How to determine if the phone was in water. How do I know if my phone has been in water? Does it make sense to repair a smartphone drowned

How do I know if my phone has been in water?

To begin with, you need to disassemble it and then you will definitely see whether it was heated or not. The contacts on the board will be slightly oxidized. Well, or the best option is to take it to the workshop and ask if it was heated.

The only evidence of a phone drowning may be traces of oxidation in the corners of the battery contacts, which will appear anyway if it gets wet. Even if you dropped the phone into water and immediately took it out, the water could close some contacts on the board and, as a result, give signs of oxidation. Therefore, in this case, quickly removing the phone from the water is not enough, you also need to quickly remove the battery and dry them separately from each other. In this case, damage to the phone may occur. And yes, by the way, it is not necessary to drop the phone to make it seem drowned, it is enough to use it in high humidity, for example, to have a rest in Thailand for a week, so that the contacts of the battery and the board are oxidized.

In general, when moisture gets into the phone, contacts are oxidized and this can be seen with the naked eye. It looks as if they have such supposedly salt, white particles. But for this it is not at all necessary to bathe phone. This can happen due to moisture getting inside, and this can happen for various reasons. Even after lying down near the crack of the windowsill in a snowy winter, this can happen.

If the phone gets wet, the contacts will be oxidized. Although this is not an indicator.

My phone never got into water and the contacts were oxidized. And I remembered that in the winter there was a terrible frost and the phone was in the pocket of the baton, which means froze. When I entered the room, it became warmer and most likely the phone thawed with the formation of moisture - if this is of course possible. There were no other options anyway.

When moisture got into my phone, the phone screen began to glow differently. Even moisture ingress can be recognized by the indicator in the corner of the hole for the battery, it turns pink from moisture. I took it to the workshop, they cleaned it and said that the life of the phone would be reduced due to moisture ingress.

If nothing was changed on it after falling into the water, then you can easily find out. There is a moisture indicator on the accumulator battery, near the contacts. It is made just for such cases and allows you to find out about the drowned man without disassembly. Initially, it is a white square. If the phone floated then the indicator turns from white to red.

It will not be possible to determine one hundred percent whether the phone is wet. You can see the contacts. If they oxidize, then there is a possibility that moisture has got into the phone. If such a disputable situation has arisen and you are sure that the phone is not wet. Then I would take it for an independent examination. Let them give an official opinion. And already with him go to the service center.

Many phone batteries have a special label (it is disposable). This small square is originally white. When liquid gets on it, it turns red. It is located near the contacts. You can also judge by indirect signs - oxidation of contacts, deformation of paper stickers, sometimes mold inside the case.

Not only on the phone (inside), but also on the battery, there are special moisture detectors - stickers that change their color from white to red when wet in water. There is no way to return them to their original whiteness. According to them, they determine in the service that the phone fell into the water, which means that the case is not guaranteed.

However, sellers are not always honest with the buyer. I have repeatedly heard that they themselves, not wanting to bother with free repair or replacement with a new one (generally unprofitable for them) ... dip your phone in a bucket of water when you leave, and then accuse you of lying - how are you doing it not drowned when we clearly see that he has been in the water? And any independent examination will later, of course, confirm - yes, I have been. But when and where it happened - alas, the indicator paper does not show this.

Take a look inside, having previously disassembled the phone, if the contacts are oxidized, it means that the phone was in water. And if it works and you buy it from your hands, then you can easily drop the price, thirty percent. Well, this already depends on how much it is generally sold.

It depends on which phone you are talking about. On the screen of the touchscreen phone, you can see if it got into the water. A phone with a battery can also be checked by pulling it out and you can see signs of oxidation if it gets into water. In general, the service should somehow justify the fact that the phone got into the water, and not just verbally inform about it.

A wet smartphone is a potential nuisance, even if it is a modern model with a sealed case that is supposedly completely waterproof. For the simple reason that a tiny droplet of liquid trapped inside the most protected case can fundamentally ruin any electronics. Often forever.

And the most disgusting thing in such a situation is that the manufacturer's warranty obligations for damage caused by exposure to moisture, as a rule, do not apply.

Therefore, users almost always have to fix their wet smartphone for their own. Agree, this is unpleasant.

True, with a certain skill and luck, it can do (look - what to do if the touchscreen phone falls into the water), but this is not always the case.

Nevertheless, even in such "wet cases" manufacturers still show some concern for their customers, having come up with a simple solution that helps to quickly assess the possible damage from exposure to moisture on the electronics of the device. This method is called "moisture indicator" (it is also Liquid Control Indicator or LCI, it is also Liquid Damage Indicator or LDI, in general Liquid indicator).

All smartphones (and not only smartphones) are equipped with this indicator (and more than one). Therefore, if your smartphone also suddenly took a dip, but not for long and without visible grave consequences, then you probably don't need to panic right away.

At least until you check the moisture indicator. He is obliged to respond to such incidents on duty instantly, and by his reaction you can always determine how wet your wet smartphone turned out to be and what needs to be done with it next.

The moisture indicator looks and works extremely simple. Outwardly, this is a small sticker. It is white or light when dry and changes color to red or pink upon any contact with moisture. Manufacturers put such stickers in various places of smartphones, however, even if only one of the entire set turns red, then most likely no one will repair anything for the user, that is, you, for free.

One way or another, but if you just got your smartphone out of the water or not out of the water, but there is a suspicion that moisture has got inside the copus, then you act as follows: take out the SIM card and remove the battery (if it is removed) or simply turn off nutrition. And after all this, you can start examining the state of the moisture indicators (on the battery, in the connectors, inside the case, etc.). Further - according to the situation, but if you observe "redness", then it is better to go to the service immediately.

For starters, you can immediately answer the most frequent question that torments!

How much does it cost to repair a wet phone?

We will answer immediately. From 800 rubles! The master will determine more precisely. But as a rule, repairs are much cheaper than buying a new phone.
And one more subtle question

Does it make sense to repair a smartphone drowned

Of course yes! As we said, it is much cheaper.
Think for yourself ...
Cost of a new mid-range phone
10-15 thousand rubles

Drowned man repair price

average 800-2000 rubles
Does it make sense to buy when your refurbished mobile phone will work like new. In this case, there will be no need to restore contacts!

So about the cellular "diver-diver" ...

I was spurred on to write this article by a large number of calls with the questions "My phone fell into the water, what should I do, how much will it cost to repair a drowned phone?", Or "My phone got wet, it worked right away, then it stopped turning on", or "We washed the phone in the washing a typewriter, the phone won't turn on, can it be repaired? " etc.

First, I'll tell you what to do first if liquid gets into your phone:

1. The first step is to remove the battery from the phone and do not insert it for at least a day. Oddly enough, it is not so much water that kills the elements inside the phone, as electric current, which oxidizes the elements inside and disables the radio elements and the device board.
2. The second thing the phone needs to dry from the inside... But based on practice, I'll tell you that liquid gets inside the phone very quickly, but it can dry for a very long time, far from one day. And even if all the liquid inside dries out, salts dissolved in water still remain, which corrode radioelements when the phone is operating, since salts are conductors of electric current.
3. Therefore, the third step in saving the phone after moisture gets into it is contacta service center for repairing phones, and it is better not to hesitate, the faster it is done, the cheaper the repair will be, and perhaps only the prevention of the elements of the phone will be enough.

But it's not always so easy. Let's say you dropped your iPhone in water, and you can't get the battery in it without disassembling the device. In this case, if you cannot contact the service center in the very near future, I advise put iPhone in rice (don't laugh, but it really helps! The most ordinary food rice, at first I did not believe it myself, but after people brought the drowned iPhones dried in rice, during the repair it was really seen that the effects of moisture were minimal). The photo shows the board of a drowned iPhone 4, which was put in rice, and then brought to the service. The board was perfectly clean, the only thing that oxidized was the touchscreen connector (marked with a red circle). The red diamond indicates an indicator of liquid penetration into the iPhone.

And now I want to answer the most common question: "How much will it cost to repair a drowned phone?" If the phone does not turn on after the liquid gets inside, then I will answer honestly: "I don't know." In this case, you cannot do without diagnosing a malfunction, since water could damage any element, and therefore the phone must be disassembled and tested to identify a malfunction.

The most harmless case, when the phone was dropped into water, it continues to work, but there are water stains on the screen. It seems to be okay, but it looks unpleasant, especially against a light background. The only way out of this situation is to replace the display on the phone. Even after the water dries up, traces of it still remain, and it is impossible to remove them from the old screen, since the display contains several layers of film that scatter the backlight, and it is impossible to disassemble them without damaging them.

The worst case is when water that gets into the phone oxidizes radioelements and puts them out of action. The oxidation state depends on the time the phone is in water, on the amount of liquid that got inside, on whether the battery was pulled out of the drowned phone immediately or after a while. If you do not immediately take action after the liquid gets into the phone, then it will be approximately the same as with the phone in the photo. The elements oxidize, salts corrode the parts of the phone, and the recessed phone becomes unusable.

The last picture shows the phone's board, which fell into the water and the battery was not taken out of it at once. The phone worked for a while, and then turned off and did not turn on again. Yes, it will not turn on anymore, the phone cannot be repaired, since many radio elements inside have simply rotted. In this case, it is necessary to completely change the board on the phone, which is usually comparable in cost to the price of a used phone of the same model.

Therefore, in order to avoid this and extend the life of your phone after getting liquid into it, immediately take the measures that I wrote about at the beginning of the article.

What happens during galvanic corrosion?

A bit of theory ...
Metal conductors in the phone lose some of the atoms (they pass into the electrolytic solution in the form of ions), electrons replacing the lost atoms charge the metal with a negative charge, while the electrolyte (electrolyte is a liquid that conducts an electric current) has a positive charge. A galvanic pair is formed: the metal is destroyed, gradually all its particles become part of the solution. Accordingly, the solution becomes conductive, which subsequently short-circuits the conductors covered by it.
For the process of electrochemical corrosion, it is not at all necessary to immerse metal conductors in an electrolyte - a rather thin electrolytic film on its surface. Simply put, it is not necessary to drop the phone in water, a humid environment is enough.
In a nutshell: nothing good will happen. The following will occur, either a short circuit of the conductors, or a break in the conductor ...

If liquid gets into your phone ...

Liquid ingress and mechanical damage (falls, shocks) cause the most severe damage to your cell phone. Therefore, to restore the apparatus in this case, repairs of the highest category of complexity are required. We often come across a situation when a client brings a wet phone with the words: “Please clean the phone, it got a little wet and now it does not turn on”. At the same time, not many people realize that any cell phone (even the oldest one, released a few years ago) is a complex electronic device whose operation is controlled by digital and analog processors, RAM and Flash memory chips, numerous peripheral devices (display controllers, keyboards, audio -controllers, etc.). Let's not forget that the most important function of a cell phone is to provide a stable and high-quality connection; this task is performed by a separate functional module, or radio unit, which consists of a special processor (or several processors) for processing high-frequency signals and numerous components of the transmit-receive path. A malfunction of any of the listed modules can lead to serious malfunctions of the phone, or its complete failure. With any, even insignificant, ingress of liquid, when only a few drops have leaked inside, electrochemical corrosion rapidly proceeds on the components of the motherboard for several minutes, which stops only when the battery (hereinafter referred to as the battery) is completely discharged, or when the liquid evaporates.

What to do if liquid gets into the device?

1) Remove and do not reinsert the battery immediately! This will avoid the most serious damage. Remember, while the battery is removed, the processes of electrochemical corrosion do not occur, and damage to the phone's motherboard will stop. At the same time, there is no need to try to charge the device if it does not turn on - this will significantly aggravate the current situation.
2) Timely contact a qualified service center (hereinafter - SC) for diagnostics and repair. All this time, the battery must be removed.

If you are sure that very little liquid has gotten, or there is no way to contact the SC, try to gently dry the device. For this purpose, in no case should you use heating devices (hair dryer, heater, etc.), as well as a microwave oven! Dry the device, avoiding heating above the temperatures indicated in the instructions and observing the described operating conditions, dry the battery only at room temperature. It is impossible to dry the device well in 5 minutes, and even in 5 hours. It takes more time, no need to rush. After completing the operation, try turning on the phone, check charging, communication, and all other functions. Everything is working? So, you are in luck, carefully observe the behavior of the device for several days, and in case of any problems, immediately contact the SC. If the device does not turn on, or there are any malfunctions, immediately contact the SC.

One of the misconceptions, which is undoubtedly a reflection of national ingenuity, is the assertion that a wet apparatus should be washed with vodka or alcohol. This is absurd. Alcohol will evaporate from the vodka inside the apparatus much faster than water, and the situation will only get worse. Flushing with any alcohol-containing liquid, including “pure” alcohol, will not remove or stop the incipient corrosion.

Let us consider the nature of the damage caused by the ingress of liquid using the example of a device that came to us for repair Nokia N70.

On photos 1 oxides and corrosion of the motherboard components are clearly visible in the area of \u200b\u200bthe power controller microcircuit (in the center of the photo). Water damaged not only the external elements, which are relatively easily accessible for restoration or replacement, but also the soldering, which is located directly under the microcircuit - the liquid flows inside, and in this case, replacement of the microcircuit soldering is required (in case of extensive liquid ingress - several microcircuits), or replacement the microcircuit itself. Thus, the phrase "Clean my phone" absolutely unacceptable for such an example, since corrosion, in addition to external components, got under the microcircuit. In addition to damage to components and microcircuits, numerous miniature circuit board conductors (the so-called “tracks”) rot away; in the photo they are visible as light green broken lines connecting the elements. The diameter of these conductors is different, but in general they are approximately equal to the thickness of a human hair, the process of finding breaks and rotted connections is very difficult, and in some cases impossible.

photo 2

On Photos 2 oxides and corrosion of the motherboard components are clearly visible in the area of \u200b\u200bthe power controller microcircuit (in the center of the photo). Water damaged not only the external elements, which are relatively easily accessible for restoration or replacement, but also the soldering, which is located directly under the microcircuit - the liquid flows inside, and in this case the replacement of the microcircuit soldering is required (in the case of extensive liquid ingress - several microcircuits), or replacement the microcircuit itself. Thus, the phrase “clean my phone” is absolutely unacceptable for such an example, since corrosion, in addition to external components, got under the microcircuit. In addition to damage to components and microcircuits, numerous miniature circuit board conductors (the so-called “tracks”) rot away; in the photo they are visible as light green broken lines connecting the elements. The diameter of these conductors is different, but in general they are approximately equal to the thickness of a human hair, the process of finding breaks and rotted connections is very difficult, and in some cases impossible.

photo 3

This Photo 3 illustrates damage in the area of \u200b\u200bthe battery connector (bottom left corner) and the camera (top right corner), as well as nearby components.
Severe corrosion damages not only external elements, microcircuits and conductors. The motherboard of any cell phone has a complex multilayer structure, the conductors from the outer layers go inside the motherboard to connect electrical circuits in different parts of the board. It is extremely difficult to identify and eliminate onboard breaks caused by rotting conductors, and often completely impossible.
Corrosion leads to oxidation of the solder, the products of this reaction can cause short circuits in various electrical circuits. This is dangerous due to the failure of electronic components, including those that are not corroded, as well as the appearance of the so-called “leakage” - a significant increase in energy consumption (sometimes even in the off state), which leads to a rapid discharge of the battery, and a reduction in the operating time of the device.

This photograph also shows numerous damage, traces of extensive corrosion. In this case, the electronic micro-BGA component is badly damaged (it functions as a backlight control). This electronic component must be replaced and the area underneath thoroughly cleaned. There can be a lot of such small micro-BGA components in a modern phone.

Thus, the restoration of any device after the ingress of liquid is a very time-consuming and complex process, the success of which is largely due to your correct actions in the event of a malfunction. In general, the repair of any flooded device must be considered strictly individually and it is IMPOSSIBLE to immediately say about the possibility and cost of repairs !!! It is imperative to diagnose the device, identify damaged blocks and / or components, as well as a thorough check of the device's performance after replacing these components. This type of repair requires the presence of modern equipment in the SC and highly qualified engineers, therefore, Dear Customers, do not repair your phones in unknown and not qualified "workshops". Remember the old adage: "A miser pays twice!"

Not so long ago . I found a suitable one, the seller said on the phone that the iPhone was not in the water and was not being repaired. I asked a friend from the service center to explain how to determine the "drowned" iPhone or not.

It is very dangerous to buy an iPhone or iPad after water, the results of water ingress may not be reflected immediately, but after a week or two. It all depends on the speed at which the tracks are oxidized, but they cannot be restored. Consequently, it is very dangerous to buy an iPhone after water... It's easy to check for water ingress, you don't even have to disassemble it.

All iPhones have water contact indicators in an easy-to-view location. The indicator is white and becomes red after water ingress. In the illustrations below, you can see the location of the indicators in different iPhone models.

IPhone X moisture indicator

Moisture indicator iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus

Moisture indicator iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus

Moisture indicator iPhone 6 / 6s, iPhone 6 / 6s Plus

Moisture indicator iPhone 5, iPhone 5c, iPhone 5s

Moisture indicator iPhone 4, iPhone 4s

Moisture indicator iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS

IPhone Moisture Indicator 1st Generation

Why buying a "drowned" iPhone is dangerous

Even the iPhone is in excellent condition, but the "drowned man" can work without problems from several days to several months ...

And then the network modules will start to come out, the cameras will stop working, the sound in the speakers will disappear, and it will stop charging. There are a huge number of options for various breakdowns. Oxidation is the exact death of any smartphone and tablet.

If you come across an iPhone with a triggered indicator, I advise you to refuse to buy it, since it is very difficult to reanimate an iPhone after water, but if you find a red moisture sensor, it's too late, then be sure to show your smartphone to a specialist.

If this post was useful to you, be sure to share the link on social networks. To do this, use the special buttons below, also subscribe to updates. With us you will learn a lot more interesting and useful things.