Author Topic: How to clean cell phone keypad?  (Read 7438 times)

Smith

  • friend
  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 175
How to clean cell phone keypad?
« on: March 08, 2005, 07:44:53 AM »
My g/f dropped her cell phone in her coffee.  Even after a couple of weeks, a few keys are reluctant to work.  Does anyone have a suggestion?  Thanks!

P95Carry

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 437
How to clean cell phone keypad?
« Reply #1 on: March 08, 2005, 08:29:58 AM »
If coffee was sweetened then you have a sticky problem!! Tongue

If it is possible to remove keypad and work on it at back - or in fact the contact pads beneath if coffee made it that far ... then iso-propyl alcohol and cotton bud could help ... but assuming no way to disassemble - could just try judicious use on the front - as perhaps the rubber buttons where they go behind the escutcheon plate are still gummed up.

Not easy - maybe someone else has a good fix.  I don't have sugar in coffee - but strongly suggest no one tries the phone splash with Pepsi - probably even worse!!
Chris - P95
Guns don't kill people - people kill people.
NRA Certified Instructor & NRA Life Member.
Rohrbaugh interest/ownership? - Rohrbaugh Forum Rohrbaugh R9 FAQ Site

Myself

  • friend
  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 240
How to clean cell phone keypad?
« Reply #2 on: March 08, 2005, 10:37:02 AM »
Best to take it appart and use soap and water.  Solvents will not disolve water based items like sugar, etc.  Make sure everything is dry before reassembly.  The black pads on the rear of the keys are carbon impregnated silicone and need to be free of lint and other forign material for the switch to work properly.

mfree

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 1,637
How to clean cell phone keypad?
« Reply #3 on: March 09, 2005, 06:15:07 AM »
Use DI water, and rinse extremely thoroughly if you have to use soap. You want zero residue, and as such I don't recommend soap at all.

DI water = deionized, or distilled. Tapwater will leave lime scale and/or chlorinated substances that can and will eat your PCB over time. Plus, if there's internal capacitors or batteries that hold a charge, there's a low enough resistance in tap water to discharge those, possibly to the point where you burn out paths in some of the more sensitive chips.