Chosen Solution
My Samsung S5 was damaged by rain. Does anyone have suggestions? I checked the top/only indicator on my battery and it was red (that was what another guide told me to do) however I have no isopropyl alcohol sadly so I can’t try that. Please, anyone with a simple idea can try without isopropyl alcohol or pulling apart the phone?
@bella_014 there is no simple idea. If you want to keep your phone functioning, you will have to take it apart and clean it. If you cannot do that, give it to a professional that can clean it using an ultrasonic cleaner. The very first step I would take is to disassemble your phone. Use these guides to disassemble your phone. Take a careful and close look at all components and connectors. Truly assess the damage. Look for major corrosion, evaluate the pins in the connectors etc,. Take a look at all connectors as well as cable ends. After that I would suggest that you clean it a couple of times with 90%+isopropyl alcohol. Use a soft brush and clean it very, very thoroughly . You must remove all the EMI shields. Once you got the gross contamination cleaned, use 90%+ isopropyl alcohol and clean your parts some more. For a proper cleaning, use this guide. It was written for a Apple iPhone 3G but it is still pertinent to your phone as well. I can not stress the importance of a good cleaning enough, so do it over and over while replacing the alcohol after each cleaning. Do not use compressed air for the cleaning since that can drive liquid as well as corrosion particles into areas that will cause trouble later on. Also, you do not need to leave it to dry for a day. Isopropyl alcohol in the higher concentration will evaporate quickly and dissipate the water. The importance here is the cleaning. The best cleaning of course would be with an ultrasonic cleaner, so consider to get it professionally cleaned Do not forget to replace the battery. This is a must and not an option. It will fail if you do not take care of it now. After all the reassemble your phone and re-evaluate.
The Galaxy S5 is a pretty tightly assembled handset, meant to be water resistant (not water proof). If you’ve had it more or less completely drenched in water, but the LCD was never replaced, the main part you would worry about is the bottom of the phone where the charge port/mic are. This likely is damaged. I would not try to charge the phone. Pull the battery and let it completely dry. Allow a few days if necessary. A good place to put the phone would be an oven WITH THE FIRE TURNED OFF. It is a nice, warm and non humid environment. I am not sure what kind of damage you have experienced. But the charge port/mic is a daughterboard and it is the single most vulnerable point on this specific phone. It is a separate part that can be replaced. However, I must warn you repairing anything on this phone requires removal of the LCD/Display assembly which is a risk in itself. Once you do remove the LCD, you will have permanently lost any water resistance on this phone.
