Can the Unicomp Spave Saver survive a little water?

[doyoulikeworms]

Hello folks,

After lurking your boards for a while, I recently decided to pickup a Unicomp Space Saver and have been loving it.

Unfortunately, I had accidentally spilled water on it yesterday, something that I had never done in all my years with cheapo keyboards. Ah well.

At any rate, I let it air out overnight with a fan running over it, and keys are still not registering, registering incorrectly, or registering as multiple keystrokes.

The situation was a little spilled water that seeped into the keys. It was unplugged shortly afterward and all the water was shaken out.

Is this poor board done with? I tried googling this issue and searching the forums, but there seem to be conflicting responses. It looks like either these boards will be fine after drying out, or are killed, when it comes to water damage. What's geekhack's take?

It's currently propped up in front of a fan with the outer shell off.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated. :typing:

[talis]

Likely a little water has caplliaried between the membranes and is currently shorting out some of the key contacts.  Luckily this usually isn't any worse then simply pressing the keys in terms of damaging the controller, but it is very hard to get the water out.

Any liquid with sugar in it (soda etc) tends to leave residue in the  membrane when it dries out, and that will potentially spell the end for the board, but plain water shouldn't leave much of a trace behind.

Your best bet is to just give it another day or two to dry out, and hope that it will migrate out.

[cchan]

I rinsed a 1993 Model M off in the sink, with all keycaps on. Then I let it dry for about a week and all was well.

[MANISH7]

you should be fine. your time is almost perfect since it is summer. too bad it's raining randomly in june. one day when the sun is out at full beam just put your keyboard out on the deck (or near the open window) for a couple of hours. that should thoroughly dry up the keyboard. i'd consider disassembling it and putting it to dry but will refrain because (1) you may not have tools to do so (2) may not want the inconvenience (3) may not want to chips to the hot sun for too long. i'd only consider it to dry the keyboard as much as possible.

bottom line: it'll dry out and work normal in a few days. nothing to worry.

[Xuan]

Hi, I've a similar issue.
I have a Lexmark model M that I gave to mi sister (I call her John Connor, cause she has the 'gift' of destroying electronic stuff), I've never thought she could stand a chance with a model M.
A few weeks later, she says 'hey, that keyboard isn't working', when I looked at it it was wet (she denies it of course).
So I left it to dry several days, but it is no longer working, strangely the keys register incorrect stuff, for example:

q => q
w => w
e => e
r => r
t => 5tg
y => 6yh
u => u
a =>
s  => xs
d => cd
f => bvf
g => 5tg

It seems the membrane has passed to a better life, is there any viable solution?

[keyb_gr]

Looks like save for the non-working 'a', there still are some spots with liquid in the membrane, effectively putting multiple keyswitches in parallel.

I guess you should opt for a spillproof board for her.

[Xuan]

I'm sure she'll find another way then

[Xuan]

Thanks, your geek girl is nice too
These are key-workmen (programmers)
She's actually using an old rubber dome ibm (exactly $10), and she'll stay with cheap boards.

The IBM is in the office, so it's safe, but if fear from the Unicomp at home

[chimera15]

I'm sure she'll find another way then

Great avatar lol

[patrickt]

Where I worked, 25 years ago, people were always spilling something on the keyboards and the IT people would call HP. We had HP terminals then. The tech would walk off with the keyboard, return in an hour and it worked fine. One day I followed the tech. We walked all over the building and finally he stopped and said, "Are you going to follow me all day?"
"Yep."

So, we went to the bathroom, he ran the keyboard, that had had sugared coffee spilled on it, ran it under the faucet a bit, and then we went outside where he shook it out, set in the sun, and lit a cigarette. "In the winter we use a hair dryer."

Doesn't work with membrane keyboards.

[o2dazone]

Where I worked, 25 years ago, people were always spilling something on the keyboards and the IT people would call HP. We had HP terminals then. The tech would walk off with the keyboard, return in an hour and it worked fine. One day I followed the tech. We walked all over the building and finally he stopped and said, "Are you going to follow me all day?"
"Yep."

So, we went to the bathroom, he ran the keyboard, that had had sugared coffee spilled on it, ran it under the faucet a bit, and then we went outside where he shook it out, set in the sun, and lit a cigarette. "In the winter we use a hair dryer."

Doesn't work with membrane keyboards.

rofl

[wellington1869]

Thanks, your geek girl is nice too
These are key-workmen (programmers)
She's actually using an old rubber dome ibm (exactly $10), and she'll stay with cheap boards.

The IBM is in the office, so it's safe, but if fear from the Unicomp at home

absolutely love your avatar Xuan  is it yours (did you build it) or did you find it online?

[doyoulikeworms]

Thanks for the tips. It looks like I'll take your advice and let this guy dry out for a long while. For the one day it's been drying, I've had promising results. Keys are coming back to life, and all is working except for the arrows and caps lock.

If that doesn't work, I dread opening this board up. It looks like a big ordeal to put back together.

[Xuan]

absolutely love your avatar Xuan  is it yours (did you build it) or did you find it online?

I took it from a page, but a can't rember what that was, I'll try searching in my bookmarks to give the proper credit

Here is the image:

Another I've just found in google under "keyboard workmen":

For the one day it's been drying, I've had promising results. Keys are coming back to life, and all is working except for the arrows and caps lock.

Well, it's almost recovered. And those keys are not a great lost.