Did I Fry my tugboat RDA v1??!

[computerjohn]

Thanks for the alternate perspective... It was erroring out before I cleaned it in boiling water... It was working fine before I dry fired it... It doesnt sound all that impossible to fry an insulator, sounds like people here have done it, and they sell insulator replacement kits, which means there is a demand for it. Despite the obvious I can try sticking the atty in some rice for the next 24hrs, that will dry out the wettest of attys, phones, and kittens.. It certainly cant hurt! Thanks again for the response.

I'm sorry I didn't realize it was before. lol.. No you can smoke an insulator, depending on temp & especially age. The term "it certainly can't hurt" is soooooooo false with rice and a zip lock bag. I worked for Nextel & then Sprint when they purchased them for over 10.5 years as a service repair technician. The worst thing for any electronic device is putting it in a bag of rice. The problem is not the water "providing it doesn't have power to it, example remove the battery". It's the impurities that are left behind "minerals, irons, etc." when it's drying. The final step in manufacturing circuit boards is going through a distilled water wash and then dried. Again distilled water contains no impurities.

When customers would bring me a water damaged phone, besides me asking how it got wet! I would kill the power to it immediately, take it apart and flush the parts that got wet in 91% rubbing alcohol, must be 91%. 71% has to much water in it and 100% you run the risk of plastics, foam, and rubber gaskets getting damaged. Then I had an old vacuum and would suck the excess and the rest would just evaporate. If it was brought to me in good enough of time or the customer had the common sense to remove the battery, if it was removable. My success rate was 9 out of 10.

IMO I would stay away of boiling water. You will damage stuff in the long run. I have recently switched to using a ultrasonic cleaner. Let me tell you AMAZING!!!! Bottled water and a little Dawn "you don't need much". Besides cleaning the parts, It poslishes them as well. WHAT A SHINE!! It doesn't quite matter if the water is room temp or not, the water will heat up from friction of the ultrasonic movement. I'll do two 480 sec cleans & then rinse. They are better looking than when you bought it.

BTW, do you have a multimeter? Changed the setting to continuity. First touch the leads together to make sure your on the proper setting and the meter will beep. Now put one lead on the center post and the other onto the housing of the atty. If it beeps you have a dead short and possible the insulator is no good. If you don't the insulator is NOT the problem and is good.

 

[guht]

I'm sorry I didn't realize it was before. lol.. No you can smoke an insulator, depending on temp & especially age. The term "it certainly can't hurt" is soooooooo false with rice and a zip lock bag. I worked for Nextel & then Sprint when they purchased them for over 10.5 years as a service repair technician. The worst thing for any electronic device is putting it in a bag of rice. The problem is not the water "providing it doesn't have power to it, example remove the battery". It's the impurities that are left behind "minerals, irons, etc." when it's drying. The final step in manufacturing circuit boards is going through a distilled water wash and then dried. Again distilled water contains no impurities.

When customers would bring me a water damaged phone, besides me asking how it got wet! I would kill the power to it immediately, take it apart and flush the parts that got wet in 91% rubbing alcohol, must be 91%. 71% has to much water in it and 100% you run the risk of plastics, foam, and rubber gaskets getting damaged. Then I had an old vacuum and would suck the excess and the rest would just evaporate. If it was brought to me in good enough of time or the customer had the common sense to remove the battery, if it was removable. My success rate was 9 out of 10.

That is interesting information! And it makes perfects since about the impurities being left behind. I didnt know that circuit boards were washed in distilled water, but I did know that 91% alcohol is extremely safe and preferred method of cleaning. I have worked with computers for 20 years, and I am also a general DIYer. I have fixed everything from TVs to cameras to DVD players to laptops to cell phones. Most people would have thrown the stuff out, but my mentality is, what harm can I do by trying to fix something that is already perceived to be broke. My success rate is also in the upper percentile. My success with rice has also been extremely high, which is NO WAY discounts what you said or the information you provided. Perhaps I have been extremely lucky. At the same time, I dont know if I would pay the usual high costs to have a professional completely disassemble a laptop or phone and fix it, especially when my past experience has shown me that rice does dry out areas that cant be reached without complete disassembly. Like you said the danger is not the water, it is the water and the power current. So if rice can absorb that moisture, it allows you to safely power it back on, and hopefully work. I am smart enough to cut the power! ;-)

Do you care to elaborate on how/why the impurities left behind in common water sources would be so terrible? Im not trying to be an a##. I actually want to learn!

I would stay away of boiling water. You will damage stuff in the long run. I have recently switched to using a ultrasonic cleaner. Let me tell you AMAZING!!!! Bottled water and a little Dawn "you don't need much". Besides cleaning the parts, It poslishes them as well. WHAT A SHINE!! It doesn't quite matter if the water is room temp or not, the water will heat up from friction of the ultrasonic movement. I'll do two 480 sec cleans & then rinse. They are better looking than when you bought it.

Nice! I just ordered an ultrasonic cleaner Friday for this reason AND to give my juice a little extra hand in steeping! It can also clean gun parts. ;-)

, do you have a multimeter? Changed the setting to continuity. First touch the leads together to make sure your on the proper setting and the meter will beep. Now put one lead on the center post and the other onto the housing of the atty. If it beeps you have a dead short and possible the insulator is no good. If you don't the insulator is NOT the problem and is good.

Good call! I actually do have pretty decent multimeter lying around here somewhere... Its in a box with my soldering irons! Time to go dig around for it.

Thanks for all the feedback! Much appreciated

 

[computerjohn]

Do you care to elaborate on how/why the impurities left behind in common water sources would be so terrible? Im not trying to be an a##. I actually want to learn!

LMAO!! No problem. When the impurities are left behind they will do one of two things. Prevent a connection or create one.

If you were to boil tap water to the point of total evaporation you would have residue, minerals, irons, etc.. Now introduce either dirty water, soda, coffee, milk, body spray, shampoo and it multiplies greatly!! I have see phones completely ruined by milk and shampoo especially "yes both were women, in pocketbooks" the ingredients in them ate the damn circuitry!!! The body spray just expanded anything rubber to 10 times it's size. Did repair that one and the phone smelt nice for 6 months!! lol.

For example: On a switch you know where it would normally make connection when pressed. If water were to get in there, first it would make a connection via a "short". Now you put that in a bag of rice. The rice does absorbs the moisture, over time kinda like a silica pack. But a silica pack is there to help absorb moisture that might be in the air in the packaging, not designed to absorbed a soaked device.

Now, the water evaporates what do you get besides oxidation from different metals? The impurities left behind. So you'll either get no to a very poor connectivity or if there is a lot of iron or other conductive minerals, then it will be a dead short "always on"

 

[computerjohn]

I have worked with computers for 20 years, and I am also a general DIYer. I have fixed everything from TVs to cameras to DVD players to laptops to cell phones. Most people would have thrown the stuff out, but my mentality is, what harm can I do by trying to fix something that is already perceived to be broke. My success rate is also in the upper percentile. My success with rice has also been extremely high, which is NO WAY discounts what you said or the information you provided. Perhaps I have been extremely lucky. At the same time, I dont know if I would pay the usual high costs to have a professional completely disassemble a laptop or phone and fix it

You sound like my twin! LMAO!! I have over 30 years of computer experience and used to own a computer company as well as a hosting computer. I still do some computer work for some customers and friends. As for the hosting, I sold that part to my old partner, but still have access to great pricing Yeah I'll try fixing something if it's worth my time. If not I'll steal parts & then scrap it. I got to the point I almost auditioned for the show hoarders!! LOL! Matter of fact I still have an old it's either an old MFM or RLL full size half height hard drive in a box here, it's a whopping 10 or 20MB the most. I know I just lost 90% of the forum. A MFM or RLL WHAT!? LMAO!!

Fixing laptops/notebooks are very expensive because of the labor time involved in disassemble fix and then reassemble. Then going what's this screw go to??

 

[computerjohn]

Nice! I just ordered an ultrasonic cleaner Friday for this reason AND to give my juice a little extra hand in steeping! It can also clean gun parts. ;-)

Yeah I ordered mine on Amazon and that's right about the steeping. Thanks for reminding me!! I have a couple of juices I need to steep badly! One everyone was raving about it and it SUCKS!!!! Now to be fair I did have to wait over 2 weeks for it because of back orders and I assumed it was just made. But that being said, the seller never responded to me when I asked the question how long did it have to steep for or was it a bad mix because I couldn't vape it. Needless to say they NEVER answered my question!! So I may have to contest that charge.

As for cleaning my gun parts, I wouldn't recommend it or just get a second ultrasonic cleaner just for the gun parts or shell casings. Besides the gun oil and grease, what I'm most concern is the traces gun powder and lead. Both are HIGHLY TOXIC!!!!! You wouldn't use a 100% Japanese Cotton Pad and clean the inside of your barrel and then vape on it would you? lol!

Just my little ole opinion LMAO!!

 

[computerjohn]

Your insulator is most likely shot. I've had 2 V1's and a V2 need insulators...both authentic. Yet, my "cheap Chinese POS" is still plugging right along. Go figure. And it's older than the authentics....it's what convinced me to buy authentics. Tugboats are hard to beat!

Yeah pretty funny how "some" of the knock off's work better!

 

[inspects]

But the drill press is going to looking really nice next to the floor lamp in my office! Maybe I can just stick a light ON the drill press and save some space!

Yeah... Im probably better off buying a new tugboat! ;-)

lmso........

 

[guht]

Fixing laptops/notebooks are very expensive because of the labor time involved in disassemble fix and then reassemble. Then going what's this screw go to??

Exactly like working on cars! Always parts left over!

 

[guht]

As for cleaning my gun parts, I wouldn't recommend it or just get a second ultrasonic cleaner just for the gun parts or shell casings. Besides the gun oil and grease, what I'm most concern is the traces gun powder and lead. Both are HIGHLY TOXIC!!!!! You wouldn't use a 100% Japanese Cotton Pad and clean the inside of your barrel and then vape on it would you? lol!

Just my little ole opinion LMAO!!

I am going for a more authentic vaping expierence... I want it to be as close to a cigarette as possible. So the more chemicals the better! I kid! I would need a much bigger cleaner for my gun parts, and I dont reload, so wont be cleaning any brass. ;-) I do hate cleaning my guns with a passion though, so maybe once I get that Sako TRG-42 and start reloading .338 lapua rounds Ill buy an industrial sized cleaner. ;-)