Filed under: iPod Family, Odds and ends
iPod nano survives trip through washing machine
The beautiful and tiny iPod nano is so small and light, you could very well forget that it's in your pocket. This could be a bad thing. joknee at MacMerc recently had a "nano vs. washing machine" battle of his own. Luckily, the iPod came out the victor. Upon first pulling the soaked little player from the washer, it showed no signs of life. After an approximate 40 minute wait, iTunes recognized it and mounted it, though there was considerable moisture behind the little 'Pod's screen (see above). Two days later, it's working fine. It's the miracle of the iPod nano.
This reminds me of my poor Palm IIIe. Many years ago, I ran into the house during a rainstorm, and didn't notice that my Palm had lept from my coat during the journey. It spent the night on my lawn in the pouring rain. Upon first inspection, I thought it was dead, but after leaving it alone to dry for a couple of days it worked as it always had. This led me to be believe that it isn't necessarily the water that does the damage, but the electricity conducted haphazardly through the device by the water that is no good. If you can resist the temptation to fiddle with your soaked electronic goodies and just let them dry out, you may have a chance.
Of course, checking your pockets in the laundry room is a good idea, too.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Stacey said 3:38PM on 10-04-2005
My cell phone has been through the washing machine 3 times, and still works. It's a samsung sph-a460.
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Wheels said 3:38PM on 10-04-2005
"This led me to be believe that it isn't necessarily the water that does the damage, but the electricity conducted haphazardly through the device by the water that is no good. If you can resist the temptation to fiddle with your soaked electronic goodies and just let them dry out, you may have a chance. "
Exactly. In the 60s my father worked on color televisions in the Chicago area and a batch of TVs that had been freshly through a flood came to his shop. Without powering them up, he methodically dried them out with a hair drier. The whole process took weeks, but when it was over the majority of the sets worked without further servicing. He says that as long as the water isn't salty or full of minerals, to leave a conductive residue, you can usually get away with drowning something electronic.
Just don't make it a habit!
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NovaScotian said 3:39PM on 10-04-2005
I have discovered that this strategy works for phones too if you take the battery out, and, in fact seems to work best if you take the battery out under water just before pulling the phone out. The acid test: Motorola V60 in back pocket - hop off boat into salt water up to my waist, snatch out phone, yank out battery, soak phone in fresh water to remove the salt, dry for a couple of days, insert battery - all is well.
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Luke Marvin said 3:39PM on 10-04-2005
A couple months ago I accidentally dropped my 20 GB iPod in a puddle. It was completely submerged for about 3 seconds. It was a bit of a scare, but I cleaned it off quickly and blew as much of the moisture out of the ports as I could. I probably should have waited a bit longer to turn it on, but it worked right away.
Although the filesystem did start going goofy last week, so I might get a Nano soon.
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sosumi said 4:02PM on 10-04-2005
My 4GB nano was tossed into the laundry, dryer and all. Intially it showed no signs of life and it sat untouched for 4 days. It still showed no signs of life but on a whim I plugged it into my computer and it started right up. It worked perfectly for about a week, but now I don't get any audio when connected to my FM Transmitter, a device that works fine with my mini. Apparently it's a problem that surfaces with nanos, but the case is quite beat up and I'm not sure the kind Apple employees will buy "uh, it stopped working."
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Geoff said 4:13PM on 10-04-2005
As you probably know, here in new orleans we had some insane flooding. My area only got 4 feet of the feces/oil/gas/lake/bacteria water. It's also a wealthy area (though I live in the oldest, run-down-est house there). People threw out all kinds of goodies. Pac-Man arcade machine. HDTV. Stereo. Xbox. Let them dry for about 3 or 4 days, cleaned the muck off the cases and bam, free stuff. Silly rich people.
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milkman said 4:21PM on 10-04-2005
Tons of electronic devices survive to the washing machine. But hey, this is the iPod nano, the geek's uber-god gadget.
Next on TUAW:
- iPod Nano saves granny from drowning
- iPod Nano rescues 11 children from a burning building
- iPod Nano survives first iPod mission to Pluto
- did the iPod Nano play a key role in WWII?
Kinda fed up with these things beeing advertised. Instead of testing its robustness, dropping it from a car to see if it survives, I launch a new concept: the dont-waste-an-ipod-nano-and-send-the-redcross-200-bucks program.
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stalker said 4:36PM on 10-04-2005
bah, my washing machine killed my shuffle
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jollyllama said 5:17PM on 10-04-2005
Ok, I got a good one. So a couple of years ago, I'm in the library at about 3am during finals week, and my girlfriend appears with a beta fish in a little bag of water that had just been rescued from being flushed by the bio lab. All I had to put it in (the bag was way small) was this two cup measure I had been drinking some Tang out of. So I de-Tang it, and drop in the fish. The fish looks happy, and I'm happy that I now know how many ounces of water a beta fish displaces (about 2).
Ok, fast forward to about 5am, I go home, but nowhere is open to grab a bigger container. Fish still looks happy, so I take him home in the two cup measure. I put him on my desk right above my Sage iMac G3. Then I remember I've got got a quick email to send, so I'm working on it on my iMac.
This is where it gets fun: All of a sudden, the fish is out of the two cup, on the desk (still above my computer). This is weird, and I'm way to tired to be dealing with this, and I'm trying to pick up the fish and put it back in the two cup, and in the confusion I pour about a cup of water into the convection holes of my iMac. Sparks, then black screen. But I get the fish back in, and cover the two cup. So, I've had it, and figure, "well, it's done now, no reason not to sleep," unplug the computer, and go to bed bummed since a) there's no way I could afford a new computer right then, and b) everyone knows the Sage iMac was the best one they made (of the G3s).
I wake up about 6 hours later, really wanting to turn it on, but force myself into a zen-like trance of restraint. Then I get some breakfast, go back to the library, and come back about 12 hours later. By that point, not even the calming power of focusing my mind on a rock can stop my curiosity, so I hit the power button, and --------------- it works. No problems since.
Oh, and putting your keyboard in the shower can do wonders when it gets gunky. Just let it dry.
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Ffats said 5:23PM on 10-04-2005
"This led me to be believe that it isn't necessarily the water that does the damage, but the electricity conducted haphazardly through the device by the water that is no good."
....Duh.
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USTommyMC said 7:47PM on 10-04-2005
I recently left a camera battery in my jeans when I washed them and didn't discover it until the rinse cyle was over. At first the battery was completely dead but after drying for a day it worked just fine. He's right about the water not doing the real damage but electricity.
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motech said 9:43PM on 10-04-2005
a client of mine dropped her 40gb ipod in the toilet !
i had her leave it alone for one day ,
the next day - the screen was working, and it played music fine.
i could skip to next and previous songs, but could not navigate with the
jog . . .
pretty amazing that a hard drive emersed in water survived and still works.
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eleongonzales said 11:11PM on 10-04-2005
I jumped into the water at the lake with my new LG phone in my pocket over the summer. Didn't realize it till i had been swimming a bit. I took the battery off and took the case apart. I put the phone in the fridge for 2 days, screwed it back together, put the battery back on, and put it in on the charger. It started just fine and still works great. I have saved 9 phones to count with this method. The fridge sucks the moisture out, so as long as you don't fry anything and the water doesn't leave deposits... all is well. Might think about this next time your gadget goes scuba.
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Cyberwhore said 1:02AM on 10-05-2005
Water is not your enemy here. Salt is.
Trying to turn on wet gadget will obviously allow haphazard conduction of electricity thru the device due to the water containing electrolytes but the long term killer is corrosion.
If this happens to you make sure the device is rinsed in freshwater asap to remove any traces of salt and then leave it to dry thoroughly.
Note that freshwater still contains some salt so there will still be a chance that the device may fail in the future due to corrosion.
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John said 7:46AM on 10-05-2005
On a camping trip once, i found a phone that was six inches in silt and water. after believing that it was dead, My wife charged the battery that was in it (Thinking is was an extra) and the phone worked.
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Dylan said 11:04AM on 10-05-2005
Okay, here's one for everybody who's nearly killed electronics in water.
Last new years I by mistake put my cellphone into a glass of coke, (we were camping, and using the cup holders in our chair-arms for our cellphones, and in the dark a glass full of coke looks just like an empty cup holder). It stopped working right away, so i chucked it to one side thinking there's no way a phone would work after that treatment. The next morning, I found it and put it all back together, thinking it would be nice to open up and check it out seeing as it was dead now. Tried the power button and it worked. It then worked for another month or so, before totally giving up the ghost. So I bought some screw drivers to open it, and saw what looked like a corroded cmos battery. Its welded on to the circuit board, but i tried to lever it off. Next thing, my phone is working again - and it worked for another 4 months. Now its dead again. What I was wondering is is there some solvent that can remove rust and the gunk that forms on batteries, but not corrode metal/circuit boards? I mean, i've got nothing to lose here, and maybe I'll get a working cellphone out of it?
Cheers!
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ChillyWilly said 2:22PM on 10-05-2005
Almost identical story that eleongonzales told happened to me on my birthday at the lake. Had a few drinks in me, and my cell phone in the pocket of my swimsuit. Went out to the lake for a bit, the water hitting my swim trunks where my phone was, caused me to look and find my cell phone.
I got home, took it apart and dried it out then put it all back together. Worked with the exception of the end call/power off button was a little harder to press then before.
BTW, higher end electronics better survive the water dunking. Cheap electronics don't. I can't tell you how many Tamagotchis got washed in my daughter's clothes and didn't survive.
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Prof B said 6:38PM on 10-05-2005
It's a Christmas miracle!
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Asthor Ragnarsson said 9:31AM on 11-05-2005
My shuffle took a ride in my washing machine last week. I dried it, but it did not work.....but... when connected to my computer it appears as usual and I can do everything as usual. It seem to charge when it is connected to my computer... takes some hours.. the green light appears but a soon as I try to turn it on... it seems to discharge. An extra battey does not work in this situation, I have tried. I was wondering if it was only the inside battery that is not working.
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Josh said 11:51AM on 11-25-2005
my 1Gb ipod shuffle went through the washer and dryer
it was pretty much already dried out after the tripp through the dryer, but i dried it out the best i could let it sit for a day.
tried to turn it on, there was nothing no power at all, tried to hook it up to my computer, and my PC wouldnt detect it.... so i guess im pretty much screwed, it sucks cause those little bastards are expesnsive... oh well
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