Pinebook got wet

[walterbe]

Hi,

I could use some advice. I placed my Pinebook Pro near an open window and it rained on it a bit.

The lid was closed . Not soaked but there was some water on the inside, on the screen and keyboard. It does not boot anymore.

I opened it up. There was a little bit of water on the battery. Not a lot. Did not see any other wet spots. The charging light goes off after a couple of minutes when I connected the barrel plug.

I disconnected the battery and connected the bypass connector to power it without the battery. When I insert the barrel plug the green light goes on for a moment. The power button gives no effect.

I have the device now standing folded open with the battery disconnected and the back plate removed. To air it. 

Anything I can do besides of waiting and hoping? 

Thanks,
Walter

[Samurai_Crow]

When a cell phone gets wet it's usually recommended to put it in dry rice to pull out the moisture. Otherwise you just have to let it air dry and don't try to charge it again until it dries out. That could short out the charger causing damage to it.

[wdt]

Use a hair blower, at just about everything but battery
Not hot enough to burn, but distinctly hot
Then, still, wait a hour

[KC9UDX]

I saw someone debunk the dry rice thing. I don't recall what the exact result was, but it was worse to do this than to simply air it out.

What wdt says is correct.

If it were mine, I'd go one step further: I'd rinse it out with hot distilled water before drying it. Why? Because water getting into it the first time and then drying could leave a film of dirt in it. But this is probably overkill, and could lead to water getting into places it won't come out of so easily.

At the very least, put a fan behind it whilst it's standing on end like you have it.

[walterbe]

Thanks. Have read it is a bad idea to use rice.

I have used an hairdryer on low setting and put a fan on it. Now after a bout 12 hours of airing I tried it again. With disconnected battery and connected by-pass plug. Same. Green power light goes on a short moment. No responds form the power button.

Will try later again. But I am afraid I have just payed a life lesson tax. Unfortunate . It is one of the last bath, have it only a couple of months. And I liked it.

[KC9UDX]

I would disconnect the bypass and reinstall the battery. I don't actually even recall reading any reports here if anyone getting that to work. Probably nobody reports when it does, but the point is there are a lot of reports of it not working. Next, I think you really need a serial console to see what's happening.

[biketool]

Just a note to all, the popular 'rice trick' has no basis in reality,
the recognized methods to save wet electronics are to:
1-remove power and battery immediately
2-disassemble completely
3-if possible wash circuit boards(except camera and other vulnerable electronics like mic or speakers) with alcohol 70%(Isopropyl, methyl, ethyl, or similar) or higher concnetration(fire hazard, follow warnings on container or MSDS).
4-circulate air, ideally blower between 50-100C but a fan will work try to give it at least 12 hours if not 24 to air dry before considering reassembly and power.

Compressed dry air or gas can help initially but be careful that nozzle pressure does not blow off some more fragile surface mount components or small parts.
(edit)I would be careful about using a reflow oven as I suspect if you had trapped water it could popcorn(stem pressure) a component off.
If you need a mobile solution you can possibly use vacuum or heat desiccated silica gel packets stored in an airtight container though even then alcohol(70% or higher) is both more available and likely more effective in removing the wetness immediately.
(edit)
Up-thread distilled water is mentioned, yes this can be good but alcohol is still better as it evaporates quickly, but for an item dropped in sea water even faucet water is good to start.
I also advise caution as you an easily get to uncontrolled reflow(melted solder) temperatures with some hair dryers, don't accidentally reflow components off of your board!!
With the hair dryer think this double that you can easily melt case plastic with a hair dryer, follow the disassembly instructions above and follow the 12 -24 hour program if at all possible.
Even with ideal following of instructions you only have maybe a 30% chance.

[walterbe]

I regret to inform the forum that my Pinebook Pro is formally broken. The battery charges a couple of minutes. Then the light goes out. Pressing the power button gives no responds.

Will give the computer to my brother to thinker with. He has a technical background that maybe makes a difference.

Thanks for the responses.

[biketool]

I regret to inform the forum that my Pinebook Pro is formally broken. The battery charges a couple of minutes. Then the light goes out. Pressing the power button gives no responds.

Will give the computer to my brother to thinker with. He has a technical background that maybe makes a difference.

Thanks for the responses.

Trace the power from the battery and power port with your multimeter, if you are lucky it only toasted the mosfets(switching transistors) that control charge, I had a few laptops fail this way, one from a crap reversed polarity power connector I bought form some sketchy ebay seller in China.
You can get the replacement part or figure out by part number and pull the data sheet to copy the function and replace with some chonky to92 packaged transistor rated at or above requirement that you have in your parts bins.
I think Pine64 has schematics posted somewhere but I couldn't find them in a short search.

[walterbe]

I bought a new keyboard replacement assembly for it. That seemed to be the problem. It works again.

So, the keyboard is extremely sensitive for water spillage.