New 3ds xl water damaged, not charging.

64bitmodels · May 27, 2026

I was sitting on a bus station in the rain when I accidentally knocked my 3ds into a rain puddle. I was going to trade school and unfortunately I wasn't aware of what to do when dealing with water damaged electronics, so I turned it on to see if it worked. I also wouldn't be able to get it home until 3 hours later.

I'm at home..the device works but it can't charge. I already had this problem a couple of months ago and I fixed it with a new charger, however with this water damage I'm pretty sure it's a system issue snd I don't think I can fix this easily if at all thanks to my gross mishandling of the problem. Should I sell it for parts? Can I get someone to identify and swap the malfunctioning parts?
Please let me know as N3DS prices are not good on eBay at the moment.

Kwyjor · May 27, 2026

64bitmodels said:
Can I get someone to identify and swap the malfunctioning parts?

That kind of depends on you and what part of the world you're in, does it not..?

64bitmodels · May 27, 2026

Kwyjor said:
That kind of depends on you and what part of the world you're in, does it not..?

USA

IC · May 27, 2026

It's not unlikely that it's just one of the microfuses on the motherboard that got blown, after a short-circuit caused by the liquid. There could still be liquid residue and electrocorrosion inside, so, the entire motherboard should be taken out of the 3DS for inspection and cleaning.
The microfuse is a tiny and cheap part, and not too hard to replace, but it requires micro-soldering experience. If you've never done micro-soldering before, I wouldn't recommend attempting it. And it could also be a more complex issue, such as a damaged charging controller chip.

It's likely that it's a pretty simple repair, but if you haven't done repairs like this in the past, it's better not to attempt it yourself, since you can make it worse. Electronic repair shops on the other hand might scam you and charge too much money, or not even know what to do with a 3DS. Maybe you can find someone who'll be able to diagnose and fix the issue.
Good luck.

Kwyjor · May 27, 2026

64bitmodels said:
USA

So, you're expecting someone to say, "Smilin' Jim lives in USA, so just pop on over and have him take a look"..?

Unless you want to be a lot more precise, you're going to have to look around and see for yourself what sort of businesses are in the area and make inquiries about what they can do. Around here there are lots of places advertising cell phone repair; I expect those would be a good starting point.

New 3ds xl water damaged, not charging.

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