The title of this post is meant to be humorous.
But putting my IPOD through the laundry was not.
But I'll start at the beginning.
Lacking a dedicated computer for my Part 15 station
The title of this post is meant to be humorous.
But putting my IPOD through the laundry was not.
But I'll start at the beginning.
Lacking a dedicated computer for my Part 15 station
was a problem. Then somewhere along the line, I
got an IPOD. It was and still is, a 4 GB third generation
Nano IPOD. Not the greatest thing in the world - but
I grew up with reel to reel tape decks, so to me - 4 GB
was more than enough.
I put a bunch of old jazz and big band music on it and
used it as a program source. Somewhere along the
line I figured out how to have a digital timer arranged
to charge the IPOD. The timer would kick in every night
between 2:AM and 5:AM and turn on the charger. The
IPOD ran all the time. It could go for weeks or even
months without any trouble.
Three years ago, my station was a pretty cool place. It was
on AM, covering a pretty big area, and ran continuously for -
like I said - weeks or months. Then I would take it off the
air to change things. Then I would put it on for a few more
weeks continuously. My good friend (a ham and local broadcast
engineer) would listen to the station as he drove around town,
making his daily errands. Then he would report the coverage
area to me, if it had changed, and that sort of thing.
A year ago, during a very hectic day, I put the IPOD through the
laundry. After finding out, I did all of the standard stuff. I left it alone for a couple
weeks, hoping it would dry out and work fine. Some people have
had good luck that way. I did not. It appeared to be dead. I sadly
put it in a drawer.
A year went buy. Last night I took it out of the drawer and tried to
fire it up, It sure looked dead to me. Then my daughter told me
that she could just barely see writing and pictures on the screen.
We realized that the back lighting electronics had been destroyed,
but the IPOD was actually playing music! I plugged in some headphones,
and listened. Yup, it was running!
It appears that the IPOD battery is still taking a charge.
This is interesting: The wall charger has an LED on it.
When charging the IPOD (before the laundry mishap) -
this is what would happen with the charger: If the IPOD's
battery was exhausted the charger LED would be red.
If the IPOD came up to charge, the LED would turn green.
Now, (after the mishap) for this particular charger/power supply - the indicator
acts differently. It you try to charge the IPOD - the light is
orange. Then eventually - the light goes completely out.
I believe the battery has taken some charge at this point.
Since the current drain of the IPOD is different now, I can
understand why the charger is acting differently. How long
will the battery hold a charge?
Time will tell. I know there are places that will fix IPODs for
reasonable prices, so I'll have to get on that when I can.
Just thinking back - three years ago, my station was automated
with tape recorders that were synced to give hour and half hour
IDs - the music turned down by itself and then came back up
after the announcements were over. I had a silence sensor that
would turn on an audio chip and insert a station ID if there was
a big pause between songs. The station would sign on at 6:AM
with an automatic announcement and sign off at 1:AM with the
appropriate sign off announcement. It was really cool.
But the best part was the automated frequency change. 1690 was
the best daytime channel, but 1700 was better at night. So at
local sunset the station would go from 1690 to 1700, and at
local sunrise the station would go back from 1700 to 1690.
I know a lot of you guys remember this, but maybe there are
some who didn't know.
So anyway - with IPODs, things are not always as they seem.
And I wish my station was the way it was three years ago.
Best Wishes,
Bruce, DOGRADIO STUDIO 2 (Formerly MICRO1690/1700)
This has happened to my kids ipods and cell phones many times. Left in pocket on laundry day, dropped in puddles you name it.
This sounds crazy but it's worked for us 90% of the time. Saw it on the internet a long time ago. Didn't believe it until I tried it.
If the device is out of warranty and you have nothing to lose, try this.
- First, Remove the battery if you can.
- Soak the device in rubbing alcohol (the 90%+ kind) for at least an hour.
This displaces most of the moisture and soluble deposits.
- Put it in the oven at very low temperature (125F to 150F max) for anywhere from 3 to 5 hours (on a plate). You want to dry it (like dehydrating vegetables), not cook it. If the temp is too high you'll damage the LCD screen and battery.
- Don't try to use it unless it's fully cooled. The LCD screen may look dark at first but most times it eventually returns to normal.
Andre
Thank you Andre!
i appreciate the info very much!
Best Wishes!
Bruce, DOGRADIO STUDIO2
There are many situations that could expose portable devices to water.
It could be left outside during a rain storm. It happened to my C.Crane Radio Plus one time, but it dried out alright.
Slip off into the bath tub.
Car window left open rain pouring in while you're sleeping in the house.
Being attacked by para-military at Occupy Little Rock and pepper sprayed.
There was supposed to be a
demonstration here at DOGRADIO
STUDIO 2.
The dogs and I were worried about it.
But only one cat showed up and he fell
asleep next to one of the dogs.
Bruce, DOGRADIO STUDIO 2
Wait till 3 in the morning, shine bright lights on all the animals and steal their tents. Oh wait, the animals aren't protesting anything.
Baking iPod's, soaking with alcohol, sounds like new menu items at the Klingon restaurant at Deep Space Nine.
Well if your really really bored and you have a bunch of data discs that need "wiped", just toss them one at a time into the microwave oven on high. Mini-Tesla-Lightning Displays.
But that data will be wiped I guarantee it..even on silver discs!
Or if your wanting to save those discs...use banana peels.
RFB
RFB - do you remember Captain Sisko's
homemade solar sail spacecraft that he
and Jake launched? Then they got into
the middle of some kind of battle?
That's one I remember. Of course, Deep
Space Nine and Babylon 5 have amazing
parallels. Star Trek folklore says
that one show got it's idea from the
other one. Both Captain Sisko and
Commander Sinclair from Babylon season
one liked baseball, and had baseball
memorabilia it their quarters. There were
other parallels too.
BUT GETTING BACK TO PART 15 RADIO -
it turns out that the battery in the damaged
IPOD took a charge successfully. It has been
running now on it's own power for 21 hours.
So the only thing that went down in the big
storm inside the washing machine was the
backlight circuitry. Or maybe things went
bad inside the dryer. Dryer? Drier?
There was an "Occupy My Dryer" movement, but
the pair of pants walked away by themselves.
Oh, man. Where is my mind going...
Bruce, DOGRADIO STUDIO 2