Hardware I am an idiot! Spilled cleaning fluid on 3ds!

[RitchieRitchie]

If you want advice on any permanent damage or loss of long term life you should post exactly what cleaning fluid you spilled on it. The chemical composition will allow technical people to advise whether it will all just evaporate, be innocuous or corrosive long term.

Hi,

Thanks for taking the time to reply. It was an all purpose cleaner from Morrisons. On the back it says it contains: less than 5% non-ionic surfactants, methylisothiazolinone, benzisothiazolinone, perfume, limonene.

Does that help?

cheers,

rr

 

[gallymimu]

Hi,

Thanks for taking the time to reply. It was an all purpose cleaner from Morrisons. On the back it says it contains: less than 5% non-ionic surfactants, methylisothiazolinone, benzisothiazolinone, perfume, limonene.

Does that help?

cheers,

rr

Sadly I'm not a chemist but an engineer, so I don't know all of the components. BUT, I can ask you this. When you use the cleaner, and let it dry, does it leave any residue (oily, sticky or otherwise). When I am talking about residue I mean after you spray and wipe and ALSO if you spray a puddle and let it dry.

what more common brand cleaner is it most like would you say (we don't have morrisons so if I can equate it to windex, fantastic, 409 etc...)

 

[RitchieRitchie]

Sadly I'm not a chemist but an engineer, so I don't know all of the components. BUT, I can ask you this. When you use the cleaner, and let it dry, does it leave any residue (oily, sticky or otherwise). When I am talking about residue I mean after you spray and wipe and ALSO if you spray a puddle and let it dry.

what more common brand cleaner is it most like would you say (we don't have morrisons so if I can equate it to windex, fantastic, 409 etc...)

Sorry, don't know what I'd equate it with from your part of the world. You are supposed to rinse after using it if you use it undiluted which suggests some residue but if diluted you don't need to rinse. Unfortunately it was uindiluted and straight from the bottle that came in contact with my 3ds.

Thanks again for the interest!

rr

 

[mashers]

• less than 5% non-ionic surfactants - this could be any of a number of chemicals but are usually alcohol-based so would evaporate. Some, however, might be oxide based which could be corrosive
• Methylisothiazolinone, benzisothiazolinone - these are toxic and irritating to biological matter but I don't think they are corrosive
• perfume - this could be anything
• limonene - this is an orange fragrance. It's also used as a solvent so will probably be corrosive

It would be best to dismantle your 3DS and clean the components which are susceptible to corrosion.

 

[RitchieRitchie]

• less than 5% non-ionic surfactants - this could be any of a number of chemicals but are usually alcohol-based so would evaporate. Some, however, might be oxide based which could be corrosive
• Methylisothiazolinone, benzisothiazolinone - these are toxic and irritating to biological matter but I don't think they are corrosive
• perfume - this could be anything
• limonene - this is an orange fragrance. It's also used as a solvent so will probably be corrosive

It would be best to dismantle your 3DS and clean the components which are susceptible to corrosion.

Thanks but I don't think I'll risk taking it apart as I'm hopeless at that sort of thing! To be honest, I've had it for just over two years, I got it for a steal (£60 practically new) and have used it a lot so i can't really complain. I'll just see how long it lasts and keep my fingers crossed - although it's interesting finding out about the damage different liquids do to electronics for the next time i do something stupid - which knowing me will probably be pretty soon!

r

 

[mashers]

No problem, as long as you're aware that some of the chemicals you listed will very likely shorten the life-span of the device. Depending on the model, it might not actually be very difficult to take it apart. iFixIt.com post amazing teardown tutorials, one of which I used to take apart my iPad and replace the LCD panel when I spilled coke into it!

For example:

https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Nintendo+3DS+Teardown/5029

 

[NicEXE]

get a can of LECTRO KLEEN or SPARK (I suggest getting the later since it has much more uses than the first one)

 

[RitchieRitchie]

No problem, as long as you're aware that some of the chemicals you listed will very likely shorten the life-span of the device. Depending on the model, it might not actually be very difficult to take it apart. iFixIt.com post amazing teardown tutorials, one of which I used to take apart my iPad and replace the LCD panel when I spilled coke into it!

For example:

https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Nintendo+3DS+Teardown/5029

Thanks for the link, will give it a look.

 

[mashers]

Thanks for the link, will give it a look.

That's just an example - if you're going to give it a try, make sure you find the right one for your specific model of 3DS. I had a quick look and iFixIt seems to have teardowns for all the 3DS models.

 

[RitchieRitchie]

get a can of LECTRO KLEEN or SPARK (I suggest getting the later since it has much more uses than the first one)

I take this would be to use after I'd opened the 3ds xl up? Thanks for the info.

r

 

[mashers]

I take this would be to use after I'd opened the 3ds xl up? Thanks for the info.

r

Yes, it's for cleaning the main board once you have accessed it. In theory you could try to spray it inside some of the vulnerable areas such as the cart and SD slots, but I don't know how well it would evaporate if you did that.

 

[NicEXE]

Yes, it's for cleaning the main board once you have accessed it. In theory you could try to spray it inside some of the vulnerable areas such as the cart and SD slots, but I don't know how well it would evaporate if you did that.

lectro kleen evaporates quickly, spark does not but you can let it sit there with no problem. I wouldn't use lectro kleen in enclosed components such as the analog thumb pad since it would take forever for it to evaporate completely. Unless you don't care dismantling that completely

 

[RitchieRitchie]

Yes, it's for cleaning the main board once you have accessed it. In theory you could try to spray it inside some of the vulnerable areas such as the cart and SD slots, but I don't know how well it would evaporate if you did that.

I see hmm, don't think I'll risk it - I was thinking that if I could just spray it in the slots you mentioned then I'd give it a go but it sounds like I ight end up having to put it back in rice.

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lectro kleen evaporates quickly, spark does not but you can let it sit there with no problem. I wouldn't use lectro kleen in enclosed components such as the analog thumb pad since it would take forever for it to evaporate completely. Unless you don't care dismantling that completely

so do you reckon spraying it in the cartridge/sd slot might be worthwhile?

 

[NicEXE]

I see hmm, don't think I'll risk it - I was thinking that if I could just spray it in the slots you mentioned then I'd give it a go but it sounds like I ight end up having to put it back in rice.

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so do you reckon spraying it in the cartridge/sd slot might be worthwhile?

Well it won't hurt but I don't think the problem with your 3DS not booting is the cartridge slot

 

[RitchieRitchie]

Well it won't hurt but I don't think the problem with your 3DS not booting is the cartridge slot

haha, it was yesterday when the bugger was full of rice! don't think I'll risk it and if it last for another wee while I'll consider myself lucky.

 

[Ruby Gloom]

how did you get it back from the ocean? wow, good it's ok now

How did I not see the notification? I dove in straight as I knew I dropped it. I knew it was heading to the water.

 

[gallymimu]

I see hmm, don't think I'll risk it - I was thinking that if I could just spray it in the slots you mentioned then I'd give it a go but it sounds like I ight end up having to put it back in rice.

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so do you reckon spraying it in the cartridge/sd slot might be worthwhile?

No don't do that, you risk dislodging and moving around the chemicals rather than removing them.

 

[NicEXE]

No don't do that, you risk dislodging and moving around the chemicals rather than removing them.

spark is fine even if you dip the board in it.

 

[gallymimu]

spark is fine even if you dip the board in it.

you are wrong, don't give him bad advice. This isn't about spark being OK, it's about dissolving and migrating the stuff he spilled into his 3ds to different locations on his board. If he can't remove what he spilled in there he is much better off leaving it and having the 3DS working as is then simply swishing it around inside of his unit.

 

[Xenon Hacks]

Honestly when I do stuff like this I dismantle it after about a week of drying off (no attempts to power it on and no battery connected) then clean all the components that got exposed with 99% isopropyl alcohol and some cotton balls while submerged then let them dry again I did this for many PSP's back in the day.