Hello people,
I am trying to diagnose/save my old Nexus 5x.
It got soaked in strawberry juice a week ago. I wiped it off as much as I could, and left it. I did not test it, because the battery had run out days ago. After trying to charge it yesterday, I noticed it would not charge or turn on anymore.
In a rescue attempt, I opened up the phone (and was surprised how easy it was to get the bare pcb in my hand), and found a ****ton of gunk. The juice didn't only get in, the acid also did its work on the steel parts. I cleaned it as much as possible with a cleaning cloth, and finished with and electric toothbrush, to get the gunk out of all the nooks and crannies. It turned out quite clean again, although I cannot see if it also got under the main IC's.
Before the cleaning, I got my hopes up because I saw the gunk was mainly concentrated around the battery connector. I think the juice or corrosion shorter the battery terminals and depleted the battery. After cleaning it properly I measured only 0,8V.
To my surprise, after reassembly, the phone worked again. It started taking charge, and after a minute or 2, I could start it up. It worked as normal and it was taking on 1,5A of current. I left it like that for a while, and then I noticed it stopped charging at 50% charge. The voltage was 3.2v according to AccuBattery app, and the battery temperature 49C. The latter was odd, since the battery felt cool. Nowhere near 49C. So I'm also doubting the voltage value of 3.2v.
Anyway, the phone was still working at that point. It was just wouldn't go past 50% charge. I tried unplugging the charger (phone stayed on, so battery works at least a bit) and reconnecting. But it still wouldn't charge. After trying to reboot, it never came back to life since. Basically, when I plug in the charger, the red light starts flashing (and phone is drawing 700-800mA. After a couple seconds, the screen comes on, showing the battery icon. After that, the Google icon shows. And then it shuts down again. At that point, the current also drops to a stable 300mA @ 7,5v. It does not charge though. All the power seems to go into one of the main IC's (not the charging one), which is heating up noticeably in this state.
Can anyone tell me what could be happening? Why is the IC drawing that power while off and "charging"? Any tips? The faced the phone booted and worked for a while, gave me hope.
Edit: Now its drawing 650mA @ 7,5v after being plugged in instead of the previous 300mA.
Edit2: It's booting! Drawing 600mA @5v.now while phone is on, while idle and under load no change. I'll keep you posted. AccuBattery and android say it has 50% charge again, but shows a negative charging current.
I am trying to diagnose/save my old Nexus 5x.
It got soaked in strawberry juice a week ago. I wiped it off as much as I could, and left it. I did not test it, because the battery had run out days ago. After trying to charge it yesterday, I noticed it would not charge or turn on anymore.
In a rescue attempt, I opened up the phone (and was surprised how easy it was to get the bare pcb in my hand), and found a ****ton of gunk. The juice didn't only get in, the acid also did its work on the steel parts. I cleaned it as much as possible with a cleaning cloth, and finished with and electric toothbrush, to get the gunk out of all the nooks and crannies. It turned out quite clean again, although I cannot see if it also got under the main IC's.
Before the cleaning, I got my hopes up because I saw the gunk was mainly concentrated around the battery connector. I think the juice or corrosion shorter the battery terminals and depleted the battery. After cleaning it properly I measured only 0,8V.
To my surprise, after reassembly, the phone worked again. It started taking charge, and after a minute or 2, I could start it up. It worked as normal and it was taking on 1,5A of current. I left it like that for a while, and then I noticed it stopped charging at 50% charge. The voltage was 3.2v according to AccuBattery app, and the battery temperature 49C. The latter was odd, since the battery felt cool. Nowhere near 49C. So I'm also doubting the voltage value of 3.2v.
Anyway, the phone was still working at that point. It was just wouldn't go past 50% charge. I tried unplugging the charger (phone stayed on, so battery works at least a bit) and reconnecting. But it still wouldn't charge. After trying to reboot, it never came back to life since. Basically, when I plug in the charger, the red light starts flashing (and phone is drawing 700-800mA. After a couple seconds, the screen comes on, showing the battery icon. After that, the Google icon shows. And then it shuts down again. At that point, the current also drops to a stable 300mA @ 7,5v. It does not charge though. All the power seems to go into one of the main IC's (not the charging one), which is heating up noticeably in this state.
Can anyone tell me what could be happening? Why is the IC drawing that power while off and "charging"? Any tips? The faced the phone booted and worked for a while, gave me hope.
Edit: Now its drawing 650mA @ 7,5v after being plugged in instead of the previous 300mA.
Edit2: It's booting! Drawing 600mA @5v.now while phone is on, while idle and under load no change. I'll keep you posted. AccuBattery and android say it has 50% charge again, but shows a negative charging current.
Last edited:
