3DS was sunk in water. What to do?

[Aether]

@rice:if there is no battery, there is no curent, hence the chance to have it dry a view hours faster than without rice doesnt really make a difference. Your still risking, if its a gadget with openings where cernels can get stuck, that small parts of rice. Silica would be great, but who has it ready at home

I've seen my sister have coffee on one laptop, and beer on another, both times she had luck (beer -> sticky keys, coffee -> "just" the keyboard, used a usb one afterwards), and some other things.
Theres also a chance that gadgets start to work and die months down the linebecause of corosion.
Its just a lot of luck and patience till youre shure its dry before retrying.

Best to be ocupied, and forget about it for now =)

 

[PyroPaperPlanes]

You put it in rice, its the good thing. Now wait like 24 hours before trying to turn it on. Let it dry. Sometimes electronics can even work after that, hey i forgot my airpods with the case in my jacket, and it survived both washing and drying machine! 😂

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You lucky ducky! I remember when my iPod Nano went in the wash. It didn't survive. Then again, it was technically on (in sleep mode) during that. Hey, it looked clean! But yeah, teenager me threw it out. :(

 

[toastybanana]

I have a DS Lite that survived a cycle through the washing machine over 10 years ago. Like others have said off immediately, battery out and dry for as long as possible. I went the extra step and took it all apart and laid the parts out above a radiator for a week. One of the LCD screens ended up with a minor smudge-like blemish but everything else is still good to this day.

 

[Aether]

You lucky ducky! I remember when my iPod Nano went in the wash. It didn't survive. Then again, it was technically on (in sleep mode) during that. Hey, it looked clean! But yeah, teenager me threw it out. :(

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Ha, there are 2 Linus Tech Tips videos where he leaves laptops out on the porch... in the rain. Both in sleep, both survived.
Its just dependant on so many factors.

 

[Aether]

I have a DS Lite that survived a cycle through the washing machine over 10 years ago. Like others have said off immediately, battery out and dry for as long as possible. I went the extra step and took it all apart and laid the parts out above a radiator for a week. One of the LCD screens ended up with a minor smudge-like blemish but everything else is still good to this day.

Click to shrink...

In those cases it would be nice if nintendo would use standard screws, and not their nintendo tri wing screws... (its lying somewhere here, if i would be in this situation again, no chance i could find it)

 

[Richter1887]

@rice:if there is no battery, there is no curent, hence the chance to have it dry a view hours faster than without rice doesnt really make a difference. Your still risking, if its a gadget with openings where cernels can get stuck, that small parts of rice. Silica would be great, but who has it ready at home

I've seen my sister have coffee on one laptop, and beer on another, both times she had luck (beer -> sticky keys, coffee -> "just" the keyboard, used a usb one afterwards), and some other things.
Theres also a chance that gadgets start to work and die months down the linebecause of corosion.
Its just a lot of luck and patience till youre shure its dry before retrying.

Best to be ocupied, and forget about it for now =)

Click to shrink...

I will leave it like this for a few days.

Tomorrow I will look into getting some silica bags and will replace the rice with them. I am not sure if it will work cause I was stupid and turned it on but hopefully it does against all odds.

I was almost done with OOT before this happened :/

 

[Siggy-P]

In my experience the only thing you can really do is wait and hope it turns back on in a few days. Rice or not.

 

[Aether]

I will leave it like this for a few days.

Tomorrow I will look into getting some silica bags and will replace the rice with them. I am not sure if it will work cause I was stupid and turned it on but hopefully it does against all odds.

I was almost done with OOT before this happened :/

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If you played with a game card, you could just finish it on a different model if it does not survive.
The saves of most 3DS games are saved on the game cartridge. If its a digital download...yeah, thats less great, maybe it is saved on the sd card.

And in regards to new 3ds'es... i asume you can find a secon dhand one for not to much if its really dead.

 

[Fularu]

If it's dead then thankfully the New2DS XL is a fantastic system and only 99$

 

[Richter1887]

If you played with a game card, you could just finish it on a different model if it does not survive.
The saves of most 3DS games are saved on the game cartridge. If its a digital download...yeah, thats less great, maybe it is saved on the sd card.

And in regards to new 3ds'es... i asume you can find a secon dhand one for not to much if its really dead.

Click to shrink...

I have it on digital. My 3DS was hacked so maybe I could find it on the memory card if this one doesn't survive.

If it's dead then thankfully the New2DS XL is a fantastic system and only 99$

Click to shrink...

I will be getting a N2DS for sure if this one doesn't work.

 

[XenIneX]

Remove battery.
Disassemble as much as practicable to get rid of trapped water.
Rice does jack-all. Airflow is your friend.
Pick a pet to sacrifice to the outer gods. A less-favored child is an acceptable substitute.

 

[Alvis]

Yeah you screwed up. If a device with no IP rating gets wet, the only sensible course of action is to turn it off, extract the battery (if possible) and not turn it on until you're 100% sure it's completely dry. The moment you turned it on, you sealed its fate. There's a chance it'll work again after removing all water but it's not likely. Sorry

 

[Pein]

That rice trick never works properly, something about is gonna stay fucked.

 

[Ghostsonplanets]

Bruh, you shouldn't have turned on op. Well, take the battery out and don't turn on anymore. If possible, open up your 3DS and let it stays on a warm place. I think from 3 days to up a week is a good timeframe of letting it drying. After that, if it's dried, try to see if it's able to turn power on. Outside of that, i think the most sensible action is taking to a technical repair shop, as there's a high chance of corrosion or some component already being damaged.

 

[Ghostsonplanets]

Also, good luck. Hopefully everything will be alright. 3DS prices have been shooting up lately(As the production ended) and having a backup unit is sensible.

 

[Magic-Man]

Cry.

 

[Richter1887]

Guys...

I just tried it and it turned on. I left it for a couple of days as planned and now it is turning on. Right after turning it on I turned it off. What should I do next? I thought about trying it out for a few hours and see if it works fine but I wanted to be sure I am not doing something that could screw it up further.

What do you guys think? I am happy it turned on but I still feel scared of using it.

 

[PyroPaperPlanes]

Guys...

I just tried it and it turned on. I left it for a couple of days as planned and now it is turning on. Right after turning it on I turned it off. What should I do next? I thought about trying it out for a few hours and see if it works fine but I wanted to be sure I am not doing something that could screw it up further.

What do you guys think? I am happy it turned on but I still feel scared of using it.

Click to shrink...

Fantastic news! If you want to be thorough, you could take it apart to check if there's any corrosion or looks amiss. If you're not in a rush to play it, leave it turned off for a few more days just to be 100% sure it's dry.

 

[Spacejaws]

I had this with my 3DS XL when it went in the wash.

Wiped it down with a towel and stupidly tried to turn it on and it worked for a split second then the screen went all pink and digitised and I shit myself.

Turned it off, left it unfolded and placed it out in the open close to a window. Tried again 2 days later and it still works 3 years later.

 

[Richter1887]

Fantastic news! If you want to be thorough, you could take it apart to check if there's any corrosion or looks amiss. If you're not in a rush to play it, leave it turned off for a few more days just to be 100% sure it's dry.

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Thanks.

I will have to look into how easy it is to take it apart. I did tear apart a couple of PSPs before and if it is as easy as them then I will do it.

I had this with my 3DS XL when it went in the wash.

Wiped it down with a towel and stupidly tried to turn it on and it worked for a split second then the screen went all pink and digitised and I shit myself.

Turned it off, left it unfolded and placed it out in the open close to a window. Tried again 2 days later and it still works 3 years later.

Click to shrink...

Good to hear.

This is just like what happened to me. The model is a N3DS XL so it is close too.

I am really happy it seems to be working fine. Will keep it off for a few days to be sure.

 

[xendless]

Good to hear it's working
I spilled cranberry juice all over my original 3DS. Worked after drying out, but the d-pad is permanently gross and sticky underneath

 

[PyroPaperPlanes]

Good to hear it's working
I spilled cranberry juice all over my original 3DS. Worked after drying out, but the d-pad is permanently gross and sticky underneath

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That could probably be fixed if you took it apart and use isopropylific alcohol with a toothbrush to clean it.

 

[xendless]

That could probably be fixed if you took it apart and use isopropylific alcohol with a toothbrush to clean it.

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Ah yeah, but I actually spilled it whilst transferring stuff off it onto my 2DSXL, so I'm not about to need it anytime soon

 

[Deleted member 5621]

I have it on digital. My 3DS was hacked so maybe I could find it on the memory card if this one doesn't survive.

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FYI: backed up digital saves are on the SD but in encrypted format so it's a mess copying them over for safety purposes (and it's specially messy with specific games like Pokemon) - and can't be transferred to a different machine unless you do a whole system transfer (something that wouldn't be possible if your 3DS died).

If you are in CFW, I highly recommend making manual backups with a homebrew like Checkpoint or JKSM. Those you can easily copied over to your PC, have proper names (instead of random number IDs), restored at any time using the homebrew itself, and more easily be decrypted to transfer between different systems - plus it allows backing up saves from carts too.

 

[Richter1887]

FYI: backed up digital saves are on the SD but in encrypted format so it's a mess copying them over for safety purposes (and it's specially messy with specific games like Pokemon) - and can't be transferred to a different machine unless you do a whole system transfer (something that wouldn't be possible if your 3DS died).

If you are in CFW, I highly recommend making manual backups with a homebrew like Checkpoint or JKSM. Those you can easily copied over to your PC, have proper names (instead of random number IDs), restored at any time using the homebrew itself, and more easily be decrypted to transfer between different systems - plus it allows backing up saves from carts too.

Click to shrink...

Thanks for the information.

My 3DS is working again but I am letting it rest for a few days more just to be sure. Once I do turn it on I will install the hombrew programs you mentioned just to be sure I have them if it kicks the bucket.

 

[zoodoo]

I once went to an automated car wash, sat in the car and painfully watched my phone (that I forgot on the hood) being washed for like 8 mins. It was torture. Got home and put it in a bag of rice for 2 days. 2 years later phone is still working like a champ. So hope is not lost OP.

 

[PyroPaperPlanes]

Ah yeah, but I actually spilled it whilst transferring stuff off it onto my 2DSXL, so I'm not about to need it anytime soon

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Makes sense. The only danger of leaving it alone is it might lead to corrosion over time.

 

[SpitfireKit]

People still believe the rice thing?!

 

[Filipus]

People still believe the rice thing?!

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?
All you need to do is dry it. Rice absorbs humidity pretty well. What is wrong with that?

 

[FrakEarth]

I jumped in a pool with a camera in my pocket once... it wasn't on at the time and I put it out to dry. I got impatient, turned it on and something just went pop and the screen died - but it otherwise survived. Absolute patience is key if you're going to try and dry it.

 

[XenIneX]

?
All you need to do is dry it. Rice absorbs humidity pretty well. What is wrong with that?

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It really doesn't. At best, rice mildly buffers the ambient humidity. A fan to keep air moving would do way more to promote drying.

Actual desiccants will pull humidity way down, which creates the humidity gradient you'd need to promote drying things out.

 

[CONCHOBAR]

At this point, if it works it works and if it doesn't it doesn't. Nintendo's consoles might be durable but they don't have great water resistance. Not sure there's much that can be done if the damage is severe enough to hamper operation. If you've got it powering on it might be wise to transfer to a new console ASAP.

 

[Phendrana]

Honestly...don't get your hopes up. You trying to turn it on so quickly has really lowered the chances that it works.

This happened to me before. A few drops of water fell on my 3DS touchscreen overnight. After a few days in rice it turned on, but the touch screen was absolutely fucked. It was barely and inconsistently responsive, and guess what is required for the system transfer? Touch-exclusive inputs! Thankfully I was lucky and it at least somewhat worked, but it took me HOURS and HOURS of poking super hard at the screen to finally start the transfer to my New 3DS XL.

 

[808s & Villainy]

Rice up

Click to shrink...

 

[Perzeval]

Dunk it in water again, that bastard will have to speak up eventually!

 

[Filipus]

It really doesn't. At best, rice mildly buffers the ambient humidity. A fan to keep air moving would do way more to promote drying.

Actual desiccants will pull humidity way down, which creates the humidity gradient you'd need to promote drying things out.

Click to shrink...

But it does. It isn't a point of comparing it to better options (which there are a ton, even in terms of food), it's about the fact if rice works to dry electronics or not. Unless you are living in Hawaii or other really humid environments and your closed environment is already humid, rice will 100% dry electronics after a few days in a closed space (like a zipbag or some other container). "At best, rice mildly buffers the ambient humidity" is a weird statement when it's so easy to try it out, just get some rice and something wet and see the results.

Drying things with rice is not a myth and I'm confused why people even doubt it. Feel free to prove me wrong, I'm just so sure about it because I've tested it myself. But I'm more than willing to read whatever you send my way and be proven wrong, I love to learn :)

 

[Dogui]

For clarification, you put it on rice for 2 days, or put it on rice for some time, took it off the rice and left it alone for 2 days?

I don't think bottle water will kill your 3DS unless you're really unlucky. I was doing the dishes one of these days when my incredibly cheap phone fell into a tupperware full of water (For some seconds, 2 or 3, dunno) and it's working 100%.

 

[XenIneX]

But it does. It isn't a point of comparing it to better options (which there are a ton, even in terms of food), it's about the fact if rice works to dry electronics or not. Unless you are living in Hawaii or other really humid environments and your closed environment is already humid, rice will 100% dry electronics after a few days in a closed space (like a zipbag or some other container). "At best, rice mildly buffers the ambient humidity" is a weird statement when it's so easy to try it out, just get some rice and something wet and see the results.

Drying things with rice is not a myth and I'm confused why people even doubt it. Feel free to prove me wrong, I'm just so sure about it because I've tested it myself. But I'm more than willing to read whatever you send my way and be proven wrong, I love to learn :)

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Or, you could just Google it and see that it's been tested, and that a bag of rice is actually less effective than open-air drying.

OBSERVATIONS

The sponge sealed in an empty container lost the least weight at just 0.7ml. The lost water was visibly condensed on the container's lid. Silica gel was the best-performing drying agent, losing 6.1 ml, followed by cat litter at 5.5 ml. Uncooked white rice was the worst, with just 4.0 ml of water loss in 24 hours. The instant rice, instant couscous and instant oatmeal all performed nearly identically, losing 5.0 ml.

The open-air sponge outperformed the others by a wide margin, losing 7.6 ml during the test. The ambient temperature during this test was 71 degrees with a relative humidity of 40%.

[...]

Why was open air better than silica gel?

In the containers full of drying agents, the air serves as an intermediate medium, absorbing the water from the sponge and depositing it into the drying agent. Ideally the drying agent should absorb moisture quickly enough to drive the moisture content of the air well below ambient humidity. This pocket of dry air would result in accelerated evaporation from the sponge. However, if the drying agent cannot absorb moisture quickly enough, the air in the container will become humid and evaporation will slow.

In the open air scenario, the water contained by the sponge is absorbed and carried away by the ambient air. Because the air supply is virtually limitless, the moisture from the sponge cannot drive up the ambient humidity as it does in the enclosed scenario. The rate of evaporation should, therefore, remain fairly constant.

In our tests, the drying agents were evidently unable to create a pocket of drier-than-ambient air. Consequently the open-air sponge lost more water weight than the sponges treated with drying agents.

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If you want to dry something set it out on a paper towel. If you want to dry it faster, put it in front of a fan. Forced air circulation is vastly more effective at conveying moist air away than natural processes, for the same reason why every substantially heat-producing appliance uses fans for cooling. And there's no need for the weird food-sponge, because you have an entire building full of dry air to work with.

 

[CRIMSON-XIII]

General tip, if you get something wet, don't turn it on until you think it is fully dry. Perhaps the next day.

 

[Leo]

I recovered my iPod nano that went into the washer for a full cycle with a vacuum cleaner. I put the vacuum in contact with the charger slot and turned it on max, it eventually sucked all of the water that was stuck on the screen and it worked for a good amount of years after that.

Of course the iPod is much smaller than a 3ds, but maybe that's worth a try.

 

[Akira86]

People still believe the rice thing?!

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because it works?

(for soaking up moisture, it doesn't fix fried electronics, obviously. maybe that was your problem.)

 

[Creepy Woody]

Put it in a container of rice for a few days and good luck, worth a shot.

Worked on my Pokewalker I left in my pants in the wash twice.

 

[Stat]

Sorry, unforutnately it looks like the 3DS might be done for. I think turning it on might've killed it there. I suppose you could try a last ditch attempt to bury it in rice/silica packets for a week. Otherwise, pour one out for the old fella, and remember the good times. :(

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Agreed but don't pour one out onto the 3ds.

 

[werezompire]

We had a big tropical storm here a few weeks ago and the ambient humidity really did a number on my 3DS - touchscreen flipping out, that kind of thing. I left the system alone for a while and now it seems to work normally again.

The same storm also apparently fried my Vita's power charger and it's a 1st gen Vita so it requires a proprietary charger. Thinking about just buying a Vita-2000 but new ones are super expensive now and I'm not sure how reliable a used one will be.

 

[Richter1887]

Honestly...don't get your hopes up. You trying to turn it on so quickly has really lowered the chances that it works.

This happened to me before. A few drops of water fell on my 3DS touchscreen overnight. After a few days in rice it turned on, but the touch screen was absolutely fucked. It was barely and inconsistently responsive, and guess what is required for the system transfer? Touch-exclusive inputs! Thankfully I was lucky and it at least somewhat worked, but it took me HOURS and HOURS of poking super hard at the screen to finally start the transfer to my New 3DS XL.

Click to shrink...

I sent it to a friend to check it out (inside and all) and they say it is fine. I played a bit Zelda to see if it is working and thankfully whatever water came to the 3DS didn't go fully inside (just a small amount went inside). It is working just fine during my test. Things like gyro, sound, touch screen etc are fine.

For clarification, you put it on rice for 2 days, or put it on rice for some time, took it off the rice and left it alone for 2 days?

I don't think bottle water will kill your 3DS unless you're really unlucky. I was doing the dishes one of these days when my incredibly cheap phone fell into a tupperware full of water (For some seconds, 2 or 3, dunno) and it's working 100%.

Click to shrink...

I wiped it then panic set in and I turned it on (really stupid move) then I put it on the rice and made the thread. I left it for two days then got curious and turned it on and it worked fine.

I was really lucky it didn't fry.

 

[Filipus]

Or, you could just Google it and see that it's been tested, and that a bag of rice is actually less effective than open-air drying.




If you want to dry something set it out on a paper towel. If you want to dry it faster, put it in front of a fan. Forced air circulation is vastly more effective at conveying moist air away than natural processes, for the same reason why every substantially heat-producing appliance uses fans for cooling. And there's no need for the weird food-sponge, because you have an entire building full of dry air to work with.

Click to shrink...

I'm so confused why you just posted an article that shows how rice works and then procced to say him wrong. My first sentence is this

"But it does. It isn't a point of comparing it to better options (which there are a ton, even in terms of food), it's about the fact if rice works to dry electronics or not. "

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Yes there are better options, but that doesn't mean rice doesn't work. The article even says

In our tests, the drying agents were evidently unable to create a pocket of drier-than-ambient air. Consequently the open-air sponge lost more water weight than the sponges treated with drying agents. However, this does not prove that the drying agents are incapable of outperforming open air under the right circumstances. Our tests used just 100 grams of each substance and the containers could have held considerably more.

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This is specially important, since in their test air humidity was 40% and 70 deegres. Well, the average in my country is 75%, almost double, so air drying by itself wouldn't work as well now would it?

Electronics will 100% dry if you leave them in a pack of rice for some days. I love to learn, I don't love your condescending "You could just Google".