Soaked cordless phone

[Michael Salem]

I have a DECT cordless phone which was dropped into clean water while
switched on. After drying out, the phone seems to behave normally but
the LCD display remains blank. The handset I a Panasonic KXA118EM, as
supplied with the kx-tcd735em system.

Is there any chance that this might be a simple repair such as a
connector needing reseating or similar? I've repaired oldish
oscilloscopes and other stuff, but don't want to get into surface mount
soldering.

Best wishes,

 

[Andy Cuffe]

I have a DECT cordless phone which was dropped into clean water while
switched on. After drying out, the phone seems to behave normally but
the LCD display remains blank. The handset I a Panasonic KXA118EM, as
supplied with the kx-tcd735em system.

Is there any chance that this might be a simple repair such as a
connector needing reseating or similar? I've repaired oldish
oscilloscopes and other stuff, but don't want to get into surface mount
soldering.

Best wishes,

There's probably still some water in the LCD display. It can take a
LONG time for it to all evaporate.
Andy Cuffe

[email protected] <-- Use this address until 12/31/2005

[email protected] <-- Use this address after 12/31/2005

 

[James Sweet]

There's probably still some water in the LCD display. It can take a
LONG time for it to all evaporate.
Andy Cuffe

It can sit under surface mount IC's for a long time too, a can of compressed
air can help.

 

[Michael Salem]

I asked:
Thanks to James Sweet and Andy Cuffe for their responses:

....
It can sit under surface mount IC's for a long time too, a can of compressed
air can help.

It was two weeks ago, but I'll open it and leave it in a warm place,
which should evaporate the water quicker.

Best wishes,

 

[Ross Herbert]

I asked:

Thanks to James Sweet and Andy Cuffe for their responses:


It was two weeks ago, but I'll open it and leave it in a warm place,
which should evaporate the water quicker.

I fear that that is 2 weeks too late. Water ingress into powered up
electronics is usually fatal, even if the water can be removed very
quickly after the event. The fact that it has been wet for 2 weeks may
have allowed corrosion to occur which could permanently damage any
number of components. The only solution for water ingress is to
completely strip the unit immediately after the event and dry for
several hours in direct sunlight or blow dry the items for several
minutes with hot air such as from a hot air gun.

Having said that it may be that the zebra connectors
http://www.fujipoly.com/products/genProductLine.asp?ProductLine=Zebra
which have a flat edge directly in contact with the LCD display, will
have trapped moisture which is shorting out the display elements. If
you are lucky you may be able to rescue the phone if you can remove
the display and dry everything off. This requires disassembly.