7.21.2009

How to Bring a Wet iPod Back to Life


Have you ever thought about what your super hero name would be if you were a super hero?

Ya. Me neither.

But I am thinking I should start thinking about a name because twice now I have saved the life of an iPod.

An Electronics Hero.
Can you imagine how geeky my hero name would be?!

Superhero names aside, I really have rescued two iPods from near-death due to accidental drownings. First was my brother's, who put his iPod through a cycle in the washing machine. The second one was my husband's, who left his outside during a rain storm.

What to do when your iPod gets soaking wet:


1. DO NOT TURN IT ON. This is super, super important. My brother didn't listen to this step and while his iPod did work again the volume button was stuck on LOUD. I think if he'd listened to my steps he'd of had a fully functioning iPod. So trust me on this one. DO NOT TURN A WET iPOD ON!

2. Get a ziplock bag and fill with rice. Put your iPod (and headphones) in the bag of rice.
Paul has nice headphones and they got soaked and so he 'riced' them with his iPod and they work perfectly now!

3. Leave the bag for at least 12 hours. This is probably the hardest part because I know you'll be dying to see if the iPod will work, but let the rice soak up the moisture for as long as possible.

4. After 12+ hours have passed test your iPod. I can't promise you that it will work, but it has two times out of two for us, and in both cases the iPods were soaking wet.

Tuck this piece of information away in your mind - I read about this six years ago and it wasn't until seven months ago that I had the need to try to rescue an iPod. You never know when you will need to be an electronics super hero :)

(And I am sure this tip would work with other small electronics, I just haven't tested it on anything else!)

This post is part of WFMW

11 comments:

Webmaster said...

Great to know, thanks!

Richard and Edi Halstead said...

wish I had know this before, one of my passengers was just saying his mom washed his when he was home on leave, I will keep this in mind now, great tip thanks so much

Jessica said...

Brilliant! Thanks for this pointer - I'm storing this one away in my mental archive of things to remember in case of "emergency."

Wonder if it would work on cell phones? I know the whole thing about taking the battery out and drying that and all, but since I had the notion to see if my phone could swim a couple of years ago (read: dropped it in the toilet) I always wonder about this sort of thing.

Michelle said...

I have no doubt it will be good to know this at some point. LOL

Tammy said...

cool tip!

Stacy said...

I've read this one too! Good to know it makes sense AND actually works! I've been told it works with cell phones (remove the battery and put both pieces in rice), as well as other things. Wonder if it would work for a laptop that got soaked (obviously you'd need a big container of rice)? Or maybe the rice would get stuck in between the keys?

BeckeyZ said...

Rice is great stuff...it will also keep your silver from tarnishing. I knew a lady who sold silver jewelry and her display case was filled with rice. It was actually a kind of neat looking display too.

Jen said...

my hubby had one the earlier ipods and it is a beast! when we had bad car wreck it was ran over and burried in dirt and stayed there for a day and had got wet and muddy... but after some cleaning it was just like new! it was impressive its no wonder they went back to making out that same material lol

Anonymous said...

good to know! The number of times we've dumped things where they shouldn't be we might need this tip! Oh and a dog that chews on things. Wonder if it works on a cell phone that has stopped working after a baby got a hold of it and used it as a teething toy?
Garsy

Musings of a Housewife said...

A friend forwarded me this link. I have already turned it on. DANG. But I'm trying it anyway. I'll letcha know! ;-)

http://www.musingsofahousewife.com/2009/07/the-mystery-of-the-missing-ipod.html

Stephanie said...

It works for cell phones! Justin's phone was found in the recycling after three days of rain, and I had just read your post, so I gave it a try. It works!!
http://mrs.primrodo.com/?p=143

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