How to wash and dry a dirty console motherboard

[bacteria]

When game consoles get old and treated badly, the boards can get very mucky indeed, and when the muck also gets into the game port, games probably won't load reliably anymore.

This video shows how to wash and dry a console motherboard.

The video shows a very dirty Sega Master System console board, before, after and after a quick A/V mod (more on that later).

The principles are the same for any console system; open system up, remove board, wash, leave to dry, re-assemble.

[Orion Pimpdaddy]

I once had to clean an Atari 2600 board because there were dead roaches inside.

[Archimboldi]

I once had to clean an Atari 2600 board because there were dead roaches inside.

had the same thing happen with a slim PS2. Really, really gross stuff. I think they had a nest in there because it was covered in roach filth and parts.

[bacteria]

Surprising the roaches didn't cause a short, eg decomposition

[Orion Pimpdaddy]

Surprising the roaches didn't cause a short, eg decomposition

I think they did cause a short because the 2600 didn't work until I cleaned the remains out. There were no signs of any permanent damage though. I had bought the system used at a flea market.

[Purkeynator]

I about had a heart attack when I saw him just dunk the board in a bucket of soapy water. I can't believe it still worked. This brings up a good point. My grandpa got mad at my brother and I for playing Gameboy instead of working and he threw my Gameboy in a lunch pail full of water. It never worked again even though the power was not on at the time. I wonder why this never worked again but the master system was fine....

We did wait for a long time for it to dry before trying it but maybe it wasn't long enough.

[jb143]

If you immediately took the batteries out and took it apart to let it dry off completely (and probally washed off any residue) then there would have been a good chance it could have worked.

I've mentioned it before, but where I work, the production department routinely washes circuit boards off in a regular household dishwasher to remove solder flux. There's no power to the boards, they let them dry fully, and they don't use dishsoap of course, so there's no harm to them at all.

The whole electronics and water thing is somewhat of a myth...or at least overstated/missunderstood by the general public. The main issue is electrical power going somewhere it's not supposed to, using water as a conduit. If there's no power then there's typically no worries.

[blue lander]

I once cleaned an old Pong clone circuit board with Coca Cola and a q-tip. It worked, although it did leave a sticky residue. If coke can clean corrosion off a circuit board, it makes you wonder what it can do to your teeth...

[bacteria]

Ah, however the thing is that Cola is a liquid and passes over your teeth fast and your mouth cleans fast (saliva), what causes the harm to teeth is food and sugars that stick to your teeth for a while thereby causing decay!

[Moose]

Stupid question: What kind of soap did you use?

[bacteria]

Washing up liquid you use for dishes! (Fairy Liquid).

[Ed Oscuro]

Immersing electrical components in liquid willy-nilly is a bad idea, especially if anything's socketed or can otherwise keep water where you can't dry or blow it out.

That being said, I often carefully wash down arcade PCBs, doing my best not to get water on paper labels or inside sockets or components which aren't watertight...easy and even without detergent, waterspots aren't much of a problem. Those PCBs aren't usually dirty enough to require cleaning, but I wouldn't doubt it prevents the occasional short.

[jb143]

Immersing electrical components in liquid willy-nilly is a bad idea, especially if anything's socketed or can otherwise keep water where you can't dry or blow it out.

The key is to make sure it fully dries and lot leave standing water inside anything. With the gameboy mentioned before, taking it apart and letting it dry would have probally saved it since you could make sure all the water was out. Otherwise what water remained could have corroded/rusted various parts.

On the circuit board level it's much easier to clean because you can make sure there's no water left where it doesn't belong. Yes, willy-nilly is a bad idea but if you're carefull to let everythind dry you can even use a dishwaher like I mentioned earlier.

[aaron7]

Use rubbing alcohol. You can dunk the board in and scrub it. Blow off what you can and let it air dry.

Do not, EVER EVER EVER use water!

[bacteria]

Is rubbing alcohol expensive? recommendations?

Water is free, and works. May not be for the purists, but if it works, no problem! As mentioned in other posts, remove fans, and other mechanical components with moving parts before washing the board. If the thermal paste gets damaged, scrape it off and apply new thermal paste - probably better anyway as it will perform better than old stuff thats been on the board for the last 10 or 20 years.

Back in the mid '80's I did something stupid, spilt water onto my old Intellivision console, turned system on (I said it was stupid) system dead of course. If only I had opened the console and left the board to dry, would have been ok!

[aaron7]

Rubbing alcohol is 80c at the grocery store...

Do NOT ever use water unless you want to render your electronics trash.

Water dries WAY slower than alcohol and can sit under components (IC's, capacitors, etc) for weeks before it dries out. This will corrode your connections and fry the board if you put power to it.

Alcohol dries in a few hours.

[jb143]

Use rubbing alcohol. You can dunk the board in and scrub it. Blow off what you can and let it air dry.

Do not, EVER EVER EVER use water!

As someone who works in the electronics industry and has a degree in electrical/computer engineering, all I can say is please re-read my previous posts.

In general though, cleaning a circuit board with alcohol and something like an old toothbrush would probally be best. I wouldn't dunk it in as that would be a waste. Just use what you need. Using water cleaning methods for the filthiest boards is completely fine as long as you let it completely dry.

My point though, is that the whole water+electronics thing is something that's missunderstood by most of the general population.

[understatement]

I agree that submerging a board like this is a bad idea. The problem is the reset and power buttons getting liquid in a place where it can’t get proper air circulation thus prolonging evaporation, then you run a chance of causing rust or residues that can stop the buttons from working.

You will get the same results with running tap water and a tooth brush, you will have no chance of residues from the soap and you will have control of where the water can go.

[aaron7]

And apparently misunderstood by you as well.

Both I and my parents have worked in the electronics industry for many, many years. Both parents since the 70's. Everyone knows never to use water to clean anything electronic. Sure, technically water doesn't hurt it but only when used correctly.

Unless he's using extremely filtered water there are plenty of impurities in that water that can corrode the board and components. Not to mention my previous point that it takes forever to dry unless he's using compressed air or a heated drying oven.

Why is this even being debated? Rubbing alcohol costs the same as water and is the obvious choice. Just use it!

[jb143]

There are tons of things that "everybody knows" that simply aren't true. Yes, alcohol is the better option in most cases, and we use it all this time at work. But we also use water to clean off water soluble flux after the wave soldering process. That's what it's designed to be cleaned off with, because it won't hurt the electronics. Granted, most people here aren't washing off solder flux, but that doesn't change the facts.