Wet camera help

[harper]

Hi all

Whilst trying to take some photos this afternoon I slipped on some wet rocks and my new canon 60d camera which was in my hands fell into a puddle, however I was extremely quick with getting up the camera was wiped down and dried as soon as possible

Even after doing that it still won't turn on all the time.

So I was wondering what I should do to it since this has happened??

[ElectricImages]

DO NOT TURN IT ON UNTIL IT IS DRY.

It isn't the water that kills electronics. It is either short-circuiting, due to power going where it should not, or corrosion due to water helping to oxidise components within the device. I will add more information shortly as an edit, but I wanted to get this to you ASAP.

EDIT/more information:

If you turn on your camera or other electronic device while it is wet, you risk damaging electronic components due to short-circuiting, as the water bridges electronic components and, particularly in high-voltage devices, the power can "jump" across these bridges of moisture and damage sensitive components that cannot take the higher voltages.

The most important thing, therefore, is to NOT turn on an electronic device that has been exposed to water. Instead:

Immediately remove the battery from the device, and any other power sources
Try to dry out the device as much as possible before attempting to restore power to the device

Of secondary importance is drying the device as fast as possible, without using heat (which can also damage electronics). Letting the water stay inside an electronic device can encourage oxidisation or corrosion of elements inside the device, and this can cause some circuits to break, damaging your device. However, heat can also damage electronic devices, can speed up corrosion, and can evaporate moisture which condenses elsewhere in the electronics (commonly, behind the glass, for example), so using heat to assist with the drying process is not recommended. Instead:

Dry off the device as much as possible using normal, non-invasive techniques. Towel-dry it, shake or drain as much water out of it as possible.
Open up any battery covers or openable areas and try to dry these out also
If you can safely open up a case without damaging it, do so
Place the device inside a sealed container containing a dessicating agent, e.g. silica gel-packs, silica cat-litter crystals, or raw, dry rice. Take measures to prevent any dessicating agent from actually getting inside your device, of course (the silica gel packs are pretty straightforward, but if you're using cat-litter or rice, make sure dust from it won't be getting inside your device!).

The dessicating agent will dry the air around the device, so that as moisture naturally evaporates inside the device, the moisture is drawn out of it without it condensing elsewhere inside the device.

Depending on how much water has gotten into the device, this drying may take a few days. Leave it until you think it has had plenty of time to dry out internally. No harm is done to the device by leaving it for a longer period of time.

Once it is dry internally, refit your device with its batteries and test it to see if it works. You have the best chance of success if you've followed the steps above. :)

[harper]

Thanks for that, I have turned it on a few times so I will be sure not to again for a couple of days

Just hope that I haven't caused any problems by turning it on

[MarkChap]

Was it salt water ?
If yes, you can probably kiss it good bye unfortunately.

The best method is as described above, get a large container 2-3 times larger than your camera, put some raw rice inside, then the camera and then fill with rice

[harper]

Was fresh water and the camera was not submersed it was more like a large splash over the camera