So I discovered this trick a few weeks ago and I have been meaning to share with everyone but only got to it now.
The top speaker on my old S9+ was crackling when playing music and I decided to try and clean it. I put alcohol on an earpick and rubbed it in rounds, up, down, left, right and etc. The sound got better but not enough. Then I noticed the hydrogen peroxide 3% next to the bathroom mirror and used it instead of alcohol. I also decided to play a loud song at the time of cleaning it. As I was at it, I could see little bubbles flying off from the speaker grill and opening up all the tiny holes that were filled up with gunk over the years. This process restored the speaker clarity to 100% as original.
Then, since both mics of the S9 were muffled from all the dust (and likely baby powder from me powdering deez nuts as it helps with comfort ) I decided to fill them up with peroxide as well, instead of alcohol. I took a fat needle and was putting it up and down into the mic holes to push the peroxide out. While it was coming out I could see it bubble which is an indicator that it is dissolving particles. Then I tried it with paper and added some more peroxide and repeated 2 times.
Last, i took a dry earpick and pulled the cotton up while rolling it with my fingers to the point it became like a long fat cotton needle. Slim enough to enter the mic holes as I was turning it and pressing it slowly inwards. Did that part to absorb any peroxide leftovers, instead of waiting for it to dry out by it self.
The result was crystal clear sharp sound that I had thought was long gone and never coming back. I call this a full restoration.
Did the same thing with the s21u on all 3 mics and it worked splendidly. 2 of them had become somewhat muffled after a years use and when talking through the loud speaker people on the other side weren't hearing me clearly.
Note 0: To put peroxide into the mics, I fully soaked an earpick with it and then gently rubbed it on the mic holes until it went in.
Note 1: Putting a needle in the mic holes will not damage the mics as the holes are curved so the needle cannot touch a mic. (Samsung's preventative measure against people putting in the SIM pick in the wrong hole)
Note 2: You can test your MICs clarity through a sound loop by opening your dialer and typing *#0283#
Note 3: DO NOT attempt this on phones which are NOT waterproof. The only reason this works on our phones is because they were designed to withstand water.
Ingenious. As long as the water or oxidizer doesn't damage anything. That's a tough cleaning challenge many times.
If any of it makes it past the mic inside the phone better be ready to pull the rear cover, disconnect the battery, flush anhydrous isopropyl alcohol (min 93%) and completely dry.
I was wondering if there is a technique, when cleaning, to avoid pushing gunk further down into the mic which would clog them even more?
blackhawk said:
Ingenious. As long as the water or oxidizer doesn't damage anything. That's a tough cleaning challenge many times.
If any of it makes it past the mic inside the phone better be ready to pull the rear cover, disconnect the battery, flush anhydrous isopropyl alcohol (min 93%) and completely dry.
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Legit points, thanks god peroxide doesn't really affect anything rubbery or plasticky.. And given that the phones waterproof rating says it can withstand water pressure of about 1 meter's submersion, all should be good as applying little drops of peroxide puts no pressure at all.
But yeah, it is a bit scary for sure, aaand totally worth it once the sound clarity is restored
KingFatty said:
I was wondering if there is a technique, when cleaning, to avoid pushing gunk further down into the mic which would clog them even more?
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Yeah it's tricky. Best to clean it regularly a microfiber cloth before the junk gets pushed in.
A dry climate helps as does not putting the phone to your ear.
After over 2.5 years my N10+ ports are surprisingly spotless. They are partially shielded by the case which is antistatic it seems.
The Bolt case rarely requires much cleaning, another reason I wuv it.
KingFatty said:
I was wondering if there is a technique, when cleaning, to avoid pushing gunk further down into the mic which would clog them even more?
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That's exactly what I had been afraid of when it comes to cleaning with alcohol.
The thing about the peroxide is that it starts bubbling up the gunk and essentially it helps is dissolve and carries it upwards. If the gunk has muffled your mic, it has already piled up at the bottom... No further down to go haha
blackhawk said:
Yeah it's tricky. Best to clean it regularly a microfiber cloth before the junk gets pushed in.
A dry climate helps as does not putting the phone to your ear.
After over 2.5 years my N10+ ports are surprisingly spotless. They are partially shielded by the case which is antistatic it seems.
The Bolt case rarely requires much cleaning, another reason I wuv it.
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Yea I live in the Mediterranean and during the summer the humidity can reach up to 90%+.. And in the winter I have the phone playing music in the bathroom when showering and the air fills with steam from the hot water.. Too many no no's...
babyboy3265 said:
Legit points, thanks god peroxide doesn't really affect anything rubbery or plasticky.. And given that the phones waterproof rating says it can withstand water pressure of about 1 meter's submersion, all should be good as applying little drops of peroxide puts no pressure at all.
But yeah, it is a bit scary for sure, aaand totally worth it once the sound clarity is restored
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Yeah just saying. Never trust that waterproof rating; it's waterproof until it leaks
The ports, mic and speakers are probably safe but the rear cover seal and buttons are suspect so try to avoid getting liquids on those.
Related
Any way to get crap out of the speaker grill I'm kinda ocd about it...
Sent from my HTCONE using xda app-developers app
a very light suction tool.
no vaccuum.. maybe a handheld bulb pump, squeeze and allow it to suck the debris out.
TorxT3D said:
a very light suction tool.
no vaccuum.. maybe a handheld bulb pump, squeeze and allow it to suck the debris out.
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I just used a toothpick with extreme care, because there is no soft grill, worked good.
You should try one of those baby noise cleaners, great suction and they're cheap.
I've had good luck with a dry toothbrush and light, quick strokes.
you run the risk of forcing it deeper into the holes.
i'd only use a fine bristle art brush for the edges.
suction bulb for holes.
or just put your mouth on it and suck dry and fast.
ive been using those hand held blow thingys used for cleaning debris out of dslr's
The best way is with a toothbrush damped
In alcohol.
Soak the toothbrush in alcohol and dry it about 90% with towel(semi wet, not too dry, not too wet) Brush the grills, The remaining alcohol will clean the gunk on the speaker grills.
From My htc ONE.
Use a magnet
Sent from my HTCONE using Tapatalk 2
i forget what it's called, but i like to use the tacky putty material that is meant to be rolled into a ball to hold posters/photos on a wall.
No magnets are bad...
Sent from my HTCONE using xda app-developers app
I've had mine at least 5 days before most people on here, and I haven't seen anything stuck in the grills of my phone. Does anyone have any pictures they can show? I'd be interested to see how big of a problem this is.
Some tips from reading this post and having this issue
I have a three week old HTC One and untill my recent trip abroad i had not noticed anything slipping into the grills of the phone on my return from spainI put it in my bag along with a bottle of Liquer and a My babys left over fomula powder... Then i dropped the BAG!
Needless to say the combination of the powder and some of the Liquer made for a horrible thick mess which covered my Phone including filling the speaker grills.
I used a toothbrush and this actually did a brilliant Job, its not 100% but i know if I do it a few more times over the next few days it will clear it.
The trick is as stated above careful strokes in one direction across the grill to drag the dirt out using a brush with fine bristles.
Do not put a Magnet anywhere near the speakers on your phone this can cause internal damage which may void your warrenty. Also the suggestion for using some form of blue tac to do this could also go very very wrong, If the tack is too warm it will stick itself into the grill and that will be indredibly difficult to get out if not impossible dependent on how hard you press down trying to remove the dirt, this can also just force the dirt futhur into your device.
The alchol based methord is also very good but be careful too much moisture and you could damage your speaker if it seeps in so its best to dry a dry toothbrush at first and only resort to some cleaning based alchols if you have dirt which simply cannot be lifted. (I will say formula when turned to a paste is incredibnly hard to remove but as with most things does dry after a few hours.)
I used a simple baby wipe on the phone afterwards to remove excess dirt from the grill once the toothbrush had done the job.
A magnet isn't going to harm your phone...
akrod2as said:
A magnet isn't going to harm your phone...
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A strong moving magnet might.
And I've gotten some... I dunno... stuff stuck in my grill, but it hasn't bothered me, usually, it disappears after a while.
Tape?
Sent from my (M7WLS) HTC ONE.
So I got my new Z3C and was thinking: what if we can make flaps and audio port more waterproof?
Doing pressure sensor test I get reading around 1000 and it's increasing by about 30-40 when I press against screen with closed flaps. But it normalizes after 1-2 seconds and goes back to initial reading meaning tiny amount of air escapes. Does it mean my phone is not totally waterproof? Don't know.
Since this phone is just fresh-water proof (meaning no using in pool or sea) and I really want to use it worry-free in all kind of water that I dare to go in myself I really want to improve waterproofness.
I'm not worried about front and back since glass should be all.kind-of-things-proof. This leaves sd card and sim card covers, audio jack, mic holes and speakers.
So what I thought of was to "grease" flaps' rubber o-rings with rubber compatible oil/grease to make better contact with phone body or use some kind of silicone spread around rubber contact area before closing flaps to have semi-permanent seal and be still able to open and scrub extra stuff off without doing much damage.
For audio jack I thought to make some kind of plug - like pressy button but with a bit bigger "head" that has soft sticky rubber underneath so when pressed in it makes a seal with the edge of audio jack or even plug that is covered with silicone all the way.
Speakers and mic holes could be protected with bits of strong adhesive tape - it's easy to get sticky stuff off the glass and it'll be possible to hear some sound even with speakers covered. Not sure about mic holes because side plastic has matte finish but some strong adhesive should still stick?
So the question - has anyone tried something remotely related? Is it thinkable? Have I missed anything important? What materials (grease, silicone) should I use?
If anyone has done something similar? Probably... But no one ever posted about it on this forum. You can use the phone in the sea and swimming pool, as long as you rinse the phone afterwards. As for modifying the phone, I wouldn't do it. It might cause you to lose your warranty.
In terms of waterproofing the phone even more, I'd look at waterproof cases made for other phones with almost similar dimensions and see if you can do something about the case instead.
Sent from my D5803
Dsteppa said:
You can use the phone in the sea and swimming pool, as long as you rinse the phone afterwards. As for modifying the phone, I wouldn't do it.
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Plenty of stories of people going in the water, damaging their phone and fighting with sony about warranty.
It's hardly modifying, adhesive sticker on glass is easily removed and thin film of silicone should be also easily removable.
Dsteppa said:
It might cause you to lose your warranty.
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Yeah... getting water inside causes that too.
Dsteppa said:
In terms of waterproofing the phone even more, I'd look at waterproof cases made for other phones with almost similar dimensions and see if you can do something about the case instead.
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That's the option. But I haven't seen any slim waterproof case that could be comfortably used all the time.
Anyway, curiosity is strong and I'll most likely try different options.
PS. can someone test pressure sensor - is reading staying high when screen is pressed or it fades back to normal with all covers closed?
I've just used mine in pool all weekends since I bought it without any issue and even without afraid of doing that! The same with my wife's Z1!
And I'm contantly opening/closing its usb port due my xposed modules development (debugging purposes)! Maybe some unlucky day I will screw it... who knows!
Ofc we always need to be sure all ports are properly closed before going to have fun!
kalamees1 said:
Plenty of stories of people going in the water, damaging their phone and fighting with sony about warranty.
It's hardly modifying, adhesive sticker on glass is easily removed and thin film of silicone should be also easily removable.
PS. can someone test pressure sensor - is reading staying high when screen is pressed or it fades back to normal with all covers closed?
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Sorry, I forgot about the pressure sensor part, it's normal that the numbers go back to normal after you lifted your finger, it works like that for everyone.
If my mind serves me right, I've seen Sony ads with the Z3C being thrown in a pool or something similar, so a pool really shouldn't be a problem. And yes of course people will have to fight for their cause at Sony, they won't just put any phone under warranty, else people would exploit that.
Dsteppa said:
Sorry, I forgot about the pressure sensor part, it's normal that the numbers go back to normal after you lifted your finger, it works like that for everyone.
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I probably expressed myself bit vaguely. Thing is that pressure reading on my phone returns back to normal WHILE HOLDING screen under pressure. Initially pressing screen creates greater pressure inside the phone, reading rises but air escapes quite quickly (1-2seconds) and pressure reading normalises. After releasing finger screen pressure sensor shows lower readings for a second until extra air seeps inside to equalise pressure again.
Hope it's clear enough.
Also, does it mean that I got less waterproof phone that it should be?
I dunno about you but i've been using my camera in the pool for a while now and even for hours at times
Sent from my D5833 using XDA Free mobile app
I've used mine under water as well. OP if you're really worried about it you can send it off to liquipel and have them make the phone even more waterproof
Just looking to do some maintenance as there's a bit of build up after six months of owning it.
EvoRocker said:
Just looking to do some maintenance as there's a bit of build up after six months of owning it.
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Compressed air does wonders.
Retired toothbrush if the air doesn't get it all, then blow again
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
Almost no dust for me, but cotton swab works well.
- ooofest
I will never put compressed air through my speaker grills. That could blow right through them. A soft bristle tooth brush works nicely.
graydiggy said:
I will never put compressed air through my speaker grills. That could blow right through them. A soft bristle tooth brush works nicely.
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Not directly into them, absolutely not. Sideways, to blow the debris out.
Evolution_Tech said:
Not directly into them, absolutely not. Sideways, to blow the debris out.
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Even then it's still a risk I'm not willing to take. Debris flying around inside could also damage the speakers as well as high pressure air moving through the device possibly knocking off components like SMD caps or even the LED.
I like the tooth brush idea. I laughed at the "retired" reference lol
Any soft-bristled brush will do. Check out an art supplies store.
I got some toothpaste stuck in the earpiece grill by trying to clean scratches near it. The paste's dry for sure, tried using a toothbrush, a needle, 3M tape, damp cloth. The sound is still good, but the looks bother me. All of the ideas are appreciated. Thank you.
Can't upload an IMG because I'm a new user.
idubis said:
I got some toothpaste stuck in the earpiece grill by trying to clean scratches near it. The paste's dry for sure, tried using a toothbrush, a needle, 3M tape, damp cloth. The sound is still good, but the looks bother me. All of the ideas are appreciated. Thank you.
Can't upload an IMG because I'm a new user.
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I'd try a combination of brushing with a toothbrush and canned air. Don't blow the air straight into the earpiece though, keep it at an angle.
I'm tempted to say you 'should' be able to use a little rubbing alcohol, like the 91% kind. Do it with phone off and wait for it to totally dry before turning phone back on.
Alcohol bath is used on internal circuits to dry them when they have been exposed to water (before corrosion could set in) - so that's why I'm guessing a SMALL amount should be okay for your situation.
Q-tip and some rubbing alcohol
DON'T use any kind of alcohol on your screen, because it will ruin your oleophobic coating!
If feel comfortable with opening back cover, just remove mainboard, earpiece AND the little piece of clothing witch covers the space between grill and earpiece itself.. You will see a lot of dust stucked there. Clean with toothbrush and alcohol FREE liquid follow reverse procedure.
I recently bought phone. Since there is no screen protector for note 9 in my around, i temporary plug a protector for note 8 with nano luqiud with glue and uv light. Problem is does note 9 speakers give both same amount of db and my phone's upper speaker went a little less powerful since liquid leaked into speaker. Or It is normal to upper speaker have a little bit less sound? Sorry for my grammer.
If you spilled the glue into the speaker it will probably sound lower than normal. I don't notice a difference in loudness between the top and bottom speaker.
The upper speaker pushes less db than the main firing speaker. The waterproofing fabric for the speaker is deeper inside than the Note 8. If you look in with a light, you can see a gap between the actual grill and the waterproofing fabric for the speaker. If glue got in there I'm afraid the only way you can get it out is by taking the device apart.
Also, with these type of speakers and the waterproofing material being used, once liquid touches the fabric, the sound is dampened out because there is no longer free vibration of the fabric to let the sound travel, aka sound "loud."
xXECHOXx said:
I recently bought phone. Since there is no screen protector for note 9 in my around, i temporary plug a protector for note 8 with nano luqiud with glue and uv light. Problem is does note 9 speakers give both same amount of db and my phone's upper speaker went a little less powerful since liquid leaked into speaker. Or It is normal to upper speaker have a little bit less sound? Sorry for my grammer.
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Use some alcohol and a tooth brush to scrub out the glue. Then, blow it out with a can of compressed air. accidentally got some glue in my S9+ doing a rush job and the speaker wasn't as loud. This rectified the problem. You may have to scrub and spray repeatedly a few times, but I managed to get mine cleaned out.
bsims85 said:
Use some alcohol and a tooth brush to scrub out the glue. Then, blow it out with a can of compressed air. accidentally got some glue in my S9+ doing a rush job and the speaker wasn't as loud. This rectified the problem. You may have to scrub and spray repeatedly a few times, but I managed to get mine cleaned out.
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Using compressed air, make sure you don't damage the top speaker's delicate diaphragm (the extremely thin material that moves and creates the sound). If you tear or warp it, the top speaker quality will be worse, and sound distorted. It happened to my friends S9 when he had water in it from going for a swim and forcefully blew in it with his mouth to get the water out. It never recovered.
DareDevil01 said:
Using compressed air, make sure you don't damage the top speaker's delicate diaphragm (the extremely thin material that moves and creates the sound). If you tear or warp it, the top speaker quality will be worse, and sound distorted. It happened to my friends S9 when he had water in it from going for a swim and forcefully blew in it with his mouth to get the water out. It never recovered.
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why would you want to use compressed air to push the water even more in the device/part again?