Drowned Sansa

[orcdoubleax]

My wife drowned her sansa this morning and now it is not working. Any suggestions?

I am going to take it apart and hope it drys out.

[CrowdAds]

[dfkt]

First thing is you DO NOT try to turn it on after it's taken a bath. Turning it on immediately after the accident raises the chance of frying anything inside immensely. Put it in a jar of salt or rice to drain the water from the player, let it dry for a few days, and only then try turning it on.

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by orcdoubleax

My wife drowned her sansa this morning and now it is not working. Any suggestions?

I am going to take it apart and hope it drys out.

First, don't turn it on, although it sounds like you already tried. Then try putting it in an airtight container with uncooked rice, or something similar that would soak up any moisture(there's a term for this that escapes me ATM). Good luck!

Edit: beaten to the punch by dfkt!

[epithetless]

Originally Posted by Marvin the Martian

...or something similar that would soak up any moisture(there's a term for this that escapes me ATM)...

That term would be "desiccant."

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by epithetless

That term would be "desiccant."

Ah, thank you!

[orcdoubleax]

thanks for the replies. I guess I will know better next time.
First thing we did was try to turn it on.

So I opened it up and sure enought there is a nasty burn mark where the battery meets the PBC.

[DPyro]

Durrr...Water + electricity = death.

[Mp3NuTcAsE]

Ok.. Time to get technical here...

Water+electricity doesn't HAVE to mean death..just try a conductivity test on pure water(such as distilled)..

I have rescued many electronics from water.. and they have been fine. It all depends on what is DISSOLVED in the water, since this is where the conductivity comes from. The water itself conducts next to no electricity.

Basically..electronics(provided they are clean to start with) can usually be rescued from being dropped in clean water..just dry them up..alcohol and or WD-40 can help. In extreme cases DeOxit may be needed.

Older electronics with many paper-wrapped components can be a different issue altogether for obvious reasons.

Now a powered-up piece of equipment dropped in a mudpuddle or the like is usually a different story...

[Pauliwog]

Personally, I'd just open it up, remove the battery and set it out to air dry. I wouldn't use salt because of the fact that it can cause corrosion on any exposed metal parts.

[dfkt]

There's no metal surfaces on the plastic fantastic Sansas, but a good point to keep in mind nevertheless.

[jsc315]

Originally Posted by DPyro

Durrr...Water + electricity = death.

Oddly i accidentally dropped my clip in a glass of water. I didn't turn it on and did let it dry for about 5 days or so. The thing actually worked better then before and have had it since then. This is one of the rare cases where i was having a problem with my clip wasn't paying attention and dropped it in a glass of water and strange enough it worked better after words. I wouldn't recomend this however since usually this means death.

[Pauliwog]

Originally Posted by dfkt

There's no metal surfaces on the plastic fantastic Sansas, but a good point to keep in mind nevertheless.

I'm certain that the back plate of the Fuze is metal, the thin contacts in the connector on the bottom are metal, and the plate around them is also metal. The contacts may be gold, so they might be immune to the effects of salt; but the metal shielding around them isn't. Then there's the contacts inside the headphone jack. You know, the places where the water gets in, and also the places where little grains of salt will find their way into as well.

[dfkt]

You're absolutely right - I completely forgot that the Fuze and e200 indeed do have metal backs. Where's my head...

[DPyro]

When I made that comment I was more referring to him actually turning the unit on after getting it wet. Of course if you dry it out for a few days it will more than likely work, but not if you short something out before then.