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Sometimes despite all precautions dust/lint/dirt builds up in the physical ports of devices; for example, the USB-C port of the phone leading to it not charging.

Some suggestion I found say you can use cotton swabs/ toothpicks to (carefully) scrape out anything stuck, while others recommend compressed air only. This post even suggests highly concentrated alcohol is okay, though I doubt that I would get any liquid out effectively of a small port like Mini-USB, USB-C or Mini-HDMI.

What is the best way to go about it?

Giacomo1968
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A-Tech
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2 Answers2

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Alcohol is recommended because it dries quickly on its own, even in very small spaces. It also doesn't cause oxidation the way water does. Depending on the sorts of material you're trying to extract from the ports, alcohol may not be the best solvent for the job though.

Physical cleaning using probes such as toothpicks can only be recommended with extreme caveats: On your own head be the responsibility and risk. At times it may be necessary, but I recommend knowing that your hands and fingers are dexterous enough, and that the probe you use is appropriate to the task.

An electronics vacuum (sucking) is far better than the blowing of compressed air in general, but not everyone has an electronics vacuum, and a regular vacuum is far too likely to cause significant damage due to build up in static charge on the device being cleaned. The blowing of compressed air can force junk further into the port or device, which can be bad.

theJack
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music2myear
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It depends. The 'gold' standard for cleaning connectors is contact cleaner - its meant to clean corrosion and is probably 'better' than concentrated isopropyl alcohol. Both of them will evaporate quickly so "getting liquid out" isn't an issue.

Canned air is good for removing dust - its also a hydrocarbon so would just evaporate away, and might be good for essentially blowing out debris before other cleaning stuff

In the specific case of USB C, sometimes you have compacted dust. A combination of contact cleaner and those very thin plastic toothpicks to loosen dust is useful.

For 'bulk' cleaning of bigger ports - I use a product called cyberclean, basically a better quality cleaning gel/goop that dust sticks to. There's other similar products, but quality varies - so find one that works for you, and stick to it.

Journeyman Geek
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