So today I finally got my Arduino Mini and it’s associated USB adaptor, and when I pulled it out I was kinda shocked at how small it really is.
This little beauty has an ATmega168, with 16k of flash, 8 analog inputs, 12 digital i/o pins, 16MHz clock and a package that is easy to use in a breadboard. Currently I don’t have a breadboard so I can’t do anything with it yet other than stare longingly…
But soon my pretty… soon…
If you, like my friend, have a tendency to put electronic devices such as mobile phones and audio players through the wash (or other hilarious scenarios) here are some steps to save your device’s life.
First and most important, take out the battery. The longer the battery is in there, the more damage is done from corrosion. If the devices has a built-in battery, time is even more important to following the rest of the steps.
Next, the device needs to be dried. This can be done more effectively by pulling it apart and drying it with a heat gun (or hair dryer). If you aren’t confident in doing so, you might want to take it to someone who is. It’s probably a good idea to clean tight spots with some water dispersant so there are no minerals left from evaporating water. If you can’t take the device apart you could try putting it in a container of something dry like rice to absorb the water, or perhaps a better choice would be to first submerse it in some kind of non-conductive oil or alcohol, or even clean distilled water. The key is getting the impurities in that water out of the device.
Now if there is any corrosion you will need to remove it, use some water dispersant and scratch it off, making sure you clean it away with the dispersant.
After the device is all dry and clean, put it back together and see if it works. Hopefully it will!