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Disaster (for my radio)

cyberdad

cyberdad

Moderator
Staff member
Well guys....My beloved little C Crane Skywave fell into some water this afternoon, and was submerged for about 5-10 seconds. 100% my fault. No excuses. It was in my hoodie pocket, when all of the sudden, plop plop, fizz fizz! It was still playing when I retrieved it, but within about two minutes, it succumbed.

Bummer!

So I tried to shake some of the water out, took a hair dryer to it, then took a can of compressed air to it. No apparent success, so far. ....But at least the clock is still working! LOL!

Any suggestions on how to nurse this beloved family member back to working order? Or is it toast.... And soggy toast at that!
 
pclover said:
Put it in a sealed bag with some cheap rice for a few days and see what happens.

If not hopefully you can get a replacement.
Click to expand...
The biggest problem is if the radio is so waterlogged that the rice will be a mess to clean out of it. o_O
 
I did the same thing to my Sonos One speaker a couple weeks ago. Accidentally kicked it into the pool where it remained powered on, partially submerged for at least 20 seconds. I pulled the plug as fast as I could before fishing it out of the water.

I drained as much water out of it as I could and then put it in several locations to dry for the next ten days. Outside in the sun in a spot that got the most breeze. Inside, on top of the exhaust vent of an air purifier running full blast (wildfire smoke mitigation). Later, in front of a regular fan. Basically, anywhere that was getting heat and/or breeze 24/7. I did not plug it in or test it during this whole time. After ten days I plugged it in and it worked.

I tried putting it in a bowl of rice for a few hours near the beginning but then I read a thread on Reddit where some users explained why that technique was an urban myth, so I just went with the heat and air after that.

Sonos speakers are a bear to disassemble or I would have opened it up. In your case I would pop open the radio case if possible, or at least remove the batteries along with the battery cover and any other panels to help with evaporation.

Good luck.
 
A kid at Radio Shack told me about the rice cure after a busted bottle of wine upon my opening the front door decided to intoxicate my hand-held phone.
The phone worked after that!
The rice was pretty good, too.
The remedy was applied about a day after the spill.
 
Number One First Thing you do when electronics get wet is Remove Power!!!
Un-plug.
Remove batteries including any memory batteries.
Try sucking water out with a vacuum.
Warm air blowing through it for a couple days if you don't have a descant available.
 
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Thanks, gentlemen. I thought of the rice thing and I'll try that. Along with the hot air and compressed air. I'll let you know how it works. Disassembling looks to be problematic, but I may see if I can get my wife's brother involved. He's a ham radio operator and has experience rebuilding radios. At the moment. however, he's involved with a family wedding.

This was a freak accident if there ever was one! Thamks again!
 
cyberdad said:
Thanks, gentlemen. I thought of the rice thing and I'll try that. Along with the hot air and compressed air. I'll let you know how it works. Disassembling looks to be problematic, but I may see if I can get my wife's brother involved. He's a ham radio operator and has experience rebuilding radios. At the moment. however, he's involved with a family wedding.

This was a freak accident if there ever was one! Thamks again!
Click to expand...
I think some water in mine, even though it was in the case. That's the only explanation I've got for the display crapping out. It lights up but the numbers are all jumbled.
 
Sorry to hear about your C Crane Skywave, cyberdad.

I'm always worried that I'm going to drop mine and if I'm walking a reasonable distance with it in my hand, I often put that little strap around my wrist.

But the longer I have it, the less conscious I am with making sure I don't drop it.

I still sometimes just hold it and admire what a nice solid compact radio it is.
 
After the flooding from one of our many hurricanes here in Florida we had an exciter that had been under water for at least 4 hours. we thought it was a gonner but we took the top off dried it out and set it in the blazing sun for a few weeks. It now works fine!! Our audio compressor not so much. 1) kill all power 2) dry it out lots of heat over time
 
SUCCESS! The "rice fix" did it for me. C Crane Slywave restored to full working order after three days submerged in a baf of cheap Kroger house brand long grain white rice. So thanks, guys, for all your input.

The radio rewarded me before sunrise this morning with some decent DX. Nothing new, but still some pretty rare catches. Most notably CFAM (950), WTIC (1080) and WGIL (1400....on top of the GY mess & steady).
 
In the future, if you're going to use hot or compressed air, take the back off. The air can't get to the PCB if the back of the radio is still attached. The fact that the clock was still working was a good indicator.

Glad you got it working again.
 
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