Radius CP200- Orange or Amber light

[FWAPAH]

Today at work, my Motorola Radius CP200 slipped out of my hand and landed facedown in a puddle approximately 1/2" deep. I rescued it immediately and it worked fine but about 10 minutes later I noticed an orange light was on. This is present whether the radio is on or off. I replaced the battery and tried drying it out with a blow dryer, with no luck.

My boss is pretty upset, so I'd really appreciate any advice on what may have happened to my beloved radio (and how I can revive it)!

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[TampaTyron]

Liquid Damaged

Your radio is liquid damaged and is not economical to repair. Sorry for the bad news, happens all of the time. TampaTyron

 

[zackman1801]

Does the radio work correctly aside from the light?
The light alteast on my Cp200 only signifies that we have had an emergency call ( firefighter/ems) and really means very little. Unless you need the orange light for a part of your job then i would say keep the radio and keep on using it. If it has problems aside from that i would replace it, but if not why worry about it?

 

[Baylink]

Well, for next time, if not this, whenever you drop an electronic device in the drink, first, *GET THE BATTERY OFF*.

Next (and you'll get many different approaches to this), put it in a ziploc bag with about half a cup of uncooked rice, zip it shut, and put it out in the sun all day. Change the rice at least once, and on the third day, pull it out and try it.

Your odds are 50/50, and depend a lot on the equipment.

I've successfully rescued a Blackberry 7100i from the washing machine, and a Motorola Dynatac that fell in a swimming pool, using that approach.

Get it out fast, and pull the battery immediately; those are the two most important items.

 

[RodStrong]

Never heard of the "rice" method, lol. I wondered if the radio was gonna sprout leaves for a second when reading your "recipe".


Back in 1986-ish, I dropped a HT90 in about two feet of water. It was under for maybe 5 seconds.

I took the battery off and ran it under a hand dryer in a bathroom for a while.

Worked like a charm. Got lucky I guess.

 

[Baylink]

Uncooked white rice is *stupidly* hygroscopic; that's why people put it in salt shakers. The heat will vaporize the water, and the rice will suck it up.

 

[davidgcet]

the water is not the problem, it is the contaminants in the water. water evaporates away clean, but teh minerals stay there and continue to damage. we use distilled water to rinse off the boards of any water damaged equipment, then spray them good with electronics cleaner, then a rinse with delubricant, then under a heat lamp to dry. if you are lucky and removed the battery soon enough, there is maybe a 25% chance of saving the equipment. the problem is the minerals get all under the small ICs and you will never get them all out. electricity will make the crystals grow, and soon the whole area has a fine coating on it and the board fails. i always recommend to replace and not repair water damage, and if the customer insists on a repair it has ZERO warranty even if it fails as soon as they touch it they owe for the first repair.

so sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don't. it all depends on how bad the intrusion and how quickly remove power and treat the boards.

 

[Baylink]

Only distilled?

I had to wash McDonalds' orange out of a laptop once, and I opted for deionised water.

And certainly, failing to take the unit apart and clean it up can come back to haunt you. But sometimes it's not practical.

And, of course, even non-immersion proof commercial gear is less likely to let the water in far enough to do lots of damage, if you grab it back out promptly.

 

[davidgcet]

just distilled is all that matters, so long as it is pure water it won't leave residue.

i've saved my cell phone after it went in the lake just by removing the battery and sitting it on the dash where the heat of the sun dried it rapidly, that don't take long on a 100F day. then again, i have killed other phones just sweating thru the earpiece.