#1

This weekend I bought me new korg volca drum and I love it. I was enjoying it together with my friends when one of them spilled beer on it. We immediately turned it head down and removed the batteries.

The lights on it all froze and I was sure it was gone. I left it to dry for a couple of hours and then it turned on just fine but you couldn’t turn it off no more, I mean when I tried to turn it off the led just froze and you couldn’t use it no more and you had to remove the batteries and turn it on again to be able to use it again.

I did not like this at all, but slept on it and the next day it worked and it is still working just fine…I mean, I am happy, but what the hell happened and can I trust this machine to work well from now on? What was that?

#2

it could be anything. there might have been some residual water or conductive material that was shorting some part of the power distribution which prevented it from turning off once power was applied. i would assume its all surface mount so the connections are really tiny so even a little bit of water could change things drastically. if its working fine now then you should PROBABLY be good, but i would keeping watching it for erratic behavior before taking it to a live show.

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#3

I spilled a cup of coffee on my OP-Z right after I got it while watching the Cuckoo tutorial. I had to send it in and I still don’t have it :slightly_frowning_face:

So I’d have to say feel fortunate that your Volca likes beer, even if it got a little tipsy :laughing:

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#4

You could always do the “Put it in a bag of rice overnight” thing that people do for submerged phones, etc.

(The idea being the rice will soak up residual moisture)

Dunno how hard it is to take apart the Volca’s, but you could open it up and do a little swabbing with isopropyl alcohol just to be sure it’s not got any residual gunk on the board.

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#5

Couldn’t help but think of this pedal which has a ‘beer mode’

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#6

I might be wrong but the rice thing is possibly a myth

#7

So, does the trick work? In 2014, Gazelle.com ran a semi-formal test that indicated it didn’t. Of the seven household desiccants they tested, uncooked rice was the least absorbent, behind cat litter, couscous, oatmeal, and instant rice.

Can rice actually save your wet phone?

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#8

Oops - I didn’t know that was a myth. Thanks for setting me straight.

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#9

I can readily assure you that 2 years ago I put my recently dropped in the toilet iPhone in a bag of rice, based both on my own assumption and the advice of like 40000 other people.

It’s on par with shaking a Polaroid to make it develop faster. Never did that actually work, yet millions of people did it for decades.

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#10

My wife spilled a baby milk bottle on her new Macbook Pro earlier this year. She turned it off immediately and then left it upside down with enough ventilation for almost a week. It ended up working just fine (a couple of keys got sticky but she luckily got them changed for free at an Apple store).

If you make sure the thing does not get turned on while there’s still humidity that could cause short circuits and fry things, you mostly have to worry about the residues from the liquid…

#11

if you have an Air conditioner id stick it under that for a night

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#12

volcas are quite easy to open, would recommend the isopropyl alcohol method as well

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#13

Put it under your armpit. I don’t know if it helps it develop faster, but Ralph Steadman used to do this in order to manipulate Polaroids for his “Paranoids” series (see http://www.tcj.com/ralph-steadman-into-the-gentle-darkness/).

This doesn’t mean anyone should put their Volcas under their armpit - it probably has an effect on the resale value.

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#14

Haha, certainly no call out intended!
It’s definitely one of those tips that totally sounds like it should work.

#15

Now this one might be legitimate; certainly the old Polaroid films developed with altered contrast and saturation at different ambient temperatures. Later films were much more chemically stable.

#16

After I solder together a circuit board I often gently scrub it with a soft toothbrush and isopropyl alcohol, then rinse it off with distilled water. You might want to give that a try if it starts acting up. But I’d avoid getting the non-sealed mechanical parts (potentiometers, etc) wet.

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#17

That one’s legit. The polaroid land cameras even came with a metal sleeve you could clamp around the polaroid and stick in a pocket or under your arm, for a nice even heat distribution.

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#18

Interesting; I’d not heard of this accessory. Was this for pre-integral film?

#19

Yup, for the peel-apart pack film.

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#20

The sticky stuff is really not good for electronics. A few years ago I spilled a bottle of Buckfast on my brand new laptop - immediately pulled the battery, ran to the sink and rinsed the whole thing under cold water. Followed by an isopropyl alcohol bath. Had to replace the keyboard but the laptop is still going strong (Lenovo W520).