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Help Question About Water Damage and Hardware

D

darkspork

Newbie
I have a question about the hardware in these phones pertaining to water damage:

My wife left her Droid Incredible 2 tucked into her top when she got in the hot tub while we were in Las Vegas. As soon as she realized it, she took the phone out, and took it apart. This was over a week ago. It's been sitting in a bag of uncooked rice since last Saturday and seem to be dry.

So, today I threw the battery + SIM card in, plugged it in, nothing happened. Then I proceeded to take it apart. The circuit board is pristine & bone dry and the water damage indicators read as follows:

  • Indicator where battery goes: Water Damage
  • Battery: Water Damage
  • Indicator under USB port: Water Damage
  • Indicator on Circuit-board: Pristine (no signs of damage).

So, my assumption is that no water really got to the circuit board (I could be wrong). Given this, how likely is it that the phone is still good and just needs a new battery?

I already ordered a used D2G off eBay so best case scenario we have a backup phone. Worst case scenario the Droid Incredible 2 is a really expensive paperweight (I opted out for the insurance).

Any insight is helpful, thanks in advance.
 
I had an Eris that got soaked, and I mean soaked. But I left it on top of the radiator (with a folded shirt as a spacer) for a couple days and it fired up great. From what your moisture indicators say, I would try again with a little more drying on a warm dry open-air spot for a day to polish off the drying, and try again. If you have a spare battery try with it. Without the battery, even plugged in the phone will not turn on. You need a functioning battery in there. So, if you killed the battery (a $10 replacement) your phone might still be good.
Otherwise, sorry to hear about your loss:(
 
I was thinking that might be the case for the battery, wasn't certain though. Interesting that the battery short before the rest of the phone.

I'll look around for a battery to see if that helps.
 
darkspork said:
Because that's where she had her phone. I guess it makes a good pocket?
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Oh man, I don't know where my head was. :p
I have a hard time keeping focused ;)

darkspork said:
Actually, I think I do. What do I test?
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I would just see what you get for voltages across the terminals (and if you are getting any at all) and compare that to the spare battery you hopefully find. Just to be safe before sticking a non-DInc2 battery in there (or to see if your battery is even a battery anymore).
I used my old Eris battery, and it worked fine. I don't know if you have a battery laying around.
If you need comparison, I'll find my Vmeter and post my results when I can. Just let me know if that would help you.
 
TheAtheistReverend said:
I would just see what you get for voltages across the terminals (and if you are getting any at all) and compare that to the spare battery you hopefully find. Just to be safe before sticking a non-DInc2 battery in there (or to see if your battery is even a battery anymore).
I used my old Eris battery, and it worked fine. I don't know if you have a battery laying around.
If you need comparison, I'll find my Vmeter and post my results when I can. Just let me know if that would help you.
Click to expand...

Well, I have a really cheap multimeter (got in an installation kit from Crutchfield) and I tested it on all settings with the power wire connected to the terminal on the battery labeled "+" and the ground wire connected to the terminal labeled "-". Absolutely no readings. For comparison I have a Droid Incredible battery laying around (which won't fit in the Dic2 for some reason) and no reading on that either. Am I supposed to have the ground wire actually grounded to something or is my multimeter too cheap to be useful.

It's too bad the Incredible battery won't fit, that would give me a very quick and conclusive answer.
 
Multimeter not reading was user error; plugs weren't plugged in all the way. Here are the readings under the "Car DC Volts" setting at "20"

Droid Incredible 2 Battery Voltage: 3.95
Droid Incredible Battery Voltage: 3.75

I'm going to guess based off of this it is not a battery issue, rather the phone is fried. Thanks for the help. I doubt a high voltage would be cause for a battery to not work, but somebody please correct me if I'm wrong.
 
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