BS: I dropped me cellphone in the Loo...help

Subject: RE: BS: I dropped me cellphone in the Loo...help
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 29 Apr 04 - 01:27 PM

Sorry... 'sterile' is what I meant to say...

Subject: RE: BS: I dropped me cellphone in the Loo...help
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 29 Apr 04 - 11:10 AM

You can use the phone whenever you want to talk crap.

Ouch.

Subject: RE: BS: I dropped me cellphone in the Loo...help
From: EBarnacle
Date: 29 Apr 04 - 09:25 AM

Urine is not inert. It contains ammonia, as well as other waste products from the blood stream.

In a healthy person, without an infection of the kidney, urethra or bladder, it is bacteriostatic, which means it is germ free at the point of origin.

It is said that in classical days, a warrior would urinate on a friend's wound to lave it of infectious substances.

Subject: RE: BS: I dropped me cellphone in the Loo...help
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 28 Apr 04 - 10:26 PM

Anyone who thinks urine is inert (sterile yes) has never seen a baby with nappy rash. Inert liquids do not do that to a skin.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Back at the tread, the phone's still dead
From: MickyMan
Date: 28 Apr 04 - 07:35 PM

Wow...lots of activity here at my thread. I am here to update everybody. I'm a school orchestra director and the 11-14 yr olds had lots of ideas to ressurect my phone, most of which have been mentioned above. It seems that everybody has a story when I mention it.
    Anyway... I believe that my mistake-fatale was that I tried to start it back up before it was fully dried out. I waited about three hours after I fished it out and took it apart but I don't think that was enough. There was obviously still moisture inside, because it lit up, sputtered, buzzed, and died in about three seconds. If I had it to do over again I would take it apart, use a hairdryer on it, wait overnight, put it in the oven at a very low heat for a few hours, then finally start it back up.
   As it is now the company is going to replace it for $70.00, which is probably the best I can do as a new one goes for $220.00.
   Note...my masculinity is relieved to find out that there are so many gentlemen who sit like me most of the time. (Perhaps we are all not "real men" - being folkie mudcatters and all.) My wife and I taught our three sons to do the same and we have noticed over the years that our bathroom smells a heck of a lot better than most other households with young males of the species. It does seem to be that it is perhaps more civilized, but I'm warning all of you women that this is one area where you might do better not to nag. These habits die hard.

Subject: RE: BS: I dropped me cellphone in the Loo...help
From: GUEST,noddy
Date: 28 Apr 04 - 04:33 AM

Urine is NOT inert. simply add a spot of bleach to to loo after you have peed.
You get mono, di, and trichloroamines given off. they stink ,make you gag. Make sure you dont breath when you do it. they are not nice.

Next lesson is maths.

Subject: RE: BS: I dropped me cellphone in the Loo...help
From: Shanghaiceltic
Date: 28 Apr 04 - 01:49 AM

I dropped one in my fishpond, quickly got it out and dried it with a hair dryer. It worked for a few days and then popped it's mortal coil. The cost of the repair was then more than the cost of a new one. So I bought a new one and within a week left it in a taxi.

I hate the bloddy things but cannot work wihout one. Commiserations on your loss.

Subject: RE: BS: I dropped me cellphone in the Loo...help
From: GUEST,bbc at work
Date: 27 Apr 04 - 12:08 PM

If their body size & shape permit it, men can sit & pee. My father, ex-husband, & son all do. Less spraying that way, too! I, for one, appreciate bathrooms that don't smell of urine.

bbc

Subject: RE: BS: I dropped me cellphone in the Loo...help
From: GUEST
Date: 27 Apr 04 - 04:04 AM

Did you try a rinse with distilled water? It may be all the acids, ammonias, etc. in the pee that are causing the trouble.

Open it up, rinse with distilled water, leave out to dry.

My older boy, when he was just 2 1/2 to 3 years, put one of my hearing aids in a glass of water. I was able to dry it out at once and it continued to work.

There's some hope. But not a lot.

BTW (1): try putting phone on lanyard around neck. Only way to immerse it then is to really bend over the toilet, and now why would you want to do that?

BTW (2): I find it easier to sit down. No matter how well you aim, the distance creates splashing, which creates, after time, an unsightly and noisome mess.

doug (darkriver)

Subject: RE: BS: I dropped me cellphone in the Loo...help
From: fiddler
Date: 27 Apr 04 - 03:42 AM

Stepper has done this a few times (and not satisfied with the loo did the dogs water too) They don't work again!

A

Subject: RE: BS: I dropped me cellphone in the Loo...help
From: EBarnacle
Date: 27 Apr 04 - 12:37 AM

Generally, if it is within warantee, go in and repeat after me "It just stopped working and I really need it to keep in touch with my doctor."

My worst case was when I dropped a "Marine Radio" over the side in about 3 feet of water. It died immediately, beyond resurrection, and the company would not stand behind it.

Re: Standing vs. sitting; I was talking with a couple who had circumnavigated recently. They agreed that he would keep the head clean. After he switched over to sitting for all functions, there was a lot less for him to do and the place smelled a lot sweeter.

Subject: RE: BS: I dropped me cellphone in the Loo...help
From: SINSULL
Date: 26 Apr 04 - 07:09 PM

Have you considered using a litter box instead? It is nice and dry when tended properly and safe for falling cell phones. Of course, you will have to stand...

I am with Liz on this one. Why would you consider to use a peed on cell phone? Bet it smells bad too.

Subject: RE: BS: I dropped me cellphone in the Loo...help
From: Mr Red
Date: 26 Apr 04 - 06:14 PM

Little Hawk - just looking-up old friends?

My Motorola phone was a pain. The buttons stick out too much and cost me 14GBP just to learn the lesson. Anyways it never stayed on my belt and sure enough one day it just vanished.

So I got a second-hand Nokia 5210 and that is bounce-proof and rubberised and water resistant but there are small holes for the various acoustic transducers - they don't vent air too well so are probably good against low pressure water. The electrical connections are behind a rubberised flap.    AND you can get easy slip-on covers in RED - now that is what I call a simple choice. But do I go for the 3 quid rougue plastic or the 15 quid scarlet rubber? Oh decisions, decisions.

Subject: RE: BS: I dropped me cellphone in the Loo...help
From: okthen
Date: 26 Apr 04 - 06:06 PM

Just remember when you squirt
Human urine is inert.

Not quite as good as,
Coughs and sneezes spread deseases,
Trap them in your handkerchiefs.

maybe someone else can add a few lines.

Subject: RE: BS: I dropped me cellphone in the Loo...help
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 26 Apr 04 - 04:52 PM

Human urine is inert...

Subject: RE: BS: I dropped me cellphone in the Loo...help
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 26 Apr 04 - 04:49 PM

Sure, you may be able to get it to work again, but let's face it - you dropped in the toilet AFTER you'd pee'd... do you really want to USE it again?????

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: I dropped me cellphone in the Loo...help
From: GUEST,Arne Langsetmo
Date: 26 Apr 04 - 04:04 PM

Yeah, I did that to my last one. Didn't discover it until an hour or so later, and it was toast. Not even drying it out helped; a goner.

If you immediately fish it out before any water gets inside, take out the batteries instantly, and dry them off completely with whatever you have, and then dry everything, you might be able to salvage it. But once it shorts out due to water inside, it's not only toast, but also a potential fire/explosion hazard (due to the batteries).

Probably too late for that one, but any of you that should encounter this situation in the future, that's what you need to do. Remember, remove the batteries immediately, dry them as best you can, and put them someplace where they will not cause any damage if they explode or start on fire.

Cheers,
                               -- Arne

Subject: RE: BS: I dropped me cellphone in the Loo...help
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 26 Apr 04 - 02:29 PM

That phone ain't worth piddley squat, no more.

Daddy's taking us to the loo tomorrow

John

Subject: RE: BS: I dropped me cellphone in the Loo...help
From: GUEST,Van
Date: 26 Apr 04 - 02:07 PM

No-one else has asked - were you talking through your A**e at the time.
PS
Sitting down to pee is more comfortable.

Subject: RE: BS: I dropped me cellphone in the Loo...help
From: Strick
Date: 26 Apr 04 - 02:03 PM

"I dropped me cellphone in the Loo..."

That has the makings of a fair novelty song. Maybe not quite up to the standards of "Donald, Where's Your Trousers", but heck, why not have some good come out of it?

Subject: RE: BS: I dropped me cellphone in the Loo...help
From: Sorcha
Date: 26 Apr 04 - 12:51 PM

Give over and buy a new one. It's gone.

Subject: RE: BS: I dropped me cellphone in the Loo...help
From: open mike
Date: 26 Apr 04 - 12:02 PM

i never heard of a guy sitting to pee...what's with that?
if you had just done it standing.....do others really do that?
(i have seen no response to that comment yet...)

Subject: RE: BS: I dropped me cellphone in the Loo...help
From: GUEST,noddy
Date: 26 Apr 04 - 11:18 AM

just flush it .

You know it makes sense.

Subject: RE: BS: I dropped me cellphone in the Loo...help
From: GUEST,Risky Business
Date: 26 Apr 04 - 08:19 AM

I've seen an electronic watch submerged, then opened up and dried out, and it resumed working. It was not a watch built for water!

Last December, my cousin's little kid dropped a Nokia cell through a drainage grate into half a foot of clean water. We fished it out, removed the batteries, took everything apart, and left the pieces on a paper towel, after about six hours everything was observed to be dry, it was reassembled, and after a few tries, it was totally restored.

This equipment is less delicate than it would appear, because of the solidity of most quality solid state components, and the low voltages involved. When an item shorts, the danger is from the current ruining a conductive path. If that conductive path is water, the current is going through the water, not the device. To me this means that if you can dry out the device and remove any contaminents, the original conductive paths should be there, and should work. The batteries could be damaged due to the high discharge, but not always, because they might have internal resistance which limits their ability to hurt themselves.

My cousin was also pretty sure he could have returned the components and receieved a replacement, but it wasn't necessary.

good luck.

Subject: RE: BS: I dropped me cellphone in the Loo...help
From: jacqui.c
Date: 26 Apr 04 - 04:28 AM

That's a "pisser" alright.

Subject: RE: BS: I dropped me cellphone in the Loo...help
From: okthen
Date: 26 Apr 04 - 03:41 AM

It's probably too late now, but if this happens in the future, I was told by an electrician friend that the best thing is to immerse it in distilled water, shake dry, and dry thoroughley with hairdrier. Any other water (sea or tap) will have impurities that will dry on the circuit and short it out.
Another friend (a TV repairman) told me he must have made a small fortune from "repairing" sets that had been used in the kitchen, all he did was put them in front of a fan heater for an hour or two and 90% of the time they worked when he switched them on again.

Subject: RE: BS: I dropped me cellphone in the Loo...help
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 26 Apr 04 - 03:07 AM

I work for a multinational, in computing. A few years back, when I was responsible for IT services in our European HO in Brussels, supporting a number of high-flyers, guess what was the single most frequent cause for laptops being rendered inoperable:

Spillage of wine, whiskey, gin and tonic etc, all over the keyboard.

How come?

Easy - just think of hundreds of busy execs, squeezed into their seats aboard an aeroplane, trying to balance a laptop and a drink on that little table...

As for cellphones and liquids: My wife must have some kind of record. Dropped two different ones in the loo (dead), and once, having it hanging from a strap round her neck while disembarking from a boat in shallow waters, she dropped a camera into the watre. Immediate reaction was to retrieve the camera from the water and - you guessed it - into the water goes the cellphone too, as she bends down...

These things are sent to try us.

Subject: RE: BS: I dropped me cellphone in the Loo...help
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 26 Apr 04 - 12:11 AM

To give away: one computer keyboard, as is, looks perfectly ok, well looked after, only once had coke spilled on the keyboard...

Subject: RE: BS: I dropped me cellphone in the Loo...help
From: JennieG
Date: 25 Apr 04 - 09:23 PM

My son also found out that mobile phones don't work after (accidental) immersion in a large glass of Pepsi. Oh bugger, he said (well not quite but you get the general idea). His phone plan only had a month to run anyway so he got a new phone and new plan a day or 2 later.

Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: BS: I dropped me cellphone in the Loo...help
From: Charley Noble
Date: 25 Apr 04 - 07:58 PM

As you should know there is no justice en lieu.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: I dropped me cellphone in the Loo...help
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 25 Apr 04 - 05:56 PM

If it's on contract, phone the company, and ask for a phone upgrade. They will do this cheaply, and all you have to do is renew your contract for another year. Sometimes like with mine they don't ask for your old phone back, and if they do ask for it back, just plead ignorance if they query the state of your phone. They send them to be re-furbished, and may not even pick it up as being faulty.
If you were UK based I could let you have a spare phone.

John

Subject: RE: BS: I dropped me cellphone in the Loo...help
From: GUEST,BIG ANDY
Date: 25 Apr 04 - 05:44 PM

just say it broke and dont tell anyone

Subject: RE: BS: I dropped me cellphone in the Loo...help
From: Peace
Date: 25 Apr 04 - 04:42 PM

It won't help, but the phone will look good for the burial.

Subject: RE: BS: I dropped me cellphone in the Loo...help
From: Peace
Date: 25 Apr 04 - 04:38 PM

Use a hair dryer on it.

Subject: RE: BS: I dropped me cellphone in the Loo...help
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 25 Apr 04 - 04:33 PM

Seeing you only had it a few weeks, you didn't pay for it with some credit card that might have some built in insurance, did you?

Subject: RE: BS: I dropped me cellphone in the Loo...help
From: gnomad
Date: 25 Apr 04 - 04:29 PM

All MAY not be lost. I did the same thing with a pager, which seemed dead when I first tried it.

After a week on a radiator with everything that could be removed or opened removed or opened to maximise the chance of drying out, it functioned again & seemed none the worse.

I don't guarantee this method, but what have you to lose?

PS, the radiator was on a very low setting.

Subject: RE: BS: I dropped me cellphone in the Loo...help
From: MickyMan
Date: 25 Apr 04 - 03:56 PM

I thought I was in trouble. I've only had the phone for a month. They say that there are returned ones available at the T-Mobile stores. Anybody know of a place on the web where I can pick up a returned or refurbished T-Mobile ready Samsung E105?
I'm so traumatized! I'll never sit down to pee again. (That brings up another subject. Gentlemen...do you sit or stand? I tend to sit because I'm not as quick as I used to be and the unbuckling of the belt could very well have been my cell phone's "undoing". When I stood back up the weight of the phone on the belt clip just slid it off and ...splash.) I hate thinking about it. All that money "down the drain".

Subject: RE: BS: I dropped me cellphone in the Loo...help
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 25 Apr 04 - 01:18 PM

"Otter boxes are all very well but won't fit in a hip pocket"

Most that would take a cell-phone have a belt clip...

Subject: RE: BS: I dropped me cellphone in the Loo...help
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 25 Apr 04 - 01:15 PM

I suspect that the dire prognostications are correct, sorry to have to say. Otter boxes are all very well but won't fit in a hip pocket, this in itself might prevent it falling in the loo when you drop your trousers before evacuation. If you think that you might make the same error again, go to a marine store, where you will find all sorts of waterproof bags, and you can still use your cell phone while it's in said bag.
John

Subject: RE: BS: I dropped me cellphone in the Loo...help
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 25 Apr 04 - 01:06 PM

"why they don't make waterproof versions of some of these things"

They do... but those version are prohibitively expensive... likely so that your electronics WILL get wet and you WILL have to buy more...

Keep yer gear in Otter Boxes folks!

Like the ones listed -here-

Subject: RE: BS: I dropped me cellphone in the Loo...help
From: DMcG
Date: 25 Apr 04 - 01:00 PM

I've wondered occasionally why they don't make waterproof versions of some of these things (apart from the fact its more profitable not to, of course!) My wife ruined a set of electronic scales recently by wiping it with too wet a cloth. Even phones you could expect to get pretty wet occasionally - campers, festival goers, etc.

It would't be very difficult to put the majority of the circuitry in a sealed container and the incremental cost would be pretty low. I'd certainly pay a few pounds/dollars extra for the reliability.

Subject: RE: BS: I dropped me cellphone in the Loo...help
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 25 Apr 04 - 12:46 PM

It's not always the getting wet that kills 'em... often it's the sediment left on the circuits after the water dries that is more responsible...

Subject: RE: BS: I dropped me cellphone in the Loo...help
From: Alaska Mike
Date: 25 Apr 04 - 12:44 PM

Dropping a cell phone in the loo,
Is not a thing that you should do.
Even though it was carefully dried,
All the electronics are probably fried,
Nothing much more can be done,
But shell out some bucks for another one.

Subject: RE: BS: I dropped me cellphone in the Loo...help
From: Little Hawk
Date: 25 Apr 04 - 12:43 PM

I had a radio-controlled sailboat that more or less sank in heavy winds one day, and its radio gear never worked again either. These modern electronics seem to be pretty sensitive to getting wet.

- LH

Subject: RE: BS: I dropped me cellphone in the Loo...help
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 25 Apr 04 - 12:35 PM

MM...   

It's dead... sorry...

Subject: RE: BS: I dropped me cellphone in the Loo...help
From: Little Hawk
Date: 25 Apr 04 - 12:31 PM

That's bad. But it's not as bad as accidentally flushing your contact lenses down the toilet. I did that one morning.

Subject: BS: I dropped me cellphone in the Loo...help
From: MickyMan
Date: 25 Apr 04 - 12:29 PM

It happened last night. I fished it out (just water with a few drops of pee), dried it off and took it apart. I took off the back battery and removed the smart-media card, then let it air dry for a few hours. When I tried to start it the thing just vibrated a lot, then stopped for good. In the morning I tried again after putting the hairdryer to it, but no luck then either. I even used my wife's fresh battery from an identical Samsung E105. Oh fellow mudcatters...provide me with counsel!!! Alas, I have no insurance.
Yours truly, Mick Of A Man!!!