Chosen Solution
I have an iPhone 4 that was immersed in water, and worked for an hour or so before any problems were evident. It has spent two days in a bowl of rice, but I decided to open it up to see what’s going on. The two water-sensitive stickers on the back of the logic board have turned pink, and there are copper salts deposited on the logic board near the bottom of the LCD connector (the connector outlined in orange at Step 17 here: iPhone 4 Logic Board Replacement). I’m thinking that I will try to clean up this corrosion before trying to plug it in again, but I’m not sure what sort of tool to use. Are we talking isopropyl alcohol and a Qtip, or is there some other accepted approach?
Matthew Holland, if it is strictly a cleaning the logic board issue, I use isopropyl alcohol with a greater than 70% alcohol concentration, your local pharmacist can get it for you, and scrub the board with a small brush (tooth brushes work well) This will remove most of the corrosion. I do know that some people pre-treat their boards by cleaning it with distilled water and then use the alcohol which will displace the water. Either way make sure that you let the board dry very well after and stay away from any contact cleaner, etc. Hope this helps, I am sure there are 100’s more suggestion and ways to do it, but these are my 2cents :-)
It is important to clean with 99% isopropanol, ethanol or alcohol, dont use 70%, it is to much water. When you have a ultrasonic take the isoporpanol inside and than the iphone logicboard. Be carefull that the mikrophone and the speaker have no contact with the isoprobanol.
My 2 cents: if you have an ultrasonic cleaner I’m sure this investment is worth it. 3% Branson EC and 97% distilled water for the corrosion. Money well spent….
The best solution I’ve found to remove corrosion is boiling water. I take the Main PC Board out of the phone, boil water in a coffee cup in a microwave then place the board in the water. VERY IMPORTANT DO NOT PLACE THE BOARD IN THE MICROWAVE. After a minute or two carefully remove the board and scrub both sides with a tooth brush. When the board is completely dry return it to the phone. I’ve used this sucessfuly many times with water damaged Ipods, Iphones, & other electronic devices at the repair shop I work for.
clean with isopropylic alcohol and use the hot air gun before doing this pls disconnect the battery
I took my iPhone 6 into the apple store because the volume buttons were not responsive. They were clicking mechanically but would get stuck in an on or off state. There was also an intermittent problem with the touch screen. Apple said the phone had water damage and so they would not repair it and offered a $300 replacement. As a last-ditch effort I started a repair as if I needed to replace the buttons. Then I used a 10x jewelers loupe to inspect the button terminal contacts. I saw some corrosion on one of the terminals. I cleaned it with a q-tip that was lightly wetted with 70% alcohol. I then started inspecting the remaining terminals. I noticed a bit of dirt in one of the screen connector contacts that I also removed with the q-tip. I powered the phone back up and it is working great! All it cost me was a q-tip and a couple hours of my time.
I’ve had some success with severely corroded “dead” boards using my own solution of distilled white vinegar, 30 vol hydrogen peroxide and a tiny pinch of a mild salt such as “Lo-Salt” or if you can get it KCl. It appears that this actively strips corrosion without damaging the tracks, and in some cases actually brings the board back to life for a while at least. If board looks OK after this treatment do the usual rinse-in-DI-water-then-IPA method and see if it works. This is a last ditch remedy but worked a few times for me even on R/C stuff. Interestingly there is now a commercial solution based on my work, go figure.
kind of late to the party but I have been repairing phones since I was 11 (I am 15 now c: )and back then, we used to take petrol and a tooth brush and actively scrub the motherboard and mostly everyone copied this technique even outside the institution and local repairs… BUT… I noticed that most circuits got corrosions with every phones I fixed (mostly Nokia 3310 which were still common within every individual and old keypad phones”, so I changed to using isopropyl that has a very high alcohol content (90% or higher) and that works for me very well. Do keep in mind that you can invest in an ultrasonic cleaner which can be bought from ebay around 35$ or probably more and is worth every cents. why? It helps to clean thoroughly and reaches places which your typical toothbrush cannot reach. best regards - Ding0
comprerssed air, or a hair dryer on cold or low heat position could help to displace isopropylic alcohol, and placing the stuff under the sunshine for a while even in a glass enclosure, but for a VERY short time, depending on sun power..
