absorbs moisture more effectively at room temperature. It is recommended to use it instead of rice.
Self-disassembly and elimination of oxidation
Having prepared several tools (a needle for removing the SIM card tray, a flat spatula for removing the back cover, a screwdriver) and a oxidation remover, we begin to disassemble the Xiaomi case.
Procedure:
- The sharp end of the needle is inserted into the hole. After light pressure, the tray moves to the side.
- Carefully remove the tape framing the touch display. You need to try not to scratch the blue screen.
- A spatula is inserted into the panel gap and carefully moved along the perimeter. When all latches are released, the back cover is removed.
- Use a screwdriver to unscrew the bolts located in the visible area. Protective panels are removed.
- The battery cable snaps off. You can gently warm up the fixation area with a weak stream of warm air from a hairdryer to speed up the removal of the glue.
- The battery is separated from the board by a thin plate. It is necessary to carefully examine the parts, identifying traces of oxidation.
Humidity sensors indicate that water has entered the housing. Visually, they are represented by miniature circles that change color to pink or red when wet. Having discovered such a danger signal, you need to urgently save the phone.
Oxidation, expressed as spots of blurred white plaque, is removed with a special product without impurities containing alcohol. It is used for cleaning electronics. Most formulations are available in aerosol form (for example, Cleaner OS, FluxOFF, etc.). A thin layer of liquid is evenly sprayed across the motherboard. The treated surface is carefully cleaned with a toothbrush. Contaminated areas are treated with special care.
To speed up drying, you can use a hairdryer to warm it up. For 10 minutes, a weak stream of warm air is directed at the parts from a distance of 2 m.
Do not heat plastic connectors and areas around microphones and backlight sensors. Closed areas of the board require more intense heating.
Specialist help
If, after falling into water, the smartphone turns on and continues to work in standard mode, consulting a specialist will not be superfluous. Over time, the conductors and traces of the motherboard can be destroyed by the effect of electrolysis. Delay in repair will result in the failure of the mobile device.
Service center employees will diagnose Xiaomi and determine the extent of the problem. Large areas of oxidation are observed in gadgets that have been in liquids with a high content of impurities. An increased concentration of salt (sea water), fat or sugar (tea, compote, coffee) accelerates corrosion processes in parts. The sooner you contact the workshop, the cheaper the repair will cost.
Sun and sand can cause irreparable damage
Modern smartphones are theoretically well protected from the harmful effects of sand, dust, and overheating.
But that doesn't mean they won't do harm. New phones have built-in overheat protection - if the device temperature exceeds the permissible level, it will simply turn off. However, leaving the phone in the sun exposes it, especially the battery, to overheating. This can cause all sorts of damage, from peeling off the screen to bloating the battery. It's better to put your phone in your bag, away from the sun.
Read also: Recording telephone conversations on a Xiaomi smartphone.
Sand may scratch the casing or display. This will result in deep scratches on the smartphone's touch screen. Since manufacturers use glass to make the entire body, the back is also vulnerable.
Sand gets under the screen and into every crack. The speaker and microphone openings are particularly susceptible to sand penetration. If your mobile phone suddenly starts to “wheeze” while talking or playing music, it means there is sand inside.
Contact the service center
You need to find a Xiaomi repair as quickly as possible and arrange for your Xiaomi device to be put to work immediately. The longer you wait, the more the contacts will oxidize and corrosion will spread. Service center specialists have special devices to quickly get rid of moisture inside a Xiaomi phone.
The device will be disassembled and each element will be checked for functionality. Some parts will probably need to be replaced. Depending on the places where the liquid has penetrated, the Xiaomi will either be quickly repaired or it will no longer be able to be restored.
How to protect your smartphone from water?
The easiest way to protect your smartphone is to buy a waterproof case. This solution is more expensive than traditional coating, but it will protect against water. Please note the waterproof IP standard. The greatest protection is guaranteed IP68 - complete protection against dust, immersion in water to a depth of 1 meter for 30 minutes.
The first rule is don't panic
It will also be helpful to NOT do a few things that we may mistakenly do immediately after a “tragedy.”
Drying your smartphone with a hairdryer
Oddly enough, the most obvious solution turned out to be the most wrong in this case. In addition, in this way you will not dry out the insides of the smartphone (the device body is tightly closed and air flows do not reach a drop of water throughout all components of the phone, which can subsequently cause oxidation.
The same applies to trying to blow through the holes with your mouth or trying to “shake” water out of the housing - bad ideas.
Disassembling the device immediately after removal from the water
If you do not have extensive and successful experience in repairing a large number of smartphones, then you definitely should not try to disassemble it into parts immediately after pulling the device out of the water.
If you make careless movements when opening your smartphone, you can not only leave scratches and damage on the case, but also harm the inside of the smartphone, which will be much worse.
Continue working with your smartphone
If your device does not turn off on its own, then after removing the phone from the water, turn it off immediately. Everything is simple here - water can simply flow into an unprotected place and cause a short circuit.
Disassembly
If possible, remove the battery. The latest Xiaomi models do not have removable covers (the battery is not removable) and to remove the battery you must partially disassemble the device.
Remove water from the outside of the smartphone: blot with napkins, dry thoroughly with a towel or any other cloth that is at hand.
