Anyone soaked there PS3 control and it survived?

[Blu_Ray_UK2007]

My son decided to throw my control down the toilet.. I dried it and have left it to dry all evening.. not sure if it will still work

[Lucy Diamond]

I don't want to give you any false hope, but I have heard many stories of cell phones getting dropped in sinks and drying out and then working.

I just read an article in the sunday Daily News (or the New york post??) that some kat dropped his cell phone in the ocean and then another dude found the phone inside a fish he caught and then called the guy.

Dude...was the water...um....fresh??? I'd buy a new controller on general principle...you know...due to the nature of this particular infraction.

[alphapyro]

hm. That's pretty darn funny right there!

since it was already wet I'm hoping you took a moment to at least clean it?


Lithium Ion batteries do not react well to water, however, if my cell phone can survive a dunk, perhaps your controller will make it out ok.


It all depends on how much water, and what kind, got in the controller and on the electronics. You should open 'er up and take cotton swabs with rubbing alcohol to it.

[Xerios]

id let it sit for over a day before turning it on, as long as it wasnt on during or after coming into contact with water the system board in the controller should be fine once its dry...

[dpomp]

i thought someone started a thread sometime last year about this and they said it still worked but the buttons stuck.....

can't find it. but wow the story was almost identical...

[Locklain]

Sent my cell through the wash a few years back. All I did was take it apart and let it set and dry a few days. The LCD had a small black blob in the corner but other than that it worked fine for a few years.

I am thinking that as long as there isn't a large amount of electrical current running through the boards it shouldn't short out. Just let it dry and have fun.

[Blu_Ray_UK2007]

Just tryed it after 5 hours or so drying, (and yes it was cleaned!) and no luck I'll give it another day or so.. if not looks like I need a new one!

[alphapyro]

Originally Posted by Blu_Ray_UK2007

Just tryed it after 5 hours or so drying, (and yes it was cleaned!) and no luck I'll give it another day or so.. if not looks like I need a new one!

Ultimately what could have happened is the lithium battery shorted when it got wet or some mineral deposits formed on the contacts.


I've repaired computers that were buried under flood water and have gotten them to boot up like they were new... Electronics can take a little abuse if they get cleaned up correctly. I would say see if you can get ahold of a replacement battery, but you're better off getting a new controller anyways.

Also, if the battery shorted it may have screwed up the pairing of the controller, but I'm guessin you're not even getting power on lights..


good luck!

[bageleaterkkjji]

did you take it apart and dry everything out?

[SkantDragon]

Most electronics are unaffected by water when they are not energized. When an electronic device gets wet, it will usually be okay if you can cut power to it soon enough. This is not because the water will short it out like a hair drier in a bath tub. The voltages in typical devices like this are much too low for that. But rather because of the effects of water on ionized components.

I would recommend carefully taking the controller apart. Disconnect the battery. Even when the controller is off, there is some standby power running through some circuits.

If the toilet water was dirty, you should really clean off every part that already got wet with it with mild soap and water. If it already got wet, getting wet again isn't going to hurt it any worse, and you don't want any.. umm... residues left on anything. Since that would be bad.

After that, I would lay out the parts with a fan blowing on them. Give it a lot of time to dry out completely including all the little crevaces. If you don't open the controller... it's largely sealed, so the moisture that's seeped inside may never fully get out, and it will stay a humid environment inside.

The buttons and analog sticks and such will likely need to be cleaned just for mechanical reasons. I'm not sure if there are any light oils that Sony might be using that could have been washed away by the water. You might need to reoil them in spots using very light silicone. It may be that the whole assembly is normally dry with no lubricants at all. Certainly, you need to make sure that none of those surfaces are sticky, anyway.

Hope that helps.

[dk3dknight]

After all that and it still does not work, you might want to plug it into your usb charge cable and plug directly into the ps3.

Sometimes when the controller loses full charge the lights will not turn on, and require some initial charging before they turn on.

Just a mild suggestion.

[Lord_Stewie]

it happened to me before it took the controller a week to work properly. just let it dry out.

[ThePhantomOak]

Originally Posted by Blu_Ray_UK2007

My son decided to throw my control down the toilet.. I dried it and have left it to dry all evening.. not sure if it will still work

Mine broke like that.

I dried it, still broken.

At the advice of my nerdy father, I dunked it in alcohol, and let it dry again, and it worked.

Maybe that will work for you (the idea is alcohol molecules are smaller than water, and they displace the water and then dry better...in other words, those left over molecules will keep it from preforming, but the other molecules will push them out of the way, and are small enough to evaporate. I dont know anything else about it). I know that when the computers at my dads area got wet they took them apart and did this without even waiting (he worked at LLNL, so its not a bunch of goofs).

[Maximus]

Try vodka, use something with a high proof and something clear as well. Gin works pretty well too.

[ThePhantomOak]

Originally Posted by Maxpower1987

Try vodka, use something with a high proof and something clear as well. Gin works pretty well too.

Drunkard ^^^

Or rubbing alcohol

[Marine Mike]

Originally Posted by ThePhantomOak

Drunkard ^^^

Or rubbing alcohol

That or get some methonal from a high school science lab and dunk it in that. Basic principle is that it will evaporate the liquid that it comes into contact with at an expotential rate.

If it was 'dirty' then just toss it and get a new controller. Even I wouldn't try to salvage that.

[Maximus]

Originally Posted by Marine Mike

That or get some methonal from a high school science lab and dunk it in that. Basic principle is that it will evaporate the liquid that it comes into contact with at an expotential rate.

Tip: Don't drink the meths. It's not good for you...

[Marine Mike]

Originally Posted by Maxpower1987

Tip: Don't drink the meths. It's not good for you...

LOL! It'll be the same feeling as smoking a methonal cigarette except you'll have the more literal 'deathly' feel to it.

[jkwest]

I would think that the methanol would eat away at the controller...

try some Kosher salt...

[PH3AR]

Originally Posted by Blu_Ray_UK2007

Just tryed it after 5 hours or so drying, (and yes it was cleaned!) and no luck I'll give it another day or so.. if not looks like I need a new one!

I heard the only way cell phones work after a dunk is they took it apart and then let it dry...so maybe that would work for a ps3 controlller too...NEW IDEA FOR SONY...waterproof controllers!