Low-Tech answers to high-tech problems
 

Havn't heard of these tricks before.


Wet phone?
The toilet, the sink, a puddle, the laundry… it's so easy for your phone to wind up soaked through and through. Everyone has an opinion on how best to dry out a wet cell phone, but the technique I like best is to remove the battery and place the phone in a bowl of uncooked white rice. The rice wicks the water from the phone. (If your phone uses a SIM card, remove it too. At least you'll have your data.)

Drying out a wet phone with a hair dryer is often a first impulse, but heat can damage the phone even more. For more ideas on drying, from using silica gel to halogen lamps, see Wikihow.


Sleep through the alarm clock?

OK, this one will cost you a cheap wineglass.( who would actually do that!) Break the stem and put your phone inside. The glass amplifies the sound. This one (and photo) come courtesy of Lifehacker.



Need a filter for your camera flash?

Cell phones demand that you get up close and personal when you take a photo, and often the flash will wash the color right out of your subject. To diffuse the flash, use a white coffee filter to make an impromptu filter. I tear the bottom off the cone and put the ruffles around my phone like one of those doggie flea collars.



DVDs with scratches
A lengthy discussion at Lifehacker compared techniques for getting through a movie when your DVD is scratched. The consensus called for either furniture polish or car wax. Apparently the wax fills the scratch and you can watch the movie without missing a scene.

Just put a gob of the stuff right on the disk and wipe. The secret involves using a cloth like an eyeglass cleaner (not a napkin or tissue) to wipe the wax in.

I thought I saw something about peanut butter and a banana peel fixing scratches too.

If a hairdryer could harm a cell phone, then burned hair and blistered foreheads is also a common safety threat.

Problem drying electronics is the membrane switch. Each button is a little air cavity that must be completely dry. Once water gets in, switch membrane must be removed and dried.

What causes roads to dry after rain? Heat? No, airflow causes most drying. Problem with drying electronics is to get airflow of dry air. Have tried some other tricks such as putting electronics inside a vacuum bag (chamber) to repeatedly remove and release air into electronics. Eventually it will work. But too much work. Easier was to simply remove and dry the switch membrane.

Heat from a hairdryer is a perfectly normal and ideal temperature to electronics. Those who know by ignoring numbers never learned that; instead entertain their emotions rather than learn facts.

Oh, shut up. :rolleyes:

okbut ...*whispering* ...but i'm curious to know what emotions he is attributing . 'entertaining emotions' is a strange presumption. I mean does he have factual data to back his assertion up? me thinks not

This much is true - they are safety threats and are noted as such on the packaging.

WOW - what an assumption that is! Are you implying that every hairdryer has only one heat setting and that they all have this SAME setting?

What about the flow of air on each hairdryer? Are you assuming that they all have the same amount of airflow and speed? You are totally slippin.


Self fulfilling prophecy - eh?

All hairdryers do have one heat setting - a temperature that does not burn hair. I was not implying anything. Defined: a temperature to harm electronics would burn hair.

Meanwhile, air flow is not significant. Gentle air flow (ie from an air duct) or violent air flow (ie from a hurricane) does not affect an orthongonal parameter - temperature. Why is airflow from a hairdryer even mentioned? A common mistake made by those who did not learn the science; who assume more airflow means hotter.

A 'hair dryer' similar device that does burn skin is a heater for heat shrink tube. What is that device used on? Electronics. Devices too hot (dangerous) to dry hair are used in electronics manufacturing.

Hair dryer does not harm a cell phone. Mention of air flow has no significance - only possible by ignoring numbers and by not learning the underlying science.

Described is what makes drying a cell phone difficult. Hair dryer will not cause damage. But a hair dryer cannot dry where water causes failure.

Nothing was implied. Clearly stated (and not understood by classicman) is a heat setting for all hair dryers - low enough to not burn hair and skin.

I'm not in any way weighing in on what will or will not burn electronics.

But you better believe a hair dryer can burn you. I just stuck a meat thermometer in front of mine, and it reached 150 degrees Fahrenheit within about fifteen seconds.

tw--why do you deliberately and ignorantly provoke people this way?

all hairdryers have one heat setting

right. perhaps if you read the sentence like this: "all hairdryers have *at least* one heat setting" and then go on to say since they have at least one it's true to say they have one. Missing (impishly or ignorantly, whatever) the fact that most hairdryers have more than one heat setting. Man, you're just pickin a fight.

"air flow is not significant"... ok... why bother with the hair dryer at all?

nevermind... you're just pissing me off today. You should be on report.

I had a burned forehead from an overly chatty hairdresser with a hot hairdryer.

But anyway, thanks to Sky for the tips.
My only issue is that HM has a clock radio which switches on for an hour unless cancelled. I can hear it through my earplugs - on the days I am asleep when it goes off it never fails to wake me. HM will usually sleep through it. I don't want to waste a wineglass on a hopeless case :)

There are MANY different designs in hairdryers now. Some use Ceramic or ion technology, while others use the same ole wire heating element.; Either way, they are not the same and therefore there cannot be only "one setting" as you claim. There are still others made exclusively for Professional hairstylists which are not available to the general public. Some of these professional models use "tourmaline negative ions and infrared heat technology" again not the same old heating element as the one in your 1970's Conair model.

I highly question this "definition" First off you spelled it incorrectly and secondly the data provided via a quick Google search contradicts your claim. so.......there.

[Begin Emotional Outburst]So you are wrong and again spouting a bunch of shit acting like the know-it-all you aren't. Maybe you should stick to the humor. [End Emotional Outburst]

Ouch for your head SG!

but thanks . They arn't actually my tips. I saw them on a webpage and thought they were silly. I didn't know if these things actually work. I am surprise I didn't provide a link and I didn't think it would get any hobala just sink quietly to the bottom. :yelsick:

See what happens when you post emotionally without knowing the numbers, like the average times a Cellar post sinks quietly, and the square root of the total tips! :eyebrow:

How well would small electronic devices like cell phones hold up in a vacuum? When I wanted to remove nearly all trace of water from an auto A/C system prior to charging it, I used a borrowed A/C vacuum pump to evacuate the system. The extremely low pressure causes the water to vaporize and then the vapor is pumped out. Would it be feasible to dry a cell phone in a vacuum chamber; or, are there components (with internal pressure) that would rupture?

I doubt they are in cell phones, but some electronics use oil filled capacitors. I can envision a vacuum causing problems with those.

And tw, the deal with hairdryers is that you have immediate feedback from your nerve endings. They are not as hot as heat guns, but they can burn you if you hold them too close to your skin for too long. That's why it's not surprising that the one burn report above is when a hairdresser burned a customer. There's no instant feedback there.

Total number of people provoked? Zero. Total number of people who provoked themselves - apparently greater than zero. For example, classicman cannot accept that he does not comprehend the science. He confused air flow with temperature. With high school physics, he would understand his mistake. Identifying simple technical science mistakes is provoking? He cannot even requote accurately? Be entertained. With age, one gets better. An adult responds logically as Clodfobble has done. He should eventually grow so as to not provoke himself. But correcting his mistakes provokes no one.

Facts. Number from Clodfobble provided reality. Hairdryer at 150 degrees does not burn hair. 150 degrees F causes no electronics damage. To harm electronics, temperatures would burn hair. Clodfobble has responded logically – with numbers -which demonstrate why a hairdryer does not harm cellphones.

A spec defines minimum pressure levels. A vacuum cleaner would not create that low pressure. If it did, then airplane electronics in unpressurized areas were failing routinely. Then electronics shipped by air (those using unpressurized cargo holds) were being destroyed. Such damage did not occur.

Do not use an industrial vacuum pump without first consulting data sheets. Industrial vacuums may even vaporize (suck) lubricating grease out of wheels. But that is not the context. Homes owners have mild vacuum sources such as vacuum cleaners.

Cell phone is not being dried by an absolute vacuum AND the technique also was noted to be labor intensive. Better is to remove its membrane to dry out chambers. Also better is to not push a single switch (button) until water is evaporated so that water is not sucked into those chambers. But then, unlike classicman, this post provides useful information.

Where does useful information provoke anyone? Same facts (that provoke no one) contradict classicman who then gets emotional.

Hairdryer does not harm a cell phone. But neither a hairdryer nor vacuum can effectively pull water out of those membrane chambers. Problem in drying a cell phone is to get water out of membrane chambers. Those facts don't provoke adults.

You conveniently ignored the errors of your posts. It was cute, wordy and condescending again, typical of you. The whole emotional tirade joke flew right by you though didn't it T-dub? You still didn't refute one FACT that I stated, by the way. Care to try and make unequal things equal again? Or would you prefer to just admit that you are wrong and move on? I already know the answer - do you?

If that were true and if classicman was being logical (adult), then classicman would have defined those errors. tw posted no errors. But tw did this 'water removal' even in 1970 radios and in 1980 computer keyboards; before membranes were used for keyboards and buttons. Why does he know the vacuum solution is slow? Which one first did this stuff – learned before posting?

All hairdryers have one temperature setting - below what would burn hair. Temperatures well below what might harm electronics. Classicman does not admit his most basic mistake - that air flow has no relationship to temperature. Massive air flow or only 3 LPM makes no difference to temperature applied to a cellphone.

How entertaining though. I have classicman's goat. No milk for him. I guess he will not be growing up in this thread.

Dude, you're hilarious. Don't ever change. You got his goat! ha ha ha

OK, let's look at the facts. Sundae reported that she was burned by an inattentive hairdresser who kept the hairdryer on her forehead too long. I'd imagine it was a first degree burn, but I wasn't there. A first degree burn "affect only the outer layer of the skin. [It causes] pain, redness, and swelling."

According to Clodfobble's post, her meat thermometer read 150 degrees F after exposure to a hairdryer. Pork, beef, veal, lamb, and seafood are all considered cooked to "medium" when they measure 150 degrees. So a hairdryer is hot enough to cook flesh if held in place long enough.

Perhaps hair won't burn (I don't know what the number for that is) but your "blistered foreheads" (a second degree burn) are a very real possibility if you hold the hairdryer in place too long. Fortunately, virtually everyone will feel pain long before the blistering occurs, and they will remove the heat source.

Actually, I don't believe most consumer hairdryers have any temperature settings. They are controlled based on fan and heating element current. If you block the intake port at the back of the dryer, the element will get very hot, due to lack of airflow. At some point, the dryer should shut itself down as a safety feature.

If any one has a hairdryer at home please try this and report back.

HLJ - yes, mine does that, but you don't even have to block the airflow, just use it for too long. Mine is also super-cheap though, nowhere near salon quality.

Thus the link between airflow and temperature is proven.

Q.E.D.

You sorry, insensitive bastards. My sister was killed by a hairdryer, in the WTC on 9/11. But she would have lol'ed at UT's last post.

Hmmm, my hairdryer, no expensive thing, can be run on cool or hot. Is hot not a temperature? :confused:

What exactly are we arguing about again? ;)

Your sister asked for it, Flint. Running around with hairdryers as if everything were OK, as if terror weren't lurking right around the corner. No one is ready for evil, it seems, until it is sitting smack dab in front of our faces. The time is now. REPENT.

Only proven is that the problem can be perverted to get any result desired. Did you forget the perspective to pervert the problem? Does not matter whether the 130 degree air out of a hairdryer is 3 LPM or 300 LPM. That cell phone is still heated only to 130 degrees.

Does blocking airflow cause a hairdryer to become so hot as to damage a cell phone? Of course not. That hairdryer still remains in the same temperature range - below what will burn hair and well below what will harm electronics.

Did you forget the context? Classicman says a hairdryer can harm a cell phone. A claim so far from reality as to be challenged with due diligence. Will a hairdryer with a hand blocking airflow (the perverted reasoning) harm a cell phone? Of course not. Temperature still remains in the same range – below what can burn hair and well below what will damage electronics.

What would UT posted if he understood the previous discusson? "Here is a post by tw explaining that he uses a hairdryer to *locate* memory failures."

UT you changed one word because you complete did not understand or intentionally misrepresent that post. Completely obvious in that post is that heat does not damage memory - does not *cause* damage. Working in IT, then you should know such temperatures don't cause electronics damage - it should be that obvious.

A hairdryer will not cause memory hardware failure. Heat causes operational/timing/program execution failure. A 'crash' created because hardware is already completely defective even if the computer still works fine at room temperature.

Heat from a hairdryer only causes cell phone damage when myth purveyors declare it to be so.

Why completely misrepresent what that "Anatomy of a hang" discussed in Mar 2006? Intentionally misrepresenting what was posted or just did not understand a simple diagnostic technique?

You're wrong. You *do* provoke people. You're also wrong about your statement that people provoke themselves. That's ridiculous. If you can't see that, you're ignorant. If you can see that, you're a hypocrite. You talk about perverted reasoning, using it as a club to beat others with. By trying to evade the charge of provocateur you are doing exactly the same thing.

If you don't think there's a reasonable chance that someone with a wet cellphone could further damage the cellphone with a hairdryer, in addition to my previous statements, I say you suffer from a lack of imagination.

Here is a post by tw explaining that he uses a hairdryer to cause operational/timing/program execution failures in electronics.

Works fine at room temperature... great because it turns out that is the temperature at which I use my phone.

Am I going to have to find the max temp a hairdryer can output, and then set my oven to that temp and throw an old, wet cellphone in to see what happens? . . . Because I probably won't get around to that anytime soon. . . . But somebody (Mythbusters?) should do it.

While you're at it, get a pig's foot with the skin still on it, and see if the skin will blister.
http://www.camworld.com/mail/2001/09/4895C.jpg

I routinely do that with my oven anyway; but in this case I will record the results for you.

Yes, please.

Unless, of course, that cellphone has an LCD screen. Those are only rated to withstand a paltry 100 degrees. :stickpoke

CITE - I said NO SUCH THING - EVAHHHHHHHHHH When you cannot please man up & admit you were wrong - I know it would be too much for you to apologize, so I won't even suggest that.

Secondly, reread the post I made and the FACTS I stated with supporting citations. I need not repeat it for you - you try and refute the facts - I wish you luck. Have a great weekend.

classicman - read tw's user title. He is NOT kidding.

Yeah - I know - I've been around long enough. I'm just razzin him/her a bit. He/she tends to drift away from all of the fights/arguments/discussions/debates that he/she loses. I'd just respect him/her a lot more if he/she would admit he/she was/is wrong once in awhile. It would go a long way to proving he/she is actually human and not a borg.:borg:

LCDs are available in various temperature ranges. One manufacturer lists four:
-30 C to +80 C
-20 C to +70 C
-10 C to +60 C
The cheaest and least temperature sensitive is 32 F to 122 F That is operational temperature. Exceed 122 degrees and the display will not display properly until cooled. Engineers may derate that an operational temperture maybe as much as 100 F. Exceeding that limit would not cause damage. Just make the display work like an overheated computer.

Storage temperature for that cheapest LCD is 175 F . A hairdryer must heat that LCD to above 175 F to do damage. Any hairdryer that hot would also burn a scalp. No hairdryer can operate that hot.

However no specs exist for pig's foot cells. Anyone foolish enough to buy one got the number of bars they paid for. Did classicman also recommend them?

For others, it was a joke. But I would not be so facetious with classicman. For classicman, I post seriously. It is the respect he deserves.

A pig that smart, you don't want to eat all at once.