Is this really water corrosion?

[PowerPoet]

Long story short, my Droid Razr was acting up (e.g. freezing randomly, battery draining like crazy while idle), so I decided to send in my phone for a replacement. I was quite happy with the replacement, but then I found out Verizon planned to charge me $299 for "water damage with corrosion." Attached is the pic. I had checked my old phone thoroughly before I sent it in and was pretty sure everything was fine, even the HDMI port. Can water corrosion form that extraneous stuff around the port? Can that even happen given how the durability and high build quality of the Razr was the highlight of its marketing campaign? Seriously, it looks like a piece of lint just got entangled with the port. What do you guys think?

View attachment 55789

 

[UrbanBounca]

Yes, it's corrosion, not lint.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

 

[dezymond]

Definitely not lint, judging by that pic at least. And as durable as the Razr is, that is pretty much an exposed part of the phone as it's a port.

 

[PowerPoet]

Thanks for the comments guys. I just thought this damage could not have happened given the only water contact my phone had was with light rain a couple of times, each time for no longer than half a minute. Are these ports not made of water resistant material? Also, if rain caused the corrosion, why wasn't the charger port affected?

 

[UrbanBounca]

Thanks for the comments guys. I just thought this damage could not have happened given the only water contact my phone had was with light rain a couple of times, each time for no longer than half a minute. Are these ports not made of water resistant material? Also, if rain caused the corrosion, why wasn't the charger port affected?

The rain may have caused the corrosion on the HDMI port, but what does that have to do with the charge port? Just because one is damaged doesn't mean they both are.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

 

[TisMyDroid]

I would tend to think the same thing... it seems that if one was so damaged they both would be. But then you have the problem that some materials are more susceptible to corrosion than others and that the charging port being used on a frequent basis where the hdmi port is not would give that port the time to develop corrosion. The thing that I struggle with here is how is it that corrosion on the hdmi port would cause freezing and battery drain, unless of course water was able to seep inside.

Sent from my AT100 using Droid Forums

 

[dezymond]

Thanks for the comments guys. I just thought this damage could not have happened given the only water contact my phone had was with light rain a couple of times, each time for no longer than half a minute. Are these ports not made of water resistant material? Also, if rain caused the corrosion, why wasn't the charger port affected?

Maybe you got water in the HDMI port but none in the USB port. And to my knowledge I don't believe these ports are water resistant, as you found out the hard way.

Galaxy Nexus using DF app

 

[FoxKat]

Remember, corrosion is accelerated by dissimilar metals either in contact or close proximity, salt, and either added or chemically created electric charge. Since the HDMI port is likely carrying some level of electrical current all the time, water would act as a conductor and allow the current to create a corrosive atmosphere between the G old plated Copper contacts and the Steel collar into which the plug fits.

This also explains the battery drain...the corrosion would create an electrically conductive bridge between the pin on the contacts that is electrically charged and the socket sleeve which is likely grounded.

As for why the USB port didn't also suffer corrosion, especially since it had all the same parts, it happens all the time in the real world. Open the battery compartment of an old remote control and you'll often see corrosion on one or the other battery contacts. On equipment stored outside, one part will rust (a form of oxidation or corrosion), another part shows no signs of corrosion. On a car battery, typically one terminal has corrosion, the other has none.

As for that photo, it isn't clear enough for me to confirm that it's corrosion.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

[AECRADIO]

What you have, appears to be FOD, or foreign object damage as we call it in the aviation trade. You sppear to have a conductive piece of 'something' in the HDMI port, and yes, ANY conductive material can drain the battery, short the video circuit and strain the device, as well as cause direct failure.

A small toothbrush or toothpick should be able to clear away this, and then try to clean the port with deionized water, or clear alcohol, and of course, with the battery removed!

Dry thoroughly and then restart the phone and connect the HDMI port to your TV to see if it still functions.

Since the actual amount of current used by this port will be minimal, your phone should not have suffered catastrophic failure, but it could disable the HDMI port from functioning.