rice absorbs moisture.

Curious if this works to recover notebooks or other electronics.

  • over_clox@lemmy.world
    7·
    1 month ago

    Rice does absolutely nothing to prevent solder points, traces, etc from corroding in the long run. Even if it briefly works, there’s no guarantees how long it’ll work before it ultimately fails.

    I’ve had around 80% long term success rate with flooded electronics by disassembling them, pressure washing the bare circuit board(s), and using an air compressor to speed up drying time.

    Not all components can be pressure washed, obviously, so some parts might still end up needing to be replaced. But usually the circuit board(s) can indeed last a long time if cleaned the way I mentioned.

    Components not suitable for pressure washing and air compressor method would include the screen, the keyboard, the speakers, and any other obvious sensitive components.

    Still, every water damaged item is a different situation. But I’ll tell ya this much, rice ain’t gonna do much of shit.

  • Im_old@lemmy.world
    4·
    1 month ago

    Dropped my martini on thinkpad. Dried it out with a cloth the best I could. Nothing happened apart that every time it warmed up it started smelling of Martini

  • j4k3@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    1 month ago

    If it died as a result of spilling something on it. You most likely damaged something hardware wise. If it was powered off, first remove the battery asap. Then just take off the bottom cover, pat anything needed dry, and let it air out.

    The real concern are the chips that do not have any pins sticking out of them. Those are ball grid arrays (a whole bunch of connections are made under the black epoxy packaging. Those can hold moisture under them for longer. Your best bet is to let it dry in a warm place for a few hours.

    Getting wet is not a problem. The problem is a powered connection having a conductive fluid bridging two or more connections that can not tolerate the current the fluid creates.

    When the actual circuit board is made, it goes into ovens and submerged in liquids. Some even go across molten pools of tin as part of the component assembly process. The board itself, (not all the other plastics and stuff for the case, screen, etc., is very resilient.

    In many industrial settings where the environment is very dirty, it is common to take a desktop PC apart and hose it off with water. The only issue is shorting connections under powered conditions.

    So yes, technically, any form of drying can help “recover” the device.

  • cerement@slrpnk.net
    2·
    1 month ago
    • only works for something like water that can evaporate (or be absorbed) without leaving anything behind (plain tea, black coffee maybe) – if there’s any sugar or anything fatty (ex. cream), then that all has to be cleaned out otherwise it leaves a sticky mess that attracts even more dirt
    • make sure it’s off and unplug the battery until everything is dry (and clean)
  • fakeman_pretendname@feddit.uk
    1·
    1 month ago

    To a degree, yes, but don’t expect magic. Some laptops have a waterproof membrane under the keyboard, so if you’re lucky, and it does, you may be able to just pop the keys off and dry the membrane out, and make sure no liquid creeps round the side into the electronics.

    Otherwise you may have better odds if you open up the case and mop up any/all loose liquid you can get to with a microfibre cloth, as soon as possible, then try and let it air dry for a while.

    A sealed bag with dried rice and your electronic object may absorb a bit of leftover moisture, but only to the extent that it will equal the moisture level in the sealed bag - the dried rice will gain a little extra moisture, the object will lose that bit of extra moisture.

    Try to resist the urge to turn it on to check if it’s working until you’ve got all the moisture out.