We got an email from a friend of ours about a laundry mishap with their iPod shuffle. He made some interesting points about the construction of both his iPod and Shure earbuds we thought you guys would find interesting.
a few weeks ago, while doing the laundry, i inadvertently ran my ipod shuffle and an attached pair of $500 shure earphones through the washer. i discovered them at the bottom of the machine, staring up at me like a pile of burned money. (although neither of them cost me anything.) i took them home but didn't toss them right away, figuring i'd at least let them dry out and see if luck mightn't smile kindly upon me. after all, non-noise-canceling headphones are powered from the jack, which means no internal power supply and, apart from the tiny armatures tucked deep inside the earpieces, no moving parts. and shuffles are solid state, so not much to get bolloxed up there, either. it took me a while to get up the guts to actually do it, but last night i finally plugged the shuffle into my computer and ... it mounted! what's more, all those husker du cuts were still on there, which means the volume was still readable. next i plugged the 'phones into another ipod: bingo! crystal clear $500 shure sound. of course, knowing me, i'll take this windfall as an opportunity not to learn from my mistake and end up doing the same thing again in a few months' time, but for now i feel like i've just been given a wonderful gift.
I know that horrible sinking feeling in your gut when you're pulling laundry out of the washer and an expensive electronic falls out. I've ran TWO cell phones and a ipod nano in the laundry - The phone that went through the dryer and worked perfectly. Same for an ipod. If you have nothing to lose, put your washed electronics in the dryer.
view chusmabilly's profile
My mom bought my middle school aged sister an iPod nano two birthdays ago that ended up soon after washed with her jeans. I'm not sure if she tried to dry it out or not though. After reading this success story, I really hope she did.
view karaalexis's profile
I accidentally went swimming with my cellphone. It was completely water logged by the time I realised at the time of submersion, it was actually on!
Anyway, long story short, realised it, pulled it out, and then just laid it out for a week to dry in the sun and a week later, bam! The phone turned right on, and worked like a charm (although it's normal state sucked oh so badly too, but that's another issue altogether)
view jonli's profile
I haven't researched it myself, but my friend ended up getting his phone soaking wet while he was at a football game recently. He read that putting it in a container of rice will help dry it out. At first the phone wasn't working, so he put it in some rice, and in a few days it was good as new!
I recently washed a jump drive accidentally, and I stuck it in a bag of rice as a precaution. It worked after, but I didn't check to see if it worked before the rice.
view Melissa H's profile
Lots of electronic gadgets can survive a dunking. Turn 'em off, coax as much water out of them as you can, put them someplace warm and dry (NOT an oven) and leave them for days to dry.
You could try putting them in a (sealed!) jar full of those damp rid crystals, too.
You want to get as much water out of them as quickly as possible, to discourage corrosion. And keep the power OFF.
view sunspot42's profile