Alcohol wipes for screens

[RadicalBlue]

I bought screen protectors for both screens for my old 3ds xl and it came with what I assume are alcohol wipes, is it safe for me to use these on the screens?

Also I'm trying to get my 3ds as clean as possible, would it be okay to clean the shell, buttons, crevices etc with some alcohol on a microfiber cloth?

 

[linuxares]

Not all wipes are alcohol wipes.

 

[BigOnYa]

Also I'm trying to get my 3ds as clean as possible, would it be okay to clean the shell, buttons, crevices etc with some alcohol on a microfiber cloth?

You should never use alcohol on any electronic devices or screens. It will eat away at the paint and plastic, and ruin a screen. You would be better off with just water and maybe a drop of dishsoap if real dirty.

 

[RadicalBlue]

You should never use alcohol on any electronic devices or screens. It will eat away at the paint and plastic, and ruin a screen. You would be better off with just water and maybe a drop of dishsoap if real dirty.

Everywhere I search I seem to find different answers to this, some say they have always used alcohol to clean their 3ds and haven't gotten any issues and some post a picture of their screen completely ruined. I'm pretty torn on this but I'll probably use just these wipes and water then just to be safe.

 

[Exnor]

You should never use alcohol on any electronic devices or screens. It will eat away at the paint and plastic, and ruin a screen. You would be better off with just water and maybe a drop of dishsoap if real dirty.

This ^^

Use some sun/reading glasses cleaning solution with a soft cloth. Or just, like the above post said, water with a bit of detergent.

 

[RadicalBlue]

Not all wipes are alcohol wipes.

True! Though I just searched for these that I got and apparently the wet ones do have alcohol on them. I guess I shouldn't be using these then.

Post automatically merged: Sep 12, 2024

This ^^

Use some sun/reading glasses cleaning solution with a soft cloth. Or just, like the above post said, water with a bit of detergent.

Got it! I also bought a lens cleaner and from what I read it isn't composed of any alcohol and it is pretty much just a detergent, I'll use it instead then.
Just to be safe, the cleaner is composed of these chemicals: Anionic Surfactant, Amphoteric Surfactant, Solubilizer, Mixture of MIT/CMIT 1:3 – Methyl Isothiazolinone and Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Dye, Essence and Vehicle.

 

[Exnor]

True! Though I just searched for these that I got and apparently the wet ones do have alcohol on them. I guess I shouldn't be using these then.

Post automatically merged: Sep 12, 2024

Got it! I also bought a lens cleaner and from what I read it isn't composed of any alcohol and it is pretty much just a detergent, I'll use it instead then.
Just to be safe, the cleaner is composed of these chemicals: Anionic Surfactant, Amphoteric Surfactant, Solubilizer, Mixture of MIT/CMIT 1:3 – Methyl Isothiazolinone and Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Dye, Essence and Vehicle.

I think that's ok. As long it doesn't have any alcohol or solvent it should be fine to use.

 

[ghjfdtg]

This is not to apply screen protectors on the LCDs themselves but on the lens and on the touchscreen digitizer. That's perfectly safe even with alcohol if you are not literally pouring alcohol on it.

If you did this on the naked LCDs i would be worried because then the alcohol can creep directly into the backlight layers and ruin the LCD.

 

[Esdeath]

You would be better off with just water and maybe a drop of dishsoap if real dirty.

It also depends, many dish soaps have unwanted additives.

 

[RAHelllord]

Nintendo always recommends a clean microfiber cloth that's been dampened with some water.
For the exterior case you can use the same, and a small drop of mild handsoap to get rid of oils from your hands.

Alcohol wipes come in a bunch of different concentrations, and the higher ones can strip paint or the coating / finish on some plastics. If they're safe to use with glasses (many modern ones are made from polycarbonate - a plastic) they're generally also safe for most screens.
Nintendo generally doesn't coat their screens in anything (so far) so the wipes you got with the screen protector should be perfectly safe to use. This would be different with oleophobic or certain antiglare coatings you can find on other screens, they might be susceptible to those wipes.
But as said, Nintendo doesn't use any of that so there nothing to worry about there.

 

[RadicalBlue]

Welp, ended up using the wipes anyway and it turned out fine, the screens are intact!

 

[Kwyjor]

I bought screen protectors for both screens for my old 3ds xl and it came with what I assume are alcohol wipes

If you're not sure you can trust the wipes that come with the screen protectors, what makes you think you can trust the screen protectors..? Just sayin'.