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iPod ipod+saltwater

J

josephql

macrumors newbie
Original poster
The other week I had left my ipod in my pocket while I went swimming in the ocean. It wasn't long before i realized and i took it out immediately to be dried. After I let it dry out, i plugged it into the computer. Itunes can still detect the ipod and manage the songs, but the ipod screen doesnt turn on.
Any ideas of what to do?
 
Okay,

Drying it out was a very, very bad thing to do, keeping salt residues inside circuits promotes rusting. Follow these instructions at your own risk, I am not to be held liable to anything you do to your ipod although since water had got in it once the chances of more water in it isn't going to kill it is it? 😛

1. Open your ipod, separate the casing from the shell. (You'll need to find instructions from somewhere else on how to open those things)

2. Rinse thoroughly in Distilled Water, no tap water.

3. Allow to dry in warm dry condition, an oven at its lowest temperature or a hair dryer if you're living in cold conditions. --==You must leave it to dry for a good amount of time==--

Unfortunately you cannot remove the battery from those things so you may have killed your batteries life by a bit. I had to do those things when my Treo650 was soaked in seawater but I got it working within the next day. Of course, if all goes wrong, it'll be better to buy a new ipod than get it repaired. Accidents of this nature voids the warranty and the ipods durability quickly shortens after these types of mishaps.
 
I'm completely shocked that it still functions as a drive after being immersed in salt water and sand.

Try cleaning it like above, then see if the Apple Store will help you relpace it. I know it's a long shot, but maybe you could leave out the ocean part. 😛
 
Subjecting it to more water might make it worse though, especially if the battery is still connected. 😱
 
Well, since it doesn't work properly now what's the risk? Here's an interesting fact though, water can only conduct electricity if it has ions floatin' around in it e.g. Salt hence rinsing with Distilled Water (pureish, but free of salts, water). The salt water would have already wreaked havoc on the battery already.
 
It might just need a screen replacement though. Plus, the distilled water will soon have salt (and ions) floating 'round in it if it's cleaning properly. I'm not worried about the battery at this stage so much as the remaining functioning components. 😉
 
The purpose of rinsing in distilled water is to get rid of salts that are on the circuitry, salt + metal = rust, no point in spending $x on a screen replacement if your ipod dies in two to six months because of rust. Might as well get a new ipod.
 
You probably need to do the distilled water thing, but you should have done that before applying power. I'm not sure how much water penetrated, since the drive is still working. Salt would have wreacked havoc on that drive platter.

The lipo's are sealed for the most part, they dispose of Lipo batteries by poking a hole in them and letting them sit in salt water BTW.

It probably won't last much longer anyway. Salt water is a killer on electronics.
 
nickel said:
The purpose of rinsing in distilled water is to get rid of salts that are on the circuitry, salt + metal = rust, no point in spending $x on a screen replacement if your ipod dies in two to six months because of rust. Might as well get a new ipod.
Click to expand...


Yeah, that's a good point. 🙂


pilotError said:
You probably need to do the distilled water thing, but you should have done that before applying power.
Click to expand...


You're a thinker. josephql, discharge the battery as much as possible before rinsing the iPod. Leave it playing at full volume overnight or do something similar. Good luck.
 
mad jew said:
Yeah, that's a good point. 🙂





You're a thinker. josephql, discharge the battery as much as possible before rinsing the iPod. Leave it playing at full volume overnight or do something similar. Good luck.
Click to expand...

well here's the thing,
i was in vietnam at the time and i couldn't have done the rinsing with distilled water right on the spot
thanks for the advice though
 
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