GoPro Hero 2 Water Accident Repair

scottellis88

Hi

Was on a ride in the Peak District last wednesday and had an accident with my camelbak hose and it resulted in spraying water onto and into the GoPro casing flooding my camera... at the minute it does nothing, i left it drying it out for a few days and the only time i see life is if i plug it into the mains for charging and i get a strong red light but nothing else.
Note: it was fresh clean water, not mixed with anything so i would of thought once dried it may be ok. OBV NOT

Does anyone know of any places i can send it for repair... ive only had it about a month and i really dont want to have to buy another soon soon.

Thanks
Goodnight and Godbless
Scott

lesz42

maybe here?

http://www.hedcamz.com/

cooldad

Get a load of silica gel packets and put it in a plastic bag with them, leave a few days and try again.

YeehaaMcgee

cooldad wrote:

Get a load of silica gel packets and put it in a plastic bag with them, leave a few days and try again.

^^What he says.
It can take an age to dry out, but there's a good chance there's no permanent damage, since the voltages inside the camera will be very low.
If you haven't got any silica gel packets, stick it in some dry rice, and stick it in an airing cupboard, or near (but not on) a radiator.
It can take a while.

cooldad

And afterwards you can make a curry. With the rice, not the silica.

One 80

id be shocked if it still works after drying out. im no expert but iv never had success with phones getting wet and giving them time to dry. usually the water ruins something or shorts it i would think.

cooldad

Depends. Water doesn't actually cause any damage if it's clean. Powering up whilst wet causes shorts.
Let it dry properly and you'd be suprised.

One 80

cooldad wrote:

Depends. Water doesn't actually cause any damage if it's clean. Powering up whilst wet causes shorts.
Let it dry properly and you'd be suprised.

hope it works for you then because it probably cost a lot of cash

cooldad

One 80 wrote:

cooldad wrote:

Depends. Water doesn't actually cause any damage if it's clean. Powering up whilst wet causes shorts.
Let it dry properly and you'd be suprised.

hope it works for you then because it probably cost a lot of cash

What works for me? It's not my camera. But what I'm suggesting isn't going to cause any damage.

goldeneyedmonkey

I've heard that rice in a bag is good as well, but make sure you haven't tried to power it up. Also if you can (providing it's not built in) you should replace the battery. There is also a pouch you can buy that I saw tested on the Gadget Show? T3.com? not sure, but I seem to remember it worked well. They're only £15 so worth a try maybe.

Save a phone rescue kit.

Good luck mate. _Dan.

Chris`I

goldeneyedmonkey wrote:

There is also a pouch you can buy that I saw tested on the Gadget Show? T3.com? not sure, but I seem to remember it worked well. They're only £15 so worth a try maybe.

Save a phone rescue kit.

Good luck mate. _Dan.

Basically a pouch with Silica sachets in it. Might as well save £13 and do it yourself. Only benefit of the kit is that it has a nifty "dry indicator" so you know when you can take it out. But also as explained above, if you've turned it on before its completely dry they you may get a short and nuke it. Hopefully when the OP plugged it in, it didnt kill it.

The No 1 thing with water damage is to kill power to it ASAP and leave it to dry for a good few days in an airing cupboard with either Silica or rice in a sealed container.

scottellis88

it was actually switched on when this happened. i didnt switch it off for a while as i didnt think it got inside the case. i left it drying out for so long but still no good and batt tests fine. got in touch with gopro they told me it costs more to repair than to buy a new one, also they said the warrenty wont cover for water damage as i imagined. but they did say if i send it in they will give me 50% off a new one. but still thats 50% for 249.99 not including tax and postage to and from america

cooldad

Have you tried anything apart from just leaving it, otherwise I'd expect it to take a lot longer to dry properly.

YeehaaMcgee

cooldad wrote:

Have you tried anything apart from just leaving it, otherwise I'd expect it to take a lot longer to dry properly.

^^This. It can take about a month.

cooldad

While stuff corrodes inside.

scottellis88

no, i may just leave it in the airing cupboard a bit longer. maybe my luck might change

damianboon

If any one is interested these guys do GoPro repairs at affordable prices

http://www.repairsuk.co.uk/gopro/

mariannakapetanou

I just fixed a water damaged gopro hero2 by disassambling it, dipping to distilled water, then to isopropanol, then to 12% acetic acid and letting dry overnight in the oven at 30-40oC with air. I am so excited it worked again thanx for the info everyone!

codfather

You waited two years to return to this thread to post a different link?

Clockworkmark31

Halfway through a reply until I seen the date DUH.