USB flash drives and water.

[Ralf Mardorf]

On Sun, 2023-01-01 at 10:07 +1100, Karl Auer wrote:
> Clean water is actually pretty harmless to electronics as long as no
> electricity is involved, they get dried out promptly and they don't
> suffer too much thermal shock (super-rapid cooling).

Happy New Year!

Sometimes the water gets caught in the trap, so you have to open the
housing of a device.

Some components are tricky, an LCD can be gone forever as the contact
surfaces will never find each other properly again.

The splashproof camera fails for 2 minutes in the rain, exactly in the
two minutes when the heron that you have been stalking for 30 minutes
does something interesting, so that you have to wait for an opportunity
again.

I doubt that sugar is a conductor, but rather suspect that it is an
insulator. Presumably work membrane keyboards after an attack with Cola
not no longer because of a short circuit, but because contact can no
longer be made and/or it glues the keys.

Creeping current can become a problem, but drying will help to get rid
of it. The residues of water and laundry detergent are as little a
problem as the fine dust in the air, which is deposited, too.

In short, the risk of creeping current/short circuits can be given, but
keep in mind that interruptions in contact are the other side of the
coin.

Things can swell with water and no longer return to their original form,
glue can be water-soluble.

The heron https://i.imgur.com/CHtn1my.jpg .
A dishwasher washable keyboard https://i.imgur.com/mA8wVGW.jpg that is
not a dishwasher dryable keyboard https://i.imgur.com/mWjtCM0.jpg. It
can survive the heat, if you forget to turn of the dishwasher before the
drying process, but better don't forget it too often.

Regards,
Ralf