I think I short-circuited my Captivate...

[Divadkab]

There is a good chance that my phone has short-circuited. It should be properly dried out by now using some different methods, one of them putting it in the oven on a low temp, which visually I could see less water behind the camera lens. I am now only waiting for my friend to bring me my charger since I left it at his cottage where I dropped my phone in the water.

This has never happened to me before, so I am hoping that someone can chime in and let me know what would be my best course of action. Anyone know if it is repairable? And how much it could cost? Since I haven't fully determined my phones fate, but am expecting the worst, I'm hoping to find out what I can expect before I take it in to my carrier.

 

[dgritza]

Sorry to hear!!! I have never heard of an oven but I know you can place it in a bag of rice that should absorb the moisture. Honestly I would not turn it on right away. Give it 24 hours.

If it's that bad you may be SOL though.

 

[Divadkab]

Sorry to hear!!! I have never heard of an oven but I know you can place it in a bag of rice that should absorb the moisture. Honestly I would not turn it on right away. Give it 24 hours.

If it's that bad you may be SOL though.

Yeah, I tried the rice as well. I just can't test right now since I think my battery is drained and I don't have my charger on me.

I was hoping that someone who may have gone through this process and was not able to bring their phone back could let me know what to expect in terms of whether the cost of repairing the phone if it is even possible outweighs just getting a new phone.

Thanks though.

 

[olbriar]

I have no idea of the cost of repair. Do make absolutely sure it's dry before powering up. If water creates a bridge across the board you are likely holding a nice looking paper weight. Oven on it's lowest temp.. rice.. pull the battery out while all of this is in progress. If you think it's dry.. give it another day. If it has any chance of survival.. and many do survive.. it has to be dry before being powered up.

I went into the lake with a razor once. I immediately turned it off.. baked and riced it.. and a few days later.. went and bought another phone. Best of luck.

 

[js593]

Rice it for a week, at least a week. The rice will eventually pull all the water from the solder contacts, and any open spaces. If i were you, i would disassemble the phone (if you have the knowledge how to only, DO NOT DO THIS UNLESS YOUR EXPERIENCED WITH SMALL ELECTRONICS!!!) and put each individual part in rice, let sit for a week in a cool dry place. Ive revived 10+ phones doing this.

 

[Divadkab]

Hmmm, so I riced it for another day and I got my charger finally.

So get a load of this. It will turn on sometimes, and take me to the main screen, and then play the music that it does when it turns off, probably since I don't have any juice in the battery.

So far, the charger does not work for my phone . So, when I plug it in when it is off, it doesn't show the animation of the battery, and when it was on, it didn't charge it likewise.

I'm glad that my phone functions, it just seems that I may have fried whatever receives the charge from the charger. I guess I will have to go in to a store, try a new battery, and deduce what exactly is up with my phone. Could have been worse [phew].

 

[sremick]

I had this happen to me once. I think it was a StarTAC. It fell into water.

I immediately pulled it out of the water within a second or 2, and pulled the battery right away. I then proceeded to completely disassemble it (not recommended for the untrained... I work with electronics regularly though and had an anti-static mat, wrist-strap and workstation). To dry it out, my technique was to use an incandescent desk lamp shining up right against the disassembled pieces really close to safely give it a little bit of heat. I think I left it for 3 days or so like that.

Worked fine afterwards.