Become a Patron!

My cats spilled coffee on my battery charger

giffer.dub

Member For 4 Years
Member For 3 Years
Member For 2 Years
Member For 1 Year
Alright so I was about halfway done with a cup of coffee whem I realized I had to pick up my lady from work. So naturally fearing her wrath if I am late I hop in my car and go. Well I get back home and my cats have spilled my coffee into my charger which had two samsung 25r 18650 batteries on it charging. The chart won't function whatsoever and the battery wraps have coffee stains on them thiugh I vigorously tried dying them off. I am no battery expert and ill admit I'm worried that the coffee will make my battery explode. I don't know If that's me overthinking or something that could actually happen so I figured someone here could help me out.

Sent from my SCH-S968C using Tapatalk
 

giffer.dub

Member For 4 Years
Member For 3 Years
Member For 2 Years
Member For 1 Year
Thank you so much!

Sent from my SCH-S968C using Tapatalk
 

dr_rox

VU Donator
Bronze Contributor
Member For 4 Years
Water is not a conductor until something is dissolved in it that is ionic, like salt.
The best way to clean the batteries is with anhydrous isopropyl alcohol and then dry. Same thing with charger. Drying the parts with dry compressor air via a blowgun is also a good thing. Not the canned shit since it will produce condensation.
DO NOT DO THIS WHERE THERE IS AN OPEN FLAME. Under a ventilation hood or outside is better, and avoid breathing in the fumes.
The biggest issue with the charger is if the circuit was live - which I will assume - and how conductive the coffee was. If the circuit wasn't damaged and is cleaned properly ( may have to use some soapy water to carefully to clean the rails if is one of the multi-size battery sleds and rinse a few times) the next issue is going to be the display. Some of the displays have pins soldered to the board others use a sandwiched conductive polymer. If you are fearless, those sandwiched displays are usually held in place with screws, which will allow you to get rid of any liquid that intruded from capillary action and also clean the backlight if it has one.
Proceed at your own risk.
The shit people do with rice may work but if it leaves behind a hydroscopic residue, bad stuph will happen. That is why it is best to get rid of it. Basically I have outlined a procedure I use to recover geotech gear that has had a gasket failure. If I can't find anhydrous isopropyl, most drug stores have 90%.
You can see on the pc board where the coffee was conductive and if it passed any current since there will be reside left where the water was cooked off.
 

BigNasty

Diamond Contributor
Member For 4 Years
ECF Refugee
20-40 bucks for a charger is a small piece of mind when dealing with batteries.
If in doubt or lacking skills chuck in the bin and pick up a new one.
A venting battery + arcing plugged into household electric system is the basis for a horrible news story.
 

VU Sponsors

Top