Water damaged N900. (Melted my camera) :-D
 

I was at a camp this week and brought my N900 along. I was really impressed with the battery life, and was having a great time.
One evening there was a water event planned, and as I dont like getting wet, I decided to stay away from that area, and talk to the other dry people. This plan worked fine until a "friend" decided that I wasn't wet, and that I needed to join the "fun" :confused:

After she sloshed a cup full of water all over the back of my neck, I took my N900 out of my top pocket, reprimanded her, and cared for my phone.

The screen was wet, but that didn't seem to be a problem as the screen needs to take a lot of muck safely. The keyboard was dry, and the only other bit of visible water was a single drop near the usb port. I wiped all the water off and began reprimanding my "friend" for endangering my precious phone. :mad:

After about 5 minutes i started smelling something strange. my geek nose correctly identified it as burning electronics, but I didn't think of my phone, and instead started looking over one of the vending machines near me.

About 2 minutes later I heard the panicked "Battery very low, shutting down NOW" sound. :eek: I knew I had ~75% battery and realized that my top pocket was VERY hot. Pulling out the phone I found the origin of the strange smell. I took the back cover off and yanked the battery out, and began to look at the damage. The camera module was at the center of the blaze and the lens seemed to be off center from the outer rig, and slightly mottled, as melted plastic generally looks like. :p

I let it dry for 2 days before I even dared to turn it on.
It booted fine, and I almost had to do a Tagon Happy Dance for joy. Upon checking everything I found that almost everything was working fine, and I had almost 50% left in the battery. (that means it used about 25% in 5 minutes.)
The time had reset, probably from having no battery, and most importantly, the camera was shot.
http://www.glowfoto.com/viewimage.ph...=2010&srv=img4

As you can see from this wonderful picture of a bare lightbulb, there seems to be some slight interference in the camera. :o



So to sum up my wall of text:
-I got splashed with water, and the water running down my shirt doused my N900.
-The only part of the phone looking wet was the screen, so I didn't pay enough attention to it.
-Something in or around the camera module overheated to around 400° melting the focusing element, and smoking up the lens.

My questions are:

Warranty???
Is the camera module replaceable?
Any idea cow much a replacement part would cost?
How about sending it out for repairs?

Wild_Doogy

Re: Water damaged N900. (Melted my camera) :-D
 

I suggest showing the damage to your friend. There are two objectives:

1. To make her aware of the hazards and impact her action had on you. High temperatures is no joking matter.
2. To talk about how much you would appreciate her assistance in recovering the incident.

At minimum, you'll get an apology (and hopefully never another dunk in the drink). In the best-case scenario, you'll get compensated.

Good luck!

Re: Water damaged N900. (Melted my camera) :-D
 

warranty that thing

Re: Water damaged N900. (Melted my camera) :-D
 

That's exactly what I did promptly after taking out the battery.



Really think it will go through?

Re: Water damaged N900. (Melted my camera) :-D
 

Warranty wont cover it, if its water damaged. But it's worth a go, a phone doing that pretty much is a big danger..what if it blew up in your pocket and burned you? You'd have a big case against nokia :P

Re: Water damaged N900. (Melted my camera) :-D
 

im sure theyll know it got wet tho

Re: Water damaged N900. (Melted my camera) :-D
 

Haha, that was actual my first thought:
"Oh crap, Lithium ion burns at 3K degrees!!"

Re: Water damaged N900. (Melted my camera) :-D
 

yeah just don't mention it getting wet, they might just fix it. it's not like they mention all the stuff that isn't working properly on the phone when they sell it to us either...

Re: Water damaged N900. (Melted my camera) :-D
 

maybe the guy repairing it isn't paid well enough to give a ****
plus, what if you just sweat a lot? i'd say it may have got a bit "damp" but things shouldn't be exploding in your pocket unless they ****ed up the design

what if i put the phone down on a wet counter? is it going to melt through the table? they better fix it, not lecture you. ask them nicely first, but i think you know what to do if they refuse.

Re: Water damaged N900. (Melted my camera) :-D
 

Water damage sucks big time, my advice, if you haven't already done this - keep your phone (turned off) in a nice warm place for a few days to dry out, see if that makes a difference.

If not, take it to Nokia, tell them what happened and see what they say. Sometimes you get lucky and they do things under warranty, sometimes you have to pay. Best policy is just to be honest. We are all human, we respond well to good experience, you don't catch a break this time, well, maybe next time.

The camera module itself is not terribly expensive, I'm not sure what country you live in, but for me it's about $70 USD give or take $20.

Re: Water damaged N900. (Melted my camera) :-D
 

I would also try the Nokia warranty without mentioning the water incident, just tell them you felt the phonw warm up and smelled something burning, and after investigating the problem, you found out that the camera melted! lol

Good luck man and sorry to hear about this.. hey at least you took it well and you're not freakin out... :)

Re: Water damaged N900. (Melted my camera) :-D
 

A note from my experience.
Due to the high temp your phone suffered there's a chance phone "motherboard" could be hurt. So I strongly advice you to go to the warranty service. Even if they refuse to repair under warranty,you've better ask for expertise to check whether other elements are fine.

As a tip, at the very first moment water comes inside the phone immideatly pull the battery off and leave the phone to dry out.Pulling is essential because there is a possibility of short circut. Other than that there can be corrosion inside.

Re: Water damaged N900. (Melted my camera) :-D
 

isnt there water 'sensors' inside phones?

Re: Water damaged N900. (Melted my camera) :-D
 

I would try to warranty. If they refuse it, they will tell you how much it will cost to fix.

Not sure where you would find a camera module. I only know of one shop that sells a variety of n900 parts, and they don't have it. Possibly places I don't know about, or you might get lucky ebay. And then you also need a special tool.

Also a chance other parts of the phone are screwed up too. You can replace the camera, turn the phone back on and watch it burn out again right away.

Outside of that, you are able to get the camera and the tool, replacing it would be very easy. But replacing the camera module, and repairing a water damaged phone are 2 different things.

Personally, I would just buy a new n900, then try to get your old one fixed. Then sell it as a working n900, or broken n900 depending on the outcome.

Re: Water damaged N900. (Melted my camera) :-D
 

hi have you been able to source parts or get repaired as i have same problem was fishing and caught a fish but n900 dropped into pool .retrived n900 dried out in sunshine but when putting battery back in turned on automatically and with not having back cover on camera switched on ,removed battery straight away and heard n900 sizzling and smell of burning now got all functions back up and working on trusty n900 but camera lens has now got internal marking on right hand side so all pictures are blotched on one side.I would like to get repaired or if possible buy replacement part and attempt soliding onto pcb .Let me know how you have got on cheers fella

Re: Water damaged N900. (Melted my camera) :-D
 

hi have you been able to source parts or get repaired as i have same problem was fishing and caught a fish but n900 dropped into pool .retrived n900 dried out in sunshine but when putting battery back in turned on automatically and with not having back cover on camera switched on ,removed battery straight away and heard n900 sizzling and smell of burning now got all functions back up and working on trusty n900 but camera lens has now got internal marking on right hand side so all pictures are blotched on one side.I would like to get repaired or if possible buy replacement part and attempt soliding onto pcb .Let me know how you have got on cheers fella

Re: Water damaged N900. (Melted my camera) :-D
 

there are water "stickers" that will show, but it doesnt sound like you got much on it.


under the face of the slider, the components are pretty available to elements...so it could have very well got in there.

if you have ever cracked a phone, then you would know right away if water damaged or not...but maybe you got lucky and a drop or two got to some vital area, causing a short by connecting two or more beads....and *poof*, a short, shorted your camera...


the good news, it still boots, meaning no major short term damage.


for future reference, anytime your phone ever gets close to water where you are splashed or you "think" there is only a drop...remember, just because you see one roach...doesnt mean there is only one.

immediately take the battery out until you can be sure the water is dryed.

you can take your phone, the battery, and backing and one of those dry packing packets you get in dryed food, and then place them in a tub of rice, half buried, the packet on the top of the rice and the tub needs to be topped off and sealed.

leave it there for at least 1 day in a warm area, if not 2 days.

then it should be fine.


more important then the water, is the current...as the water creates bridges between the beads and puts more or less, or the wrong volume of current to components...shorting the.

and, in the end, you will still most likely end up with rust.