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Blowing Compressed Air Into The 30 Pin Connector

F

flipster

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 14, 2010
591
3
Boston
Well, I know that A LOT of people have problems with their home buttons after time. It kind of dawned on me that it only happens with time, which got me thinking.

Has anyone ever tried blowing compressed air into the 30 pin connector underneath the home button? That might work. Any risks involved when doing this
 
I feel like the home button not working is just a factory defect, and the button may either be worn out or the "ribbon" it's connected to becomes faulty. I fail to see how blowing dust out of the 30-pin port would fix this, but it may be nice cleaning/maitenance.
 
flipster said:
Well, I know that A LOT of people have problems with their home buttons after time. It kind of dawned on me that it only happens with time, which got me thinking.

Has anyone ever tried blowing compressed air into the 30 pin connector underneath the home button? That might work. Any risks involved when doing this
Click to expand...

I do the compressed air thing often. I'm kind of OCD about not having dust and lint jammed up in there. Coincidentally my home button is spastic as hell. If anything I've added more debris behind the home button w/ the compressed air. :eek:
 
Be careful with compressed air. It is easy to blow dirt, dust and even liquids from the can into the switches, screen and phone internals!! Take it very easy when blowing into the phone. :cool:
 
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I would advise against blowing compressed air in the dock connector. I did that once and now I have hundreds/thousands of dust particles under my screen and it's a pain to take a screen apart to clean it up. I have resorted to using a tooth pick to pick out the big pieces and just blowing with my mouth to get out the rest. As far as the home button, I don't think it would help at all. Maybe try taking the screen off first and then blowing it out. But definately don't blow into the dock connector.
 
I would be worried about getting dust under the screen. From owning many iPods and 3 different iPhones I can assure you that those dock connectors can hold A LOT of dirt and dust and still keep working flawlessly.
 
tardman91 said:
I would be worried about getting dust under the screen. From owning many iPods and 3 different iPhones I can assure you that those dock connectors can hold A LOT of dirt and dust and still keep working flawlessly.
Click to expand...

+1 I have tons of dirt and crap in mine and I haven't had an issue. As long as the metal teeth make the connection, it will be fine. Blowing air is probably just going to cause more of an issue.
 
I've got an iPod that took one hell of a beating and was roughed around a lot (caseless) and I've had it since I was 13 years old and it will still connect to iTunes without flaw. So I don't think there's really a whole lot to worry about. ;)
 
Just went to an Apple Store 3 days ago for a stuck home button and the guy blew compressed air into the 30-pin connector and my button was working again. Did it fix it? No because today it's still not working
 
Otaillon said:
Just went to an Apple Store 3 days ago for a stuck home button and the guy blew compressed air into the 30-pin connector and my button was working again. Did it fix it? No because today it's still not working
Click to expand...

And on top of that there is probably dust under the screen now.
 
The dust under the screen was a problem with the 3G and 3GS. I had two replaced because of it. The original iPhone and the iPhone 4 have screens that are bonded to the digitizer and front glass so dust should not get under there, no matter what you do to the dock connector. Still might be better to use a vacuum though.
 
flipster said:
Well, I know that A LOT of people have problems with their home buttons after time. It kind of dawned on me that it only happens with time, which got me thinking.

Has anyone ever tried blowing compressed air into the 30 pin connector underneath the home button? That might work. Any risks involved when doing this
Click to expand...

It'll trip your water sensor. There's enough water content in the bottles that it been known to turn them pink
 
Not sure that blowing air INTO the phone is a good idea.

Like trying to clean out your arse with an air compressor. You don't know what you will shoving up your butt!
 
I've taken in my iPhone to the Apple Store for dock issues and the first thing they do is spray compressed air and clean out the dock for dust. I don't think theres anything wrong with it.
 
RKilbane20 said:
I've taken in my iPhone to the Apple Store for dock issues and the first thing they do is spray compressed air and clean out the dock for dust. I don't think theres anything wrong with it.
Click to expand...

After reading this thread, I got a dust cleaner can and sprayed it into the 30 pin dock connector. A whole bunch of dust and lint came out! :eek: I'll be doing it maybe once a month now.
 
I use a vacuum cleaner instead of compressed air for cleaning stuff out.

A full sized vacuum cleaner creates a very powerful vacuum, and if you use the attachment with a small tip you can really concentrate that force where it's needed. I vacuum my dock connector from time to time, as well as the connectors on the docks I put my phone in. This keeps dust from constantly being shoved in.
 
mattdo93 said:
After reading this thread, I got a dust cleaner can and sprayed it into the 30 pin dock connector. A whole bunch of dust and lint came out! :eek: I'll be doing it maybe once a month now.
Click to expand...
Please use extreme caution using any dust / compressed air cleaning cans.

They have the tendency to introduce air the may contain very high moisture content which can trigger the mositure indicator in the dock connector. Please follow the instructions exactly and make sure to use small bursts.

A much better solution would be a small battery powered electronic particle vac to extract the dust and other particles rather then forcing them further into the iPhone.

Dave
 
I've found that the best solution was to avoid the dock all together, and spray compressed air at about an inch away from the home button in a circular motion. Since doing this I haven't had a problem, home button feels brand new.
 
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