The Story of 3 Fried Phones

[SJPoe]

The below requirements for IP ratings are very loosey goosey

I mean, even their weasel words imply that the device should continue to operate...at some point...

"In general, if any water has entered, it shall not be sufficient to interfere with the correct operation of the equipment or impair safety"

The weasel is they say the charge ports etc are 'drain holes' and once the device 'drains' the device should be fine. Except the 'draining' in my case took a week...in silica gel because you essentially have to wait for it to evaporate as the unit is practically sealed...just not sealed enough to stop the water getting IN...

Meanwhile, my Fujifilm XP90 camera, apparently slightly lower IPX8 rated, has successfully filmed underwater, in lazy rivers, for multiple years, with not a single issue, and never had to get with the silica gel.

YMMV

Yeah...but I'd advise NOT going for a dip with that new $1500 phone....

 

[Bperry]

The acceptance criteria for water ingress states nothing to do with operational impact. It is solely based on the amount of water that is permitted to enter the casement. There are a lot of weasel words in there that let the relevant technical committee decide if it passes or not. The upshot being IP ratings are at best, a guesstimate. We used to require other testing on equipment - NEBS compliance. Network Equipment-Building System testing. That was a lot more specific. You light the thing on fire in a specific way, it has to self extinguish in a given time frame with self-extinguish defined. It has to emit an upper threshold of EMF at a certain range, etc. The below requirements for IP ratings are very loosey goosey

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I do a lot of work designing products that meet various IP ratings and have been in the lab watching the test procedures so I’m at least a little familiar with it. Maybe NEBS has different requirements. The labs I have things certified are in Asia so there could be some “flexibility” of the rules there though, but there are very specific tests for each IP level you want to pass. The pass/fail criteria for consumer electronics is that if you dry off the outside and any obvious water puddles under removable covers and if it doesn’t function normally it fails. There are ways around certain aspects that marketing uses to say the “front side of the device is IP65” which usually is kinda silly when the front side is a piece of glass like a touchscreen because glass is waterproof anyway.

 

[Mdragger88]

Time for a waterproof case.
My iphone se (various versions) has been swimming a few times between the hot tub and pool with no ill effects.
All our phones get cases & screen protectors immediately because if it can happen it will lol

 

[Kaptain]

Did you get the S20 used? If so maybe the screen had been replaced and not properly sealed...

I haven't dropped phones in pools but I lost one in the river.
Dropped my phone off a 6' ladder on a Friday ruining the screen. Had my wife buy me a new phone that same day.
Saturday morning I un-boxed the new phone and moved all my stuff over. Later that morning I went boating with friends and dropped it in the river...
I know the frustration.

 

[SJPoe]

Did you get the S20 used? If so maybe the screen had been replaced and not properly sealed...

Brand spanking new pretty much on release day....

 

[PoolGate]

Did you get the S20 used? If so maybe the screen had been replaced and not properly sealed...

I haven't dropped phones in pools but I lost one in the river.
Dropped my phone off a 6' ladder on a Friday ruining the screen. Had my wife buy me a new phone that same day.
Saturday morning I un-boxed the new phone and moved all my stuff over. Later that morning I went boating with friends and dropped it in the river...
I know the frustration.

It was brand new in a factory sealed box.

 

[Kaptain]

It was brand new in a factory sealed box.

Man that's a rare find.