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iPod Arrgh!! iPod mini fell in a cup of mint tea!

Kingsly

Kingsly

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Aug 9, 2005
3,389
14
Either in front of a computer or behind a camera.
My mom just dropped her iPod mini in a glass of iced mint tea. It was playing a song at the time. She grabbed it before it was completely submerged, but the tea got all the way up to the play button. I immediately turned it off and thwacked it against my hand to get the tea out. Hopefully it will be okay... any ideas about what I can do to save it?
Its drying right now.




caio
 
lexus said:
You are going to have to void your warranty by opening it and removing the residue with a q tip. By the way was their sugar in the ice tea?
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Not to worry, its past its warranty anyway. I dont think there was sugar... why?

miniConvert said:
I love the title of this thread. As if the fact that it was mint tea bears some kind of important factor in the scenario :p

Get it in a dry, warm place and wait for it to completely dry.
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:eek: The flavor of the tea makes ALL the difference! Shame on you! :p
How long do you think before it dries?

CanadaRAM, sorry, it's pink. If its any consolation, she wanted green originally. :)
 
if you have a dehumidifier wack it on top of that. i dropped my md thing into a drink a long time ago and it completely recovered... but then again, it is less complex than a mp3 player (but more holes!!!!!!)
 
Kingsly said:
Not to worry, its past its warranty anyway. I dont think there was sugar... why?


:eek: The flavor of the tea makes ALL the difference! Shame on you! :p
How long do you think before it dries?

CanadaRAM, sorry, it's pink. If its any consolation, she wanted green originally. :)
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Sugar caramelizes and destroys the circuitry.
 
Anything other than distilled water can leave behind a residue which can prevent electronics from working properly.

If your iPod still isn't working after you've dried it out (like people have said above), rinse it in distilled water for a while and then leave it to dry for a week or so. You can get distilled water in many shops, car accessory shops may sell it as "battery top up water".

I've done this with countless gadgets and they've been good as new after, though none of my gadgets have had hard drives.
 
gamer2k said:
Scary
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I don't like to be mean but I have been watching you and you have been posting a lot of meaningless posts such as this one. Please stop.

Kingsly, definitely take the iPod apart and use a cotton swab with alcohol to remove any minty residue from the inside of the iPod.

If, after a few days, it still doesn't work, use the distilled water approach, but so this while the mini is taken apart so water will not get trapped inside it. Also, don't allow the screen to get wet, or if possible the hard drive.
 
I'm not sure you have to open it up. Back before there was an iPod, I dropped my Rio in some Ramen Noodles. After awhile it dried on it's own. The stuff dried around the buttons so I had to press them (not too hard) to break the residue, but after that it worked fine. I would assume Ramen is worse than tea, and an iPod would be more durable than a Rio.

Good luck though.
 
If she was going to drop it in anything (other than distilled water), iced tea was probably the best choice. It's probably better if it was herbal mint vs. black or green tea with mint, but the issue of if there was sugar or some other sweetener (especially honey) is more crucial.

I've done the distilled water trick on a couple of things (calculators, phones, remotes) and had good results. The presence of sugar seems to make the process a lot less successful.

Good luck.
 
If you have any sort of a space dehumidifier in your house, put the iPod in front of that to dry out anything in it before you go in with a cotton swab.

Daniel.
 
Sorry, but I just couldn't help but
attachment.php


Certainly a strange image the thread title brings.
 
My wife dropped her mini in the tub (totally submerged) while playing (the iPod i mean, my wife was soaking!!:D ) and it shut off when taken out. After about 2-3 days it woke up and is just fine.
 
redAPPLE said:
i heard that putting the iPod in the oven in the lowest setting for a few minutes could dry the iPod up faster...
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Forget that. Go straight for the grill on high.
 
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