surviving a dunking

[uwharrie]

So has anyone ever dunked an AI prime and had it survive? Notice my NEW ( as in less than two month old ) light leaning. went to adjust it and the mounting just let go ( AKA BROKE) and the light went in!. I cut the power asap and put the light in rice but I seriously doubt it will save it. 

[Chris's Fishes]

If it was saltwater, I think all that rice will do is dry the water and leave the salt. Here's what I'd do, assuming you have absolutely NO warranty and aren't afraid of possibly damaging the light further. Odds are that it's fried, but there's a chance it might still be alive.

 

Take it apart, preferably while documenting how everything is put together (and keeping screws and small parts separated from eachother in one place), and lay all the PCBs and wiring out onto a non-conductive surface. 

 

Assess the damage - how much water seeped into the light? See any evidence of damage? Is it still wet? Any salt crystals on the PCBs?

 

Get the purest alcohol you can get. You might have to go to a drug store, but you can usually get nearly 100% pure rubbing alcohol. Take a clean toothbrush,  soak it in the alcohol, and go to work on all of the traces and connectors on the PCB. You're trying to get the saltwater off of conductive areas with alcohol, which is relatively safe as it evaporates pretty quickly. 

 

After scrubbing, you might even just dunk the entire thing into a bowl of it, and then leave it, disassembled, on a towel to dry overnight.

 

In the morning, look to see if there's any salt crystals or any wet spots. If there is, let it sit for another day, and repeat the rubbing alcohol process.

 

Once you're convinced that it's as good as it's going to get, you can put it back together and see if it works. I've saved several lights, phones, cameras, and even a laptop by doing this. It's not always successful, but is pretty effective, especially if the electronic is relatively modern and has safety features that allow it to shut off before any serious damage is done.

[Clown79]

If its Ai's mounting, I'd contact them. 

[uwharrie]

6 hours ago, Clown79 said:

If its Ai's mounting, I'd contact them. 

it is AI mounth. unit and mount less than 2 months old. I am going to send AI an email today as it is pretty obvious why it went  swimming

 

[Clown79]

29 minutes ago, uwharrie said:

it is AI mounth. unit and mount less than 2 months old. I am going to send AI an email today as it is pretty obvious why it went  swimming

 

Sounds like a good plan

[dling]

Acetone may work better then alcohol. Now sure if it will damage the pcb or not. It dries  cleaner.

[LogicalReefs]

I've heard bad stories with AI primes when it comes to warranty service. I was looking at bulk reef supply and saw people complaining about it. They said when warranty work is to be done they make you sign a paper which basically says that what ever they say damaged the product is the final say and there is no recourse for you. Don't know how true but let us know how it goes. From what I seen they tend to blame water damage for issues that have no way of being water damage and they don't fix it.

[Coinee]

On 7/9/2019 at 9:48 AM, dling said:

Acetone may work better then alcohol. Now sure if it will damage the pcb or not. It dries  cleaner.

I wouldn't recommend acetone since it may remove the silk screen on the PCB and damage any plastic or glued components. 

On 7/5/2019 at 11:57 PM, Fisker said:

If it was saltwater, I think all that rice will do is dry the water and leave the salt. Here's what I'd do, assuming you have absolutely NO warranty and aren't afraid of possibly damaging the light further. Odds are that it's fried, but there's a chance it might still be alive.

 

Take it apart, preferably while documenting how everything is put together (and keeping screws and small parts separated from eachother in one place), and lay all the PCBs and wiring out onto a non-conductive surface. 

 

Assess the damage - how much water seeped into the light? See any evidence of damage? Is it still wet? Any salt crystals on the PCBs?

 

Get the purest alcohol you can get. You might have to go to a drug store, but you can usually get nearly 100% pure rubbing alcohol. Take a clean toothbrush,  soak it in the alcohol, and go to work on all of the traces and connectors on the PCB. You're trying to get the saltwater off of conductive areas with alcohol, which is relatively safe as it evaporates pretty quickly. 

 

After scrubbing, you might even just dunk the entire thing into a bowl of it, and then leave it, disassembled, on a towel to dry overnight.

 

In the morning, look to see if there's any salt crystals or any wet spots. If there is, let it sit for another day, and repeat the rubbing alcohol process.

 

Once you're convinced that it's as good as it's going to get, you can put it back together and see if it works. I've saved several lights, phones, cameras, and even a laptop by doing this. It's not always successful, but is pretty effective, especially if the electronic is relatively modern and has safety features that allow it to shut off before any serious damage is done.

This is great advice, just don't scrub super aggressively or you may damage or dislodged smaller components (surface mount resistors or caps) or scrub off silk screen.

 

I'm not familiar with the light's circuit so just be aware if there are any larger capacitors that may still be charged, you could get a bit of a zap but the salt water should have discharged them. But the light has an external power supply, I think, so I wouldn't worry about it.  Just to be sure, you can stick something that's high resistance (like a 1 million ohm resistor) across them to drain it. But I'm overly cautious with electronics.

 

You could even try rinsing it with a bit of distilled water (actual 100% pure water since it is not conductive) then drying it off lightly and using a cool air from a hair dryer to dry the board out. Then try the alcohol method to get in some areas where they may be salt. Just be quick since salt eats at metal quickly.  

 

Just a heads up too, when you put it back together be careful when you plug it in since if there is an issue like a short, something could explode or catch fire (true worst case scenario). But it's more likely you'll probably just see a bit of smoke or burning smell if something is bad. 

[mcarroll]

On 7/10/2019 at 1:40 PM, Coinee said:

You could even try rinsing it with a bit of distilled water (actual 100% pure water since it is not conductive) then drying it off lightly and using a cool air from a hair dryer to dry the board out.

@uwharrieThis is what I'd try if you get no luck under warranty. 

 

If your RODI is very good you can use that too IMO.  In fact you can do the main rinsing with tap water, but you'll need a good final rinse with distilled or very good RODI.  You want NO RESIDUE after the rinse water evaporates.  Residues tend to be conductive and cause short-circuits.

 

I'd be leery of other solvents.  As long as you use plenty of water they probably shouldn't be needed.

 

Once you give it a good bath/soak in PURE H20, then do your dry in the rice trick to make sure ALL of the water is evaporated from EVERY connection before you plug it in.

 

Expect it not to work, or not for long....but it's possible you might save it.  🙂

[Rob22]

Very slightly dipped the corner of mine in tank water and fried it. Never even made it on the tank, I was holding it and using a borrowed par meter that I needed to return. Tried the ro/di bath and the drying with rice. Can’t get it to come on or work. Fan comes on and the led flashes red I believe, whatever the one for no WiFi is. If you send it to AI for warranty work they will offer you a replacement for about half off. Probably your only option. 

[uwharrie]

Great news. AI is sending a replacement light and mount! ( NO charge)  Now to decide do I want to trust that mount again?

[Snow_Phoenix]

21 minutes ago, uwharrie said:

Great news. AI is sending a replacement light and mount! ( NO charge)  Now to decide do I want to trust that mount again?

I would get a new mount, but that might be just me being overcautious. 

[debbeach13]

That's great news on the no charge replacement. 

[uwharrie]

On 7/20/2019 at 8:58 AM, Snow_Phoenix said:

I would get a new mount, but that might be just me being overcautious. 

they are sending a new mount!