Can you repair a wet Ipod Nano?

[ks8829]

I just got my son's ipod Nano wet in the washing washing, has anybody done the same thing and repaired their ipod?

thanks in advance for saving me $150 for another ipod, I hope

[glebert]

A nano is basically a flash drive player, right? I read a blogger who did some sort of bath of WD40 to save his flash drive after he put it through the wash, but IIRC it didn't last forever.

Here's a link to the post: http://jamesfallows.theatlantic.com/...d_usb_dept.php

[zeg]

Depends on what happened to it already. I don't know anything specific about the nano, but generally your best hope for electronics is to get the battery out as soon as possible, get the case open, and let it dry as thoroughly as you can. If you have access to electronics-safe canned air, that can help to blow water out of little crevices (underneath chips, between pins on high density chips, etc). Don't use anything not specifically intended for electronics though -- you don't want to leave a residue. Also don't use an air compressor as most of these are likely to introduce lots of static electricity that will risk the electronics.

If you're not able to open it up, I'd just let it sit for a LONG time (~week or two) before powering it again and hope for the best. I'd say your odds are not good, but I wish you the best.

[ks8829]

A nano is basically a flash drive player, right? I read a blogger who did some sort of bath of WD40 to save his flash drive after he put it through the wash, but IIRC it didn't last forever.

Thanks for your help.

[limotek]

I just got my son's ipod Nano wet in the washing washing, has anybody done the same thing and repaired their ipod?

Oh dear... this doesnt bode well for you!!

[TCCcaddie]

The player in total is mostly gone. You can take it apart and maybe salvage some parts. The screen is probably gone, but you may be able to keep the motherboard, hardrive, hold + headphone jack, and maybe even the click wheel depending on how bad the water damage is.

[mkrolewski]

The big issue is water contains salt and it will collect around the contact points of the electronics. Especially for surface mounted components, these contacts are fragile.

And that does not deal with any surges, shorts or the like that happened while it was wet. Most components are solid, epoxy material and are unaffected by water. The way parts are put together, power leads are next to grounds. A connection across them via water is typically not good.

Like someone said, if you can open the can and dry it out, your only hope is that it starts when you reassembles it. Most likely you are out of luck.

[thr33]

I've also heard that it helps if you rinse it in deionized water (NOT REGULAR WATER!)

[beach_golfer]

Coming from someone that has dunked almost everything. Let it dry for about a week, if you can open it do that and use electrical contact cleaner. You can soak it in this and it will displace the water and clean up any salt/mineral residue. Hope this helps. It should come back, my coworker just dunked his and it works just fine.

[st0wgolf08]

1 thing, turn it off as soon as possible, take some rice in a bag, throw the nano right in the middle so all part of it is covered, and don't turn it on for at least 2 days.

[dmagalhaes]

I've heard that the rice solution works as well. A friend used this remedy with his iPhone and it worked again after about a week of sitting in the bag.

[O'cookie]

don't give up on the nano for a while, The rice is a good idea, to speed the results you can also put the unit in a toaster oven, VERY low heat. You want to keep the unit below 125-150 degrees. (DO NOT leave it unattended.) I have done this on phones and cameras with positive results. The longer the water sits on the electronics the worse off you will be.