Cell phone went down the hole last night, any tips?

[Brade4]

If you get it back, take out the battery and put in the oven overnight at about 150 degrees. Sounds insane but works

[Sonicrunch]

^^Yep, my razr went through the wash. I baked it for 10 minutes on low, let it cool off and dry out for 2 hours, and repeated that. I works good except the 4 is a little fussy.

If anything, get it out of the lake just for the trash factor. It'll be a good story to tell too.

[broman]

Why don't they make phones that float?

[Brade4]

A buddy of mine was waterskiing this past summer. When he landed he realized his phone was in his short pocket. When he went home later that night, he just put it in the oven. I called him the next day and it worked just fine.

[Shack]

I have had luck taking the phone apart as far as I can go, placing it on my work bench in my garage and using one of those bending arm desk lights with the shroud around the 40watt bulb. Just put all the parts in a tight circle and pull down the lamp so all the parts are in the shroud. I leave about an inch or so between the bulb and phone parts. Over night, all the moisture is out of the screen area and the two different phones I have done this on still work.

My Nextel phone worked good for about a year until it’s signal starting getting weak in area’s I knew where strong. I brought it down to the sprint store and traded it for a refurbished one for $50.00. Retail on the phone is like $349-$399 (I-580).

[RiverRand]

I dropped my cell in the lake once while loading my boat on the trailer, and it was drenched, keep in mind it wasn't in the lake for 12+ hours but I took out the battery and placed the phone in this stuff called "silica" I think, well anyways I have this bag of it that I use in my gun safe to keep the moisture out. I kept the phone in there a couple of days and it did work again, I was pretty shocked

[stifler51]

fyi if u dont have insurance on ur phone dont even try to put it on, cuz they call ur phone and u have to pick up and respond before they will put it on.

to the rest, one reason u want the phone back is to get the sim card out of it, those arent ruined by water and they cost like 50$ to replace since they are like 30$ plus to activate it

[leech~~]

River, I had a buddy who forgot to put the plug in is boat when he put it in and half way down the lake it started going down so you drove it in to the reeds. When he was calling his wife for help, he dropped his phone in the lake and after they saved the boat he dove down and got it. Dried it out for a few weeks and it worked. Also my daughter jumped in her car one time and throw her phone right into a large glass of water, and she dried that out and it worked. So I think if you give them enough time they will dry out and work again!

[Redbeard5289]

The Today Show the other day showed everyone what to do when there cell phone falls into water. First off, resist the urge to turn it on once you recover it from the watery depths. If you turn it on you will short the phone out for sure and then you have a really cool paper weight for your desk.

Remove the battery and simm card and place them on a towel to dry then open the phone (flip style) and set that on the towel to dry as well. Let them all sit and dry for 48 hours. After 48 hours put the battery back in and power it up. Very important to make sure everything is dried out before attempting to power up the phone.

There are a couple of ways to speed up the drying process. The Today Show recommended that you place the battery, simm card and phone on top of your cable box. The low heat that is emitted from the cable box will help dry the phone out faster.

I have also hear that if you place the phone and battery in a ziploc bag of uncooked plain white rice and seal it up. The uncooked rice will draw out the moisture from the Phone & Battery faster.

Had a small camcorder fall into the river on a wilderness camp new story that I shot a few years ago. My reporter (total city girl) wasn't paying attention to the instructor when he explained what to do and what not to do in a canoe. So 30 feet into our canoeing adventure the canoe started going a little faster and she decided to stand up so she could jump to shore. Bad idea! Myself, the camcorder and her fell into the water in less than a second.

Got the canoe rightside up and repacked it with a word or two expressed nicely as possible to the reporter about never ever standing up again in a canoe.

When we got back to camp, I removed the battery, lens, and anything else I could on the camera and set it all out to dry. When I got back to the tv station the engineers took off a few more panels and compartments using a screwdriver and set a small fan above it and let it dry out for a couple of days. After a couple of day the camera was reassembled and powered up. All came out good and we continue to use that camera to this day without any issues what so ever. Off course the camera was off when it took a swim so that might have tilted the scale in our favor.

So don't give up hope, as long as you don't power it up before you dry it out you might be able to use the phone again.

Redbeard

[TonkaBass]

Good tip, I have also heard of the rice trick, but thankfully haven't had to test it...yet

[fishersofmen]

I lost mine 2 weeks ago in 32 ft. I didn't bother trying to get it out. Went to Verizon the next day and he said even if I got it out and it worked for a while eventually it would die. Anything that is electronic that gets water damage is probably gonna give in early. Cheapest price for any replacement phone in the store was $200. Went on a certain online site and got a like new razor for $40.

[leech~~]

The way it sounds is like the number one thing lost down fish holes are ceil phones! There's 3 things I make sure are in a zippered pocket everytime I lock the door on my truck when I go fishing. #1 my Keys-way out! #2 ceil phone-last chance to get help! #3 wallet-may have to pay for help!

[TonkaBass]

The way it sounds is like the number one thing lost down fish holes are ceil phones! There's 3 things I make sure are in a zippered pocket everytime I lock the door on my truck when I go fishing. #1 my Keys-way out! #2 ceil phone-last chance to get help! #3 wallet-may have to pay for help!

very good point. I do the same

[ac777]

Lots of good tips, thanks a bunch I may try the PVC trick if I have time.

[fishandshroom]

I put mine in my food dehydrator when it goes in the water has worked three times and did not work one time. Good Luck

[Johnny_Da_Der]

I put mine in my food dehydrator when it goes in the water has worked three times and did not work one time. Good Luck

Which time did it not work?

[Kiko]

So if the phone was on when it fell in the hole like mine was will you still be able to dry it out or did it fry as soon as it hit the water?

[the squirrel]

Call 1-800- Walleye from a land phone.

[Phred52]

No matter how often it rings... DON'T answer it! Phred52

[deadstick]

I dropped a razor into the toilet over a year ago - one thing I did, and a friend of mine did, that I haven't seen mentioned is to freeze-dry it. Put it in the freezer, not heat, then pull it out the next day and let it sit for another day. It worked fine (until I dropped it down the hole last weekend at URL). It didn't have a leather case, I didn't have a magnet, etc... so I didn't even try to get it out. I'll be buying a replacement online.

[echotrail]

Why don't they make phones that float?

For the same reason they don't make them with small paddles, trolling motors or swim finns. When they get dunked they are shot.

[leech~~]

deadstick, good idea on the new phone, the last one worked like C r a p, or at least smelled that way!

[Redbeard5289]

If the cell phone was on when it went into the water the chances of you getting it work again once recovered are pretty slim. Not saying that getting it to work again is impossible, just that the odds aren't in your favor.

But if the cell phone has a memory card in it (MiniSD, Simm, whatever)the chances of retrieving the data off the memory card are really good.

I had a friend that found a digital camera in the lake that he and his kids were shore fishing from. He grabbed and took it home. When he got home he disassembled it and although all the inner components were rusted and splashed with sand. The memory card (once dried out) was in remarkably great shape. In fact he was able to pull off all 122 digital photos off the memory card and post some the pictures with people in them on a HSOforum in hope that the owner of the camera would recognize them. About a week and a half later, he got an email from some lady a couple of counties away who verified the photos were hers and after a couple of heavily attached emails she was reunited with the photos she thought she had lost forever. Guess, when her back was turned her toddler took the camera out of her daypack and threw it into the lake hoping to see if float.

Even if the phone is fried when you recover it the memory card should work again for you to recover the data off it.

Hope this helps

Redbeard

[SkunkedAgain]

I flipped a canoe in the Mississippi years ago. Cell phone was soaked along with everything else. I let it dry out and it mostly worked. It was an LG phone and I hated it, so I put it back into a glass of water and kept turning it on repeatedly (it kept automatically shutting down). It put up a good fight but finally died and I was the happiest I'd been in years!

[Jimmy from Cottage Grove]

I have heard that if you place a phone that has been in water in rice. That the rice will absorb the moisture out of the phone. you must take the battery off while doing so. I hear it really works!