On 17 Sep 2005 07:22:12 -0700, the renowned wrote:


Steve Koschmann wrote:
OK... not really on metalworking (metal content lithium ion battery???)...
but this group has so much technical info... just looking for ideas..

2 months ago, I dropped my 3 month new cell phone in the pool. Stupid move,
but hey s##t happens. Obviously phone was soaked.

Grabbed it out, pulled the battery out, let phone dry for a week. White
colored " tell-tale dot" inside phone is now red.. (this dot is used by the
phone companies to determine whether or not to honor warranties if the phone
gets wet)

Somehow my ethics take a short vacation when dealing with such large
corporations as telephone companies. Would some white-out correct your
red dot problem?

Never heard of these dots. Any idea where they come from? Sounds like
the OP did the right thing, assuming the battery was pulled out
immediately.

Could there be another battery inside? Or water trapped inside? If you
take it apart, look for white (or sometimes black) deposits along
traces. Clean the board with a mild solvent and a toothbrush if you
see anything that looks like that. The traces could be eaten away if
power was available for long. If you have a vacuum chamber, you could
try drying it out that way.

I once told the engineer at a big foodservice equipment manufacturer
that his current supplier was putting one-shot temperature stickers in
the product to see if the max ambient was exceeded for even a moment
(so they could void the warranty). They were all ****ed and called a
big meeting to deal with it. ;-) There was quite a few $millions
involved and the biggest fast-food customer around.


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward"
Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com