Washed the phone charger in the washing machine

No one is immune from mistakes. If you washed your phone charger along with your clothes, then don’t panic and start taking action. Practice shows that even after prolonged washing in an automatic machine, the charge can be saved. You just need to figure out which methods work and what only makes the situation worse.

The best method of "resuscitation"

Ideally, a charger that has been in water should be thrown away. But replacing the original charger with a Chinese counterfeit is a dubious idea: third-party devices differ in characteristics and gradually “kill” the phone’s battery. Therefore, it is worth fighting for the original and trying to “reanimate” it.

A standard charger does not have complex microcircuits inside, so in theory, being in water will not cause much damage to it. The danger lies not only in the remaining moisture, but also in oxidized contacts. If you plug in an under-dried or damaged device into the network, a short circuit will occur with all the resulting dangers. Therefore, drying the charge with a standard 2-hour drying on a battery is unacceptable. More drastic measures are needed.

We proceed like this:

• disassemble the charger housing;
• take a capacity commensurate with the device;
• place all charger elements in a bowl;
• heat 96% ethyl alcohol in a water bath to 40-50 degrees (vodka, moonshine and other alternatives are not suitable - only “pure” pharmaceutical alcohol);
• Fill the charger completely with alcohol and leave for 7-10 minutes;
• We take out the device and thoroughly blow all the elements with a vacuum cleaner;
• repeat the procedure: heat the alcohol, immerse the charger in it, remove it and vacuum it;
• Using a magnifying glass, we inspect the contacts of the device (noticing a white coating, treat the affected area with acetone);
• We dry the charge for about 30 minutes, and then we assemble the case and check it.

After washing in a washing machine, the contacts of the charger oxidize, so drying is not enough - you need to treat the “chip” with acetone.

After using alcohol, a vacuum cleaner and acetone, the device will get rid of the effects of machine washing and restore its functionality. But only a few know about this method of “resuscitation”, and the vast majority lose chargers due to incorrect actions.

Wrong ways to restore the charger

When resuscitating charging after washing in a washing machine, users make one mistake - they only care about drying the device. Meanwhile, the danger of prolonged exposure to water is not only in the moisture that gets inside, but in oxidized contacts. Therefore, the device cannot be saved without disassembling and soaking in alcohol.

To be sure, let’s go through each “method” recommended on the Internet.

• Leave it on the battery for 3-4 days. There is no need to wait that long; moisture will be removed from the device in 3-4 hours. In any case, this is ineffective, since the contacts will remain oxidized and, when connected to the network, will lead to a short circuit. Without checking the “internals” of the charger, drying is useless, since it does not guarantee anything, but only delays the inevitable.
• Place in rice or silica gel. This is doubly pointless. First, you'll be wasting your time and food (the battery will dry out faster). Secondly, it will only be possible to get rid of moisture, and the contacts will remain damaged as before.

A wet charger cannot be saved with rice, a battery, a hairdryer and silica gel - the methods do not work!

• Dry with a hairdryer or fan. No amount of drying equipment can correct the problem with oxidized contacts. To make matters worse, rapid artificial drying will only worsen the situation, as the “chips” will oxidize more and increase the likelihood of a short circuit.

A washed charger cannot be saved by drying alone. It’s better not to waste time, but to immediately disassemble the device, inspect it and treat it with alcohol or acetone.

2 reader comments

1. 04.11.2022 at 18:25

   Fatya:

   I washed the clothes with the phone charger in the washing machine with a spin speed of 1000 rpm, then put them on the battery for about half an hour. My son turned it on and it works. The charger, of course, is original and that’s why it may not have deteriorated.

   Answer
2. 12/15/2022 at 21:54

   Larisa:

   Thank you very much, very clear, simple and understandable.

   Answer