My kid froze my ifp-395

[seadzz]

Kid left the player in the trunk of the car (boot for the EU) overnight. Weather was -9 F last night. How should she go about warming the player up? It's still in the car since I do not think leaving it there until I figure out what to do will not hurt it much more than it already is.

Do you think the cold will bugger up the player? I think just bringing it inside the house and let it come up to room temp....putting fresh batteries in it should be ok.

thoughts before I tell her to go down this path?

sdz

[tristan]

I think the main problem is condensation forming in the player. Do you have any of those silica gel packs (you often find them inside vitamin bottles)? Maybe you could put the iFP in a jar with a few silica gel packs, which should allow it to come up to normal temperature without condensation forming inside the unit. Just an idea...

Then again, I read somewhere that someone put their iFP through the washing machine and it survived OK, so a bit of condensation may make no difference, just let it dry thoroughly before trying to play anything

[coreman]

Should be okay to just let warm up at room temp..they should be rated from 0C so -9F isn't much outside the limit. However most of the electronic components I deal with are rated to at least -10C minimum so I expect there won't be any damage to your player even though the player itself is rated from 0C.

Let us know how it works out!

[seadzz]

That is exactly what I told the kid. Put the thing in heated room for a day or two....indoors should be low humidity and will dry the player out. In time put a fresh battery in the player and she should be fine.....do not microwave it to speed the process up.

sdz

[pat]

hah, microwave! that would be great...

[gdog]

So how did it turn out seadzz? How did you go about bringing it back to the land of the living?

gdog

[seadzz]

Worked out fine. Kid brought player in from the cold and let is sit for two days (in case of moisture build up inside). Installed fresh AA battery and off to the races.

I had to remind kid that this "toy" while looks cheap is in fact expensive. Do not want/expect to see reoccurence of this problem in future but you know kids. Not exactly kid any more (20 something) but will always be a kid in my eyes.

sdz

[FlameGrilled]

microwaving... not cool...

i've done it to a few capacitors before, that were in an old storebox i thought i'd never use again and ended up in the garage for a few years (never did get around to chucking them). Usually, caps go 'dry' (internally) after some years.. but these were the opposite.. damp as hell and there was signs of them having got moisture inside.. which could be a prob..

I needed one or two late on a Sunday night to test a 'blackbox' out with - so i ended up with these things sitting in microwave proof container.. and i ran them for about 10 secs on max power (an 850W unit), and then took them out.

They reacted fine.. go the project proven.. then were desoldered and binned -- i aint stupid enough to risk using them in a working day-to-day box.. and replacements put in on the Monday.

Don't do as i did, it was desperate measures, usually it's a damn good way to fry components...

FG

*ps.. set the power level and time right, and a M/Wave is a damn good print dryer.. as my large collection of b/w prints .. photos to the people who dont remember chemical photography ... proves - yeah, my tutor in the fine art of pro photography gave me an earbashing about it... but his warnings of the pictures fading after no time at all aint come to light yet.. 10 years later..*

[tristan]

I'm not into microwaving electronics (inadvertantly or otherwise), but have had plenty fun making ball lightning using my microwave!

[gdog]

Originally Posted by seadzz

Not exactly kid any more (20 something) but will always be a kid in my eyes.

sdz

Sounds like one lucky Kid