Low-Tech answers to high-tech problems

[skysidhe]

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.

[tw]

Originally Posted by skysidhe

Drying out a wet phone with a hair dryer is often a first impulse, but heat can damage the phone even more.

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.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by tw

Those who know by ignoring numbers never learned that; instead entertain their emotions rather than learn facts.

Oh, shut up.

[skysidhe]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Oh, shut up.

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

[classicman]

Originally Posted by tw

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

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

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.

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.

Originally Posted by tw

Those who know by ignoring numbers never learned that; instead entertain their emotions rather than learn facts.

Self fulfilling prophecy - eh?

[tw]

Originally Posted by classicman

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?

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.

[Clodfobble]

Originally Posted by tw

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.

[BigV]

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.

[Sundae]

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

[classicman]

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.

Originally Posted by tw

Blah, blah, blah ...does not affect an orthongonal(sp) parameter - temperature.

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]

[skysidhe]

Originally Posted by Sundae Girl

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

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.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by skysidhe

snip~ I didn't think it would get any hobala just sink quietly to the bottom.

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!

Originally Posted by tw

... 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. ...

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?

[glatt]

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.

[tw]

Originally Posted by BigV

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

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.