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I had a small pile of accumulated, salvaged desktop RAM / memory sticks sitting on my desk. I made the apparently unwise decision to drink my triple-extra-large sody-pop near them, and to my demise, my desk got flooded with the sticky crud.

A couple of the sticks got wet; I dabbed them dry, but once they have dried out further, are they still usable? Do I risk motherboard sparks flying and BSODs popping?

I'm thinking because the memory was not powered at the time, and no electrical charge was present through my Coke-ductive puddle, I could simply dry them off and use them later. Or could I?

Maybe some isopropyl alcohol could be used to dry them off?

6 Answers6

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They'll be usable if you haven't created any new electrical paths. That means:

  • No corrosion, which creates new paths
  • No leftover liquid, which would be conductive

To address the corrosion, you'll have wanted to make sure you cleaned them quickly and thoroughly, especially as you mentioned you spilled soda, which is acidic and hence will tend to oxidize metals.

To address the leftover liquid, any environment to encourage evaporation at a relatively high rate (elevated temperatures, low humidity, and no weathering - i.e. high sunlight, etc) should be fine. If you can't do the temperature, you can place the RAM sticks on a few handfuls of rice grains, or use other similar drying tricks that you might use for cell phones and devices dropped in water.

allquixotic
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ernie
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13

Wash them off with clean water immediately (soda can be acidic and can do damage if not removed). Then dry them with a hair dryer, being careful not to get them too hot. Let them sit a few hours just in case there's any stray moisture around, say trapped under chips. If you get them thoroughly clean and dry, they should be okay.

David Schwartz
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I would as quickly as possible rinse briefly with distilled water (or clean tap water, if distilled isn't immediately available), then rinse briefly with rubbing alcohol (to help remove the water). Dry 24 hours in a slightly warm (not hot) location (eg, near your PC exhaust) before attempting to use.

Your two big hazards are that the phosphoric acid in pop is highly corrosive of printed circuit like stuff (hence the urgency to rinse off) and you may leave a conductive residue if the sugar, et al, is not rinsed off completely.

(I'd also be tempted to apply a very thin coat of silicone "high voltage grease" (from an auto parts place) to the contacts, to discourage corrosion.) (And, no, the grease will not "insulate" the contacts and prevent them from connecting properly.)

Daniel R Hicks
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They can be fine if you meet the conditions others suggest (do it quickly and don't power them on until they are 100% dry). However, I would suggest a different mechanism for cleaning them:

  • Use a high proof alcohol instead of water, if you must use water - make it distilled. I'd also take off the heatshields, if you have them, and use a q-tip where necessary.

Water contains minerals and those can leave residual residue that is unfavorable. It also completes circuits - so if there is any charge left in them or something, it could leave you with paper weights.

Alcohol dries very quickly and high proof won't complete circuits. By high proof, I mean 96% isypropyl or Everclear.

  • Fill a small container with rice, even a plate works. Set the RAM on the rice (gently). Rice absorbs liquid rapidly and will help ensure drying. After a few hours, I would flip them over and wait a few more.

Rice absorbs moisture, so that will just aid in being sure they're clean.

nerdwaller
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Normally should be no problem to use them again but be sure to wash the soda with water and to dry them completely. A good way of doing this (if you need them very soon) is to dry them with a fan or a hair dryer. But make sure you keep the hair dryer on cold air, not hot!

Joe
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Its always better dry it completely,

If you have dis trilled water that will help that if any ionization was there in the the water based Sody-Pop(I don't know the formula to make it, so don't know what it contained :) ) So here are the content that makes water conductive:

Conductivity in water is affected by the presence of inorganic dissolved solids such as chloride, nitrate, sulfate, and phosphate anions (ions that carry a negative charge) or sodium, magnesium, calcium, iron, and aluminum cations (ions that carry a positive charge).

Conductivity is also affected by temperature: the warmer the water, the higher the conductivity. For this reason, conductivity is reported as conductivity at 25 degrees Celsius (25 C). (source)

Now if the solids have stayed between any connects chip-legs, circuit tracks or more.. the distilled water is best way to clean it.

The mobile service station use the same technique to clean our mobile in in service.

Then dry it off.(completely). and Ta Da... here you go..

the memory chip is ready to use,

Note: If your chip was containing static charge then there are possibility of active charge effect of capacitors. that might make the chip not working as it short circuit it self. Same as written on batteries 'Please do not short positive and negative without any load.'.

Yes in case of absorbent Silica Bag or Silica Gel is the best. you must have seen it when opening new electronics device from box. get that and put it with the device its best in class absorbent. Or Refer Old post this will explain in more detail.

Community
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MarmiK
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