HowTo: repair water damaged electronics

[clod booster]

im doing a how to repair wter damaged servos/escs. this is a cheap, easy, and effective way to do it.

things youll need:
WD40
clean rag

for servos:
open up the bottom of the case where the electronics are, pull out the motor and board so it is empty, spray the inside and electronics lightly with WD40 then dry off with the rag. make sure the board is completely dry before putting it back inside, close the case and seal it. for sealing i suggest plastidip or just use glue, you can also use electric tape. to seal the rubber peice where the wires go in just use some super glue.

you can do the same thing for escs, im not sure about sealing them with plastidip though.

i hope this helped anyone who was having trouble.

[mtdriver]

Sounds like a way to water proof to me, not repair...

[cvecmaxx]

he is saying that the wd40 will displace the water, but if you just jam it back into the case, it wll have no where to go.

and it isnt a shurefire thing, for me, i have found that if i DO NOT try to drive it as soon as it gets wet, i can just pop the case appart, and dry it out with a hair dryer, then let it sit for a day or two, and put it back together, it will work.

i have had my runner plus esc's submurged once for one, ant the other twice.

and i have had no problems with getting servos getting wet.

[mtdriver]

Ya, I guess that makes sense. Sounds like it would be something you would have to catch early though.

[jarheadk5]

For electronics exposed to water (fresh or salt), isopropyl alcohol (better known as "rubbing alcohol") is a far better solvent to flush water away than WD-40. Leaves no residue behind, helps any trapped water evaporate faster, and evaporates quickly itself.

And, as already mentioned; removing the power source ASAP, and not using the gear after the water exposure until it's cleaned and dried, is the best way to minimize/eliminate any chance of damage.

[scalecrawler]

the rubbing alcohol sounds like it would work better cause like he said it evaporates water very quickly, not that wd40 wont do the trick but rubbing alcohol would do it even faster.

[cvecmaxx]

i bet if you started the rubbing alcohol on fire it would get rid of the water VERY fast

[TxCruzr]

Originally Posted by cvecmaxx

i bet if you started the rubbing alcohol on fire it would get rid of the water VERY fast

Go to wally world or whatever store is in your area and in the cosmetic area they have little spray bottles for like travel and what not. Use that to spray the alcohol. Makes it easy and keeps you from soaking everything in alcyhol. And as cvecmaxx said, throw a match on it after you spray with the alcohol if you don't want to waid for it all to dry

[ColquittCustom405]

Originally Posted by mtdriver

Sounds like a way to water proof to me, not repair...

No sh*t,thanks.So all I do to fix my toasted electronics is:bust out the WD-40 and let it dry & "Wallah"?

[clod booster]

this doesnt repair it after youve already burnt it out, this helps it get dried out after its been splashed or gone under water

[Kooder]

Originally Posted by cvecmaxx

he is saying that the wd40 will displace the water, but if you just jam it back into the case, it wll have no where to go.

and it isnt a shurefire thing, for me, i have found that if i DO NOT try to drive it as soon as it gets wet, i can just pop the case appart, and dry it out with a hair dryer, then let it sit for a day or two, and put it back together, it will work.

i have had my runner plus esc's submurged once for one, ant the other twice.

and i have had no problems with getting servos getting wet.

i also had my runner esc get wet and now every time i try to run it, it starts smoking and wont work. can i fix it or is it junk?

[kerosinek]

It's probably garbage now. Thisis something that you have to jump on right away.

[Mad Scientist]

For the most part, electronics are ok with getting wet as long as there is no power source connected to them. So, this may work out fine if say, you accidentally spilled a drink on your ESC while it was sitting unconnected on your bench. But once you've "smoked" it, it is usually too late. Just drying it out won't save it.

[CoreyK]

I've had good luck with just laying them out in the sun to dry.

[John Deere]

So I can take my EVX apart since it aint working and just putting some wd-40 or the rubbing **** on there and that will fix it?

[brendan h]

sounds like an ider. but for me when i got water in my servo it went crazy tunring and going physco. so i just left i for 3days then i plug it in too see if it still works and its fine. i am still using that servo today

[USATorque55]

Originally Posted by ColquittCustom405

No sh*t,thanks.So all I do to fix my toasted electronics is:bust out the WD-40 and let it dry & "Wallah"?

I agree with you on this one. While its always nice to read a how to, this is very limited.

Depends on the water damage, obviously you won't be able to repair an esc when its melted into the chassis[my evx basically].

This is simply one way to clean out very minimal water out of an ESC.

Best thing to do, just go ahead and waterproof the stuff that you can easily. It can NEVER hurt to put your receiver in a case or balloon, even to protect against dust it'll help. Its like, when I see a guy who toasts his receiver in his nitro because he was lazy and it got splashed with nitro; all I can do is laugh.