Soaked Digital Camera Recovery Success

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Sat Sep 05, 2009 11:56 pm

As an electronics tech I KNOW you can save electronics gear that has been submerged in water, but this is the first time I actually faced the situation on my own gear. I've done this procedure before on sound and radio equipment.

Stupid me, while we were at Discovery Cove, after swimming with the dolphins, we went out into the park and took some pictures in the aviary with our digital camera (a $250 Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-W120). I then stupidly put it in my bathing suit pocket and forgot about it and the wife and I went swimming in the fresh water lazy river circling the park. That was a good 30 minutes submerged in water up to 9 feet deep.

When I went to change in the locker room, I discovered to my horror that the camera was still in my pocket.

Okay, here's the deal in case this ever happens to you. First off this was FRESH water, thankfully. If it had been salt water (like in the dolphin or sting ray pools we had swam in earlier) then it's unlikely the camera would have survived although it's POSSIBLE.

First thing I did was remove the battery. It's important to IMMEDIATELY remove the battery because even if the device is turned off, current will flow from the battery across wet contacts and start a very rapid corrosion process. The quicker you disconnect the battery once it's out of the water, the better.

I pulled the memory stick out also and just dried it off by hand. These things are well sealed and I just popped it into the card reader and confirmed that it was still working and I could copy all my photos.

I then used a hair dryer on the camera bodyset on medium heat blowing air into the open battery compartment. If I had tools on me I would have opened the camera case in order to dry the interior better, but I didn't, so blowing it into the battery compartment was the best I could to. After an hour the camera was fairly dry BUT there was still a lot of condensation between the LCD and the glass panel over it.

Next thing I did is an old reliable stagehand's trick for leaching moisture out of electronics (or anything). I went to the supermarket and bought a bag of rice. I immersed the camera in a bowl filled with the rice. I then put a plate over the bowl to seal it (not perfectly) from the outside environment and let it sit that way for 2 days (I really should have let it sit in the rice for a week but we wanted to use the camera if possible). Rice is very dry and will absorb any moisture around it. Needless to say I closed the battery compartment before immersing it in the rice. After 2 days all the moisture disappeared from the LCD glass cover (although there IS still a slight discoloration).

I installed a 2nd spare battery and the camera fired up just fine and we used it to take pictures at Sea World all day today.

I also immersed the wet battery in the rice after running the hair dryer over it first and cleaning the contacts with a Q-Tip. The wet battery did take a charge but not a full one after 2 days. I'm going to let it dry in the rice for a week and see if it comes fully back to life. I have to assume there's still moisture under the shrink wrapping between the cells.

Now keep in mind this was an ideal situation because it was FRESH water. The cleanup procedure would have been different for salt water and may have been a lost cause. Salt and electricity is a bad combination for electronics because it causes almost immediate corrosion. Had this been a salt water immersion, after removing the battery, I would have had to immediately disassemble the camera as much as possible (not possible since I didn't have jeweler's screwdrivers with me) and rinsed it out thoroughly in fresh water by holding it under a faucet tap for 30 minutes to hopefully wash all the salt out of the unit. Then done the hair dryer and rice trick and prayed.

normalicy · Post by **normalicy** » Sun Sep 06, 2009 12:02 am

Salt water also conducts much better & would have caused more shorts.

I had an entire computer submerged & returned to service (minus the DVD drives which would no longer eject). I was fortunate that it wasn't plugged in.

DoPeY5007 · Post by **DoPeY5007** » Sun Sep 06, 2009 12:04 am

Wow, good tips

I never knew how to do this.

I hope I do not need to though

wvjohn · Post by **wvjohn** » Sun Sep 06, 2009 9:28 am

a couple of years ago, I had stuck my cell phone in the foot pocket of my diving fins - forgot and as I was going into the water just tossed my fins into the shallow end of the pool. by the time I went to put my fins on ~ 5 min later - I was not a happy camper. I was a duster.

canton_kid · Post by **canton_kid** » Tue Sep 08, 2009 5:19 am

I never though about using rice to soak up moisture!
I bought some expensive silica beads and always try to remember to save the little packs I get when I buy stuff.
Once they absorb moisture I can bake them to dry them and use again.

I never thought about simple cheap rice though when I need allot of them.

Glad the camera was saved.
I'll have to remember this.

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Tue Sep 08, 2009 10:05 pm

When we got home Sunday I threw it in a ziplock bag full of rice since there was still a bit of discoloration between the glass and the LCD screen that was likely condensation. After 2 more days of rice immersion the condensation is gone. However I'm leaving it in the rice for another 3 days just to be sure.