So anyway I washed my new Garmin HRM

Tree Scape

A few weeks ago in the washing machine by accident. And now my Garmin is not picking up any signal.
Dried it (HRM) out and even undid the 4 little screws to access the battery area. There appeared to be small bits of rust / discoloration of the battery contact and circuitry inside.

I presume its wrecked:mad:

Anyone been able to rescue one from a similar situation?

ThisRegard

Do you mean your chest strap or the unit? If the actual HRM strap then they're supposed to be washed very 4 or 5 uses anyway.

Cee-Jay-Cee

Did you fit a new battery and clean the contact points?

Tree Scape

everything, strap and HRM unit went in.....new batteries easy to come by?

godtabh

Tree Scape wrote: »

everything, strap and HRM unit went in.....new batteries easy to come by?

I think its the cr2032 batteries that can be picked up any where

mossym

they are waterproof, i wear mine for the swim portion of triathlons all the time. may be that the water pressure in the washing machine forced some through the seal. or that the chemicals in the washing powder caused an issue. it's definitely not a problem to get them wet/submerged though.

Macy0161

Looked this up, as I have tri's in my schedule this year. They're supposed to be waterproof, even if they won't work in the pool/ sea.

https://support.garmin.com/support/searchSupport/case.faces?caseId=%7B83a2a020-6ade-11dd-436f-000000000000%7D

mossym

Macy0161 wrote: »

Looked this up, as I have tri's in my schedule this year. They're supposed to be waterproof, even if they won't work in the pool/ sea.

https://support.garmin.com/support/searchSupport/case.faces?caseId=%7B83a2a020-6ade-11dd-436f-000000000000%7D

they work just fine, they just don't have the power to communicate with the watch in the water. there are versions that store your hr and transmit it after you get out of the water.

so i'm surprised the op had an issue

ThisRegard

OP, if your unit itself ok, and the issue is just with the HRM?

Tree Scape

won't make the mistake of not taking the unit off the strap before washing again!
Will try a new battery and see how i get on pairing it again....the inside didn't look great through, thats why i think that water may have got into the unit.

Alek

I'd flush it (with the battery removed!!!) with distilled water a few times, to get rid of any residual washing detergent. Then dry thoroughly and try a new battery.

mossym

leave it open and place near a radiator for a day or two before you put in the new battery.

Tree Scape

Cheers, will do...

CramCycle

Distilled water rinse, followed by an ethanol rinse, maybe lightly sand the contact points and blow out, and repeat. Leave to dry in a warm (but not humid area). Put in a new battery and reconnect the strap.

68 lost souls

In a bag with rice in the hot press. The rice should absorb the moisture. It may be likely that the spin cycle did the damage though.

CramCycle

Alek wrote: »

I'd flush it (with the battery removed!!!) with distilled water a few times, to get rid of any residual washing detergent. Then dry thoroughly and try a new battery.

68 lost souls wrote: »

In a bag with rice in the hot press. The rice should absorb the moisture. It may be likely that the spin cycle did the damage though.

As Alek said, there is a reasonable chance of residue that will most likely cause salt deposits, leading to quicker degradation of contact points.

This should be rinsed out throughly before drying

ThisRegard

68 lost souls wrote: »

In a bag with rice in the hot press. The rice should absorb the moisture. It may be likely that the spin cycle did the damage though.

The rice thing is pretty much an urban myth, won't make much more of a difference than just putting it in a hotpress.

Alek

The rice thing is pretty much an urban myth

It is quite efficient desiccant and will remove moisture from inside of devices at normal temperatures. But it must be very dry itself - I "bake" it at 120C in the oven for half an hour before drying stuff with it.

AFAIK hot press will only reduce moisture content to the ambient level, so if your flat is damp, it won't go any further than this. Rice can go lower.

Silica gel is much more effective still.

ThisRegard

Yeah, no beating silica gel, but everything I've read on the rice thing points to it not being of much use.

I've recovered a phone that took a bath and two laptops that had encounters with either tea or water by just using a hot press and they all came out fine. Even places that say that rice works aren't consistent as to if dry or cooked rice should be used.

I think it's pretty much positive bias. The phones/electronics likely would have dried out anyway.

Alek

Toasted rice turns out to be half as effective as silica gel according to this experiment: www.gardenorganic.org.uk/pics/HSLDesiccantTrial

Also: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF02357312

Just a quick link pulled from the web.

mossym

Alek wrote: »

AFAIK hot press will only reduce moisture content to the ambient level, so if your flat is damp, it won't go any further than this.

which would be the conditions the item is working in anyway in normal operation.

you're really trying to dry out excess water, most electronics are tested to a certain level of humidity anyway so complete removal of all moisture isn't the goal.

hot press or close to a heat source for a few days does the trick

68 lost souls

TO be serious though yes silica is better but if you have none on hand its a god substitute.

Washing the contacts is also important as has been stated as the contaminants could cause issues. A new battery is probably a must as it may have leaked.

I would still be worried about the spin cycle damage though as depending on where the HRM was in the load it could have gotten some serious knocks off the drum and or window.

Tree Scape

nah, its shagged!
tried flushing, drying, cleaning contact points, new battery, but nada.
Not only did i wash it, but it sat in the washer for maybe a little longer than normal (the missus was working)

mossym

i'd start to suspect that it may have been the banging it got in the machine rather than the water ingress may have done for it

ThisRegard

Tree Scape wrote: »

but it sat in the washer for maybe a little longer than normal (the missus was working)

I'm picturing you at home sitting watching the TV muttering about your wife needing to hurry home to empty the washing machine, dishwasher and put the bloody dinner on.

nialljf

might jump in to this thread: is it ok to leave cadence and speed sensors on bike when washing it? i assume they are waterproof anyway

mossym

nialljf wrote: »

might jump in to this thread: is it ok to leave cadence and speed sensors on bike when washing it? i assume they are waterproof anyway

wouldn't hit them full on with a pressure washer, but a normal hose shouldn't be any issue

all waterproofing is done to a pressure level. they usually get rated to a certain depth, but thats because deeper = more pressure and people can judge depth. so normal hose pressure shouldn't be any issue as it would be close to rain. power washer could drive water through seals as the pressure is higher.

shouldn't be using pressure washer on bike anyway, not good for the hubs

nialljf

mossym wrote: »

wouldn't hit them full on with a pressure washer, but a normal hose shouldn't be any issue

all waterproofing is done to a pressure level. they usually get rated to a certain depth, but thats because deeper = more pressure and people can judge depth. so normal hose pressure shouldn't be any issue as it would be close to rain. power washer could drive water through seals as the pressure is higher.

shouldn't be using pressure washer on bike anyway, not good for the hubs

thanks. i wash the bike by hand mostly.

CramCycle

POSTS DELETED

MOD VOICE: Lets not go down that route of posting sexist comments, even if no harm was intended

Mercian Pro

68 lost souls wrote: »

It may be likely that the spin/cycle did the damage though.

Mods - comments like this should not go unpunished. This is meant to be a pro-cycling zone.

Eamonnator

^^^^^^^^^

Post of the day.

fat bloke

Coincidentally, my wife realised yesterday her garmin 500 had gone through a full wash in her jersey pocket and amazingly it's still working fine!