my DS CAN in fact swim-INSANE UPDATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[HankRaptor]

So there I was last night, in the jacuzzi enjoying  New Super Mario... I want to go inside for dinner, so I close the cover to my jacuzzi... not realizing the DS was on the cover.

2 or 3 hours later, I go looking for my DS to play some more. Cant find it ANYWHERE...

Then it hits me.

I dont remember seeing it since the jacuzzi... went outside... and there is the DS on the bottom of the Jacuzzi....

I took the battery out and am drying it off.... but Im sure she is dead... I will let you know, but it sure dont look good.. it was in bromine for hours at 100 degrees....

Looks like Im picking up a DS lite after all....

[Destructor]

Well, you always wanted a DS Lite...

Just not exactly the way you wanted to get it though.

Your DS just might live though. Nintendo's consoles are built Ford Tough or something.

[warning]

Ouch.

If by some miracle it does still work be sure to let us know.

[TheMissingLink]

Yikes, yeah, keep us posted.  I play my DS / PSP in the bath and wasn't too paranoid about it until reading your story!

[Scott]

You deserve it for owning a jacuzzi .

That sucks, but from all indications, the DS Lite is a lot better anyway.

[Ridah]

Heh, that brings up an interesting story. Back when the GBA first came out, I had bought Advanced Wars and another game which I played a lot. All of a sudden one day I couldn't find my Advanced wars game, I found it a week later when I was wearing a pair of shorts that had just been cleaned in the laundry. It was in the short's pocket the whole time. The interesting thing is, the shorts had been through the washing machine and the dryer... and the game still worked! I was so impressed it was almost worth losing the game for a week  :lol:

[Nth Power]

Uh oh.   Did you have a game inside the DS too?  

Are games waterproof/resistant?  I've never cared to make that test myself.

[warning]

Uh oh.   Did you have a game inside the DS too?  

Are games waterproof/resistant?  I've never cared to make that test myself.

My son's Pokemon GBA games have gone through the wash cycle before.  Luckily we caught them before they reached the dryer.   :?

[depward]

The Nintendo Gods have given you a sign - now you must heed their advice and purchase a Lite.

[Mattc0m]

I'm praying for your DS as I type. May the Nintendo Gods great your DS well.

[HankRaptor]

Thank you... For your support

I am waiting to dry it out throughly, I think this may become a museum peice.... The timing really coudlnt be better eh???? With the DS lite around the corner. Im still hopeful this will work again... the chemicals is what concerns me most.

[semiconscious]

Thank you... For your support

hope things go well - i can only say that, were mine to go swimming with the animal crossing cart i've now invested 6 months+ in, my concern for the ds itself would come in a very distant second...

[unbreakable]

If it were just plain clean water, I would give it good odds.

Add in chemicals... ugh.  Not so good; they will likely dry and leave a residue on the electronics.

Now this might sound strange, but what *I* would do: go to the store, buy some de-ionized water.  Then go to a nice clean place, and rinse the DS off several times with the clean, de-ionized water.  Now find a nice clean, dry, dust/dirt free place, and leave it out to dry completely.

[Scott]

the chemicals is what concerns me most.

Yet you have no problems putting the chemicals on your skin?  

Rinsing the DS off might not be a bad idea with clean water, as unbreakable said.

[-Lord Ebonstone-]

Don't just rinse it.  Buy that bottle of de-ionized water and go through three soak cycles of 1 hour each, where the unit is completely submerged, changing the water between the cycles.

[Godzilla Blitz]

I've run a couple of GBA games through full wash/dry cycles with no apparent damage.

Have done it to flash drives as well and they came through fine too.

Notes written on random scraps of paper haven't fared so well, though.

[Ascendent]

You can't leave us in suspense! I'm dieing to know whether I can dunk my ds in the tub and have it survive....

Ascendent

[unbreakable]

Don't just rinse it.  Buy that bottle of de-ionized water and go through three soak cycles of 1 hour each, where the unit is completely submerged, changing the water between the cycles.

Yeah, since it was already submerged, that is probably more appropriate.

This method was actually recommended to me a long time ago by a tech instructor who repaired smoky servers, fixed physically damaged hard drives, and other forms of extreme maintenance.

I had a friend who dropped her cell phone in wet dirty gutter water, and this helped her out a bit.  The phone still died a few weeks later, but it did work long enough for the short term.

Someone else I just met at random accidentally spilled a glass of ice water on their PDA... I suggested she remove the battery and let it dry out, but she didn't want to take the chance that it would lose the data so she could hotsync.  I have no idea how that one fared, but generally removing the battery from wet electronics the the best way to make sure nothing shorts out.

[Godzilla Blitz]

As we wait for the news on the Fate of the Jacuzzied DS...

I'm curious, would the deionized water be a good way to handle keyboards that have had soda spilled on them?

I get that question every once in a while and I usually tell people just to buy a new keyboard if their original was was cheap, but sometimes the keyboard is/was rather expensive.

[Misguided]

Is it hard to open the thing up completely?

[Destructor]

Is it hard to open the thing up completely?

At the very least, you need one of those weird screwdrivers just to open the thing up at all. I used to know the name at one time, but it escapes me.

[HankRaptor]

Well, ITs completely dry now so I powered it up... Interestingly it turns ON.

New Mario seems to play.. I have NO SOUND and the screens are COMPLETELY HOSED.. I will post pictures... I want to try the de-ionized water idea sort of as a litmus test to see if it helps... things dont look good.

[Godzilla Blitz]

Wise choice there with Mario the plumber.

[adamsappel]

It might not have mattered, but I wouldn't have powered it on until I'd done the de-ionized water treatment.

[unbreakable]

I'm curious, would the deionized water be a good way to handle keyboards that have had soda spilled on them?

I get that question every once in a while and I usually tell people just to buy a new keyboard if their original was was cheap, but sometimes the keyboard is/was rather expensive.

I think it would be ok.  The danger water poses to electronics is that it will short them out while they have power on.  Liquid really doesn't do anything to electronics without power, aside from making them wet.

Another issue is that, when they dry, it lays a coating of residue on the electronics.  This coating can either short things out, or it will insulate them so they overheat... then short out.

So a keyboard which had OJ spilled on it while it was powered *might* have been damaged just from the original incident.  If not, remove it from the power source, and rince it off.  Then dump it with de-ionized water to get rid of as much junk as you can (maybe take it apart and wash off the electronics).

As long as it is COMPLETELY dry when you plug it in, your odds of it working should be fairly good.  As long as the initial damage did not harm anything, it will work.

Now when you do this with extremely delicate electronics, like hard drives, your primary objective is to just get all the data off it before the drive fails.  In such cases, you really can't trust that the device will work properly ever again.  But certain devices, like keyboards, are sort of sturdier stuff.

[HankRaptor]

I turned on my DS tonight, now I have not done ANYTHING TO IT, other than let it dry out.

ITS WORKING 100%... the screens are CRYSTAL CLEAR and it works FANTASTIC.. Im floored!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They make UNREAL HARDWARE

[Darren8r]

Nice.

I always thought it would be fine.

Considering I've seen a cell phone take more damage than human beings can and its still working

Never heard of anything being left in chemical water before though.

I'm glad its still working for you!

[depward]

That's nutty awesome.  Very cool!

... buy a Lite anyways  

[Tebunker]

it just reminds me of the tests that some kids did by throwing their PS2, Xbox and Cube out behind a car and dragging it and only the Cube still works.

Nintendo's systems are like cockroaches, for the most part they'll survive Nuclear fallout.  :wink:

[Godzilla Blitz]

Wow. That is impressive. I figured it was toast.

And thanks for the info on the keyboards, unbreakable. Much appreciated.

[ATB]

I turned on my DS tonight, now I have not done ANYTHING TO IT, other than let it dry out.

ITS WORKING 100%... the screens are CRYSTAL CLEAR and it works FANTASTIC.. Im floored!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They make UNREAL HARDWARE

You should write them. They'll make a commercial about you and you'll become fabulously wealthy.

[HankRaptor]

I should write them, it is insane... is sat at the bottom of the jacuzzi for HOURS and HOURS while Im playing Ghost Recon with Rob Morton..

Im getting a Lite anyway screw it...

[unbreakable]

hmm, actually, if there was still a lot of liquid inside the jacuzzi when you discovered it, since the water was settled, it's likely there was just water on the bottom.  That way, the chemicals weren't much of an issue.

Really glad to hear it's ok.  It seems Nintendo makes darned sturdy stuff.

[unbreakable]

BTW: another tip if you ever need to clean off electronics-

you can wash things off with clean rubbing alcohol (they may even sell a kind for this purpose, I don't know).  Water and alcohol are about the only two things which will evaporate without leaving a residue.

[edit]
Damn, I meant to delete this since it's kind of dangerous adivce.  Alcohol can be corrosive to certain things, like plastics and rubbers.  So use this method VERY sparingly, and only on things which will not corrode (don't soak electronics in alcohol, for example).

[warning]

That's crazy.  You should submit the story to Nintendo.

[EddieA]

So what console are you going to throw in there next?

[th'FOOL]

I bet your PSP wouldn't still be working  



.....somebody had to say it   :twisted:

[Dafones]

Dude, that's awesome! That's so cool. And you should write them, just for the hell of it.

[HankRaptor]

I had a bunch of friends over and showed them the DS they almost didnt believe me that it was in the jacuzzi at ALL it looks so great.


And we talked about thePSP it would NEVER survive that! the moving parts are just too much..

Im not willing to try it.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

Someone needs to teach Nintendo some business sense. They should make their products as delicate as possible so that consumers have to buy the product multiple times. Poorly made hardware = more money. After all, that plan worked pretty well for Sony with the PS2.  :wink: