Garmin 500 currently in the washing machine !!!

RDB66

Dont forget to Upload its washing machine cycle onto Strava !! Could be interesting !! :shock:

p1tse

Put it on charge as it looked like it dried out, but it still not

Still not power it up by turning on yet though

Pics to come

p1tse

Hard to take picture

But cloudy mist on edge and moisture marks at top



Back in the airing cupboard

nuggiebok

Just in case, I was watching a Garmin 500 on ebay that ended tonight, £109 including a lot of accessories...

Initialised

bigaac wrote:

Initialised wrote:

I've repaired all of the following cheaply after being dunked:

Nokia N95 dropped in a coffee
HTC Desire in the washing machine
Samsung Galaxy Nexus on a water ride at a theme park,
iPhone4, dropped down the toilet

I already feel sorry for your next phone

Why? They all still work.

Getting covered in sweat in my pockets is probably worse for it.

p1tse

Initialised wrote:

I've repaired all of the following cheaply after being dunked:

Nokia N95 dropped in a coffee while showing it off to a mate, nipped to Maplin, got some switch cleaner (isopropyl) pulled the battery and soaked it.
HTC Desire in the washing machine until I realised, stopped the machine, pulled it out, removed the battery, dried it overnight, no problems since.
Samsung Galaxy Nexus on a water ride at a theme park, pulled the battery, dried it out, power button failed, £3 part to fix it.
iPhone4, dropped down the toilet, battery failed, replaced the battery.

Enclosed batteries are a problem but it has to be that way to get an IP37 rating.

Water damage really isn't as bad as all that so long as you pull the power/battery as soon as possible.

Switch cleaner?
Can this be used electrical cleaner if opened


http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... &langId=-1

apreading

Stop charging it or trying to turn it on - NOW! Because it is 'semi' waterproof, as someone else said, once water does get in there is no way its coming out unless you open the unit. No matter how long it stays in the airing cupboard or how much rice you eat...

I think you need to open it as soon as possible to start the drying before something corrodes.

And until you do, stop putting any kind of electrical current through any part of it - this is the most likely way to kill it.

p1tse

Thanks

Down to maplins this lunch time then

buckmulligan

apreading wrote:

Stop charging it or trying to turn it on - NOW! Because it is 'semi' waterproof, as someone else said, once water does get in there is no way its coming out unless you open the unit. No matter how long it stays in the airing cupboard or how much rice you eat...

I think you need to open it as soon as possible to start the drying before something corrodes.

And until you do, stop putting any kind of electrical current through any part of it - this is the most likely way to kill it.

Yeah, this.

I suppose the good news is that the Edge 500 is extremely popular, so Google will probably throw up plenty of people who have stripped them down and advise as to whether it's 'semi-waterproofing' is likely to be compromised in the future by doing so.

Good luck!

p1tse

Got the t5 tool so will open when I get home

Also bought some contact cleaner from maplins is it safe to use?
Wasn't sure contact cleaner or electrical cleaner?

http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/maplin-contac ... 00ml-n61an

gaanrowl

id call garmin there customer service seems to be good, they might sell you a refurb model cheaper than you can get one on ebay for

p1tse

Opened it up and making sure its dry and moisture away

So charge port works

Tried to turn on and nothing
Fiddled about with it a few mins and managed to turn on, checked the other 3 buttons and the lap/reset is also temperamental and can't switch off.
Have sprayed it liberally with the contact cleaner and the power button seems to be responsive, so another blast to soak the LCD board front and back and letting it dry, so fingers crossed

If not will be asking garmin

p1tse

Think its going to be a call to garmin as it doesn't seem to work properly

littledove44

Sorry to hear that.

You have started a trend though.I managed to put my HRM through the machine today. It survived surprisingly.

Initialised

p1tse wrote:

Got the t5 tool so will open when I get home

Also bought some contact cleaner from maplins is it safe to use?
Wasn't sure contact cleaner or electrical cleaner?

http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/maplin-contac ... 00ml-n61an

Same thing, Switch Cleaner, Contact Cleaner, usually based on isopropyl so should do the job.

p1tse wrote:

Initialised wrote:

Enclosed batteries are a problem but it has to be that way to get an IP37 rating.

Water damage really isn't as bad as all that so long as you pull the power/battery as soon as possible.

Switch cleaner?
Can this be used electrical cleaner if opened


http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... &langId=-1

Just check what's in it, needs to be Isopropyl based.

p1tse

Last effort
It's currently opened up

I know the battery is fine and power is fine as it charges and have had it on, although the function buttons on the side aren't working properly so it's no use

Anyone know how much garmin charge for out of warranty repair on edge 500?

Otherwise will be scouting for a used 500 edge

Initialised

littledove44 wrote:

Sorry to hear that.

You have started a trend though.I managed to put my HRM through the machine today. It survived surprisingly.

Just remembered I left my 500 in a hoodie pocket (was riding without a mount with an FCN>10), thanks, hopefully I just bucked the trend and some final destination style chain of events whereby it gets destroyed is about to unfold. Just in case I found this guide: http://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum ... 4&t=122698 for stripping it down. Last week I replaced two iPhone batteries and one screen and I've got a Surface RT with a cracked screen coming in soon so plenty of practise when fate wields the axe.

Initialised

With the unit open like this:



Do the buttons work OK?

p1tse

The buttons have worked when opened up
But after playing a bit or coming back to it as is opened up, its temperamental and more so not working

Strange how it does seem to work at times but not all the time

Initialised

I suspect corrosion/deposits on the contacts in the switches.

Disconnect the battery, leave the PCB/Screen in rice overnight, chance are there's residue left in the switches.

With the unit still open and un powered repeatedly press/release the buttons, then blow on them, repeat a few times, reconnect the battery and see how they respond.

p1tse

Thanks worth a go

But I think its knackered

p1tse

Initialised wrote:

I suspect corrosion/deposits on the contacts in the switches.

Disconnect the battery, leave the PCB/Screen in rice overnight, chance are there's residue left in the switches.

With the unit still open and un powered repeatedly press/release the buttons, then blow on them, repeat a few times, reconnect the battery and see how they respond.

Thanks

I couldn't disconnect battery with a plastic foam stuck in place and didn't want to show it has been tampered with if returning to garmin out of warranty

So I left it over night with case off to dry in airing cupboard, power wouldn't turn on. Just checked the charger and its fine

So I BLEW over PCB and switches and pressed the on button and its on with all buttons working, for now.

Really last ditch effort with front off the rest is in bag of rice and back in airing cupboard
Will try again tonight after work after blowing on it and see how it goes

In the meantime will contact garmin to see what options are

p1tse

Update

It's working!
Thanks for all the help and input

What have I learnt?
-Not to put it through washing machine
-I would recommend opening the case to let the moisture escape as its a sealed unit
-Contact cleaner, think it helped and recommend just spraying electrical parts with it
-When it wasn't working properly, blowing at the contacts seemed to work
-Not to over tighten the bolts, as I've shread the star shape on screw
Therefore I can't loosen it to open it up again if required!

Initialised

Wow, glad that worked, maybe you'll get another 3 months out of it, maybe a few years.

Silly Old Hector

Yipee.

This is the best thread on BR - been keeping up to date like an expectant father.....

Mikey23

I'm kind of tempted to try the washing machine test with my 500, just to see what happens...

Dorset_Boy

Good news!

apreading

Glad to hear it! Good to know that they arent hard to open too - some devices can be a right pain.