Jag vs. Dr. Pepper [Archive]

SodaFail

07-02-2010, 16:28

Earlier this morning, our robot fell victim to an exploding can of Dr. Pepper, resulting in our electronics board being sprayed. So far, the only thing we've found is that least one of our Jags is inoperative (as suggested by the smoke billowing out of the vents), and basically every other component has at a trace of the stuff on it.

What I'm wondering is if there's a method of cleaning electronic components without using water or cleaning products that will damage them as much as, say, a can of soda exploding next to it.

Update: We've had isopropyl alcohol suggested, because it will evaporate. Any thoughts?

Pictures: The entire thing:

http://i49.tinypic.com/28vf7n8.jpg

And the good stuff...

http://i48.tinypic.com/2nqrtbt.jpg

Techgirl675

07-02-2010, 16:39

My team says that rinsing them in distilled water and letting the dry should work. (They also say to punch whoever blew up the soda in the face.) Hope it helps :)

dtengineering

07-02-2010, 16:45

Any chance that the smoke coming out from the vents is just Dr. Pepper cooking off?

Guess not, if the Jag isn't working... but maybe you've only let the smoke out of the Dr. Pepper if your motors are running.

Jason

Edit: I'd try a bit of water, first. Perhaps a damp cloth or Q-tip. With the power off, even tap water should not present any problems, and I suspect it will be better at dissolving the dried sugars.

Alan Anderson

07-02-2010, 16:52

Rinse off the sugary residue as soon as you can. Pure water will not damage electronics if everything is dried completely before applying power.

SodaFail

07-02-2010, 16:56

That's what I though at first, but we took it apart and a few components are melted together and blackened. I'll get a picture up in a second.

That, and I'm assuming burning corn syrup smells slightly different than melting solder and plastic. Not too sure though, I only inhaled like...50% of the smoke. (My face just happened to be right next to it because I smelled something 'off'.)

Akash Rastogi

07-02-2010, 16:59

SodaFail

07-02-2010, 17:01

Smart way to dry any damp electronics- carefully place them in containers of dry, uncooked rice and wait a day. You'll be happy with your results (works best with cell phones after being dumb at the water park).

Normally I'd throw it in one of my houses many bags of rice, but unfortunately I don't think that will help much with corn syrup :rolleyes:

BrendanB

07-02-2010, 17:06

Normally I'd throw it in one of my houses many bags of rice, but unfortunately I don't think that will help much with corn syrup :rolleyes:

No, after you apply water to the electronics, but with melted parts it might be a little late to save the jaguar. However, water and rice will work fine if you have any other affected items. I used rice with my iPod, works great!

Akash Rastogi

07-02-2010, 17:06

Rinse off the sugary residue as soon as you can. Pure water will not damage electronics if everything is dried completely before applying power.

SodaFail- I meant once you do what Alan wrote.

gblake

07-02-2010, 17:12

...
Update: We've had isopropyl alcohol suggested, because it will evaporate. Any thoughts?
...
Folks are recommending distilled water, because pure water is an insulator. It becomes conductive when it has ions suspended in it.

If you do try using water, instead of dry cleaning fluid, or something an integrated circuit maker or printed circuit maker might use; then to dry it out after, consider sealing every thing in an air-tight bag full of dry air and some desiccant (a big bag of the stuff used in pill bottles and other containers that need to stay dry). Dry air can be found many places in the winter.

Good luck cleaning up after your Pepsi Syndrome - Call in President Carter if you need extra help (ask someone a little oder than 50 what I"m talking about).

Blake

Al Skierkiewicz

07-02-2010, 23:17

Distilled water does very little as it becomes contaminated as soon as you pour it on the device. Dust, pollution, etc. has has it's way long before you start washing. You are going to find that if you have waited even a few short hours, the water has evaporated and your are left with the residue. A good scrubbing with warm water and a tooth brush (on disassembled devices) and then a good rinse with hot water will take care of the majority of the spill. Letting the devices sit in the sunlight for several hours or in your oven at it's lowest temperature with the door open for 15-30 minutes will dry the water without too much trouble. If you are afraid of plastic being damaged, you can crumple up some aluminum foil to insulate parts from the oven rack.

Of course the majority of damage has already been done. The caffeine in the Dr. Pepper has had a chance to act on the electrons in your devices. You know how it speeds you up, think of how it affects tiny things like electrons.

Rapt0r9

07-02-2010, 23:30

I've always used some denatured alcohol. You can grab it at a home depot by the paint. The concentration is going to be higher than that of Isopropyl, thus less water.

If there are no obvious burn marks, then I'd say to rinse it in the alcohol, then let it dry. Alcohol is a very very very very poor conductor. So, you should be fine, but you can let it evaporate off if you want to be safe.

BTW: Denatured alcohol is basically ethanol, the stuff that you can drink, but it has a lot of nasty stuff in it that'll kill you if you ever try to drink it. So just make sure that nobody gets reckless with it.

DonRotolo

08-02-2010, 00:24

Just keep in mind that electronics are generally made to be rinsed to remove solder flux after wave soldering. So, water on the board as Alan and Al have suggested are your best bet and generally will not harm things. (A notable exception is a paper speaker, as might be found in a cell phone, but that doesn't apply here).

So, do what they say and just leave it to dry (nothing fancy, air dry a few days or oven dry a while), and you should be fine. (For the ones that didn't melt, of course)

EricVanWyk

08-02-2010, 00:52

I'll echo the statements of those above with regard to water: Plain old water is just fine. Our technicians rinse most of the boards they do in water before giving them back to us.

As for the Dr. Pepper:
Soda is made of the following ingredients - One part water, two parts sugar, one part nasty stuff that you don't want to know about and destroys everything in its path. You may very well have additional casualties of this event, laying dormant. If you do have additional boards fail, please be sure to mention this incident to whomever you are dealing with.

Good luck!

dragon72950

08-02-2010, 07:22

im pretty sure that a can of electrical cleaner should work i use it on my remote control car and it does the work perfectly its usually about 6-7 dollars at your local hobby shop

Al Skierkiewicz

08-02-2010, 08:12

Dragon et al,
I generally do not recommend electrical spray cleaners as there are so many additives it is hard to know the effects of each. Many contain solvents that are harmful to plastics or contain any of a variety of lubricants. Some may contain trace amounts of chemicals that can conduct at high frequency which will wreak havoc with micro procs and controllers while seeming to be benign for low frequency signals.

JesseK

08-02-2010, 08:24

Interesting tangent:

If you drop your phone in water or wash it in the washing machine, then not all is lost. Fill a cup with Isopropyl Alcohol and let the phone sit in it completely submerged overnight. In the morning, take the phone out. In my years at Best Buy, doing this for people who had critical data on a dead phone, ~80% of the time the phone would work after the overnight soak. I'm not saying this WILL work for an FRC component, but if it's dead and you've exhausted all other means (and there's no visible silicon damage) then I don't think it'd hurt to try.

dragon72950

09-02-2010, 03:57