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Spilled Energy drink on MBP

BatGesh

BatGesh

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 5, 2017
10
2
Alright.... so..
Spilled a bit of energy drink on my MBP 2012 15’ Around the area on the keyboard from the letter A to F.
I insta shut it off (held the powerbutton)
Wiped the sh-t off, with soaking thing( i dont know how its called in english) not a spunge, then i wiped it with paper towels
Opened it up, disconnected the battery
Now its in upside down L on paper towels

I will open it up ina couple of hours to see whats going on.

Any advice besides, hope for the best, gentlemen ?

Can i remove the logic board and battery and clean the rest with watter and dry 48 hours or so ?
 
energy drink must be one of worse.

distilled water or isopropanol might help clean the logic board if you are able to remove it carefully.

think you did good turn off and pull battery.
 
Definitely need to inspect and clean the logic board with Isopropyl alcohol and water mix (rubbing alcohol is 70% IPA and 30% water). Drying alone does not get rid of the contaminants left behind (sugar and whatever else is dissolved in an energy drink). If left alone, the contaminant continue to eat away at the solder joints and copper traces and you may end up with a dead logic board.
 
Okay, so its been about an hour on the paper towels and not a single drop is on them

Maybe its only on the keyboard... hope it is
 
Oh yes ofcourse.
I will open it up just to see if there is any liquid on the logic board
I will afterwards clean it With the rubbing alcohol
 
Hopefully just on keyboard. The keyboard backlight is between the keyboard and the logic board. So you may have:

1) Keyboard backlight a little dimmer in that area
2) Some crunchy keys from the crystallized sugar on the scissor mechanism

Good luck!
 
Plan on having to pop the keys off and clean them with water. Hopefully not too much sticky stiff got down in the switches.

If you have never removed the keys watch a Youtube video on it. Some have wire clips, some do not.
 
Audit13 said:
I recommend using pure isopropyl alcohol. If you need to use water, I recommend distilled water. Dry the parts in a bag of desiccant.
Click to expand...

You need some water since it is a sugar based drink. Pure IPA Is not a solvent for sugar but water is. The IPA acts as a surface tension reducer. If you use rubbing alcohol then it is distilled water in the mix. If you are using pure IPA then absolutely use distilled water to make the mix.
 
Dadioh said:
You need some water since it is a sugar based drink. Pure IPA Is not a solvent for sugar but water is. The IPA acts as a surface tension reducer. If you use rubbing alcohol then it is distilled water in the mix. If you are using pure IPA then absolutely use distilled water to make the mix.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the information.

I did not see mention of whether the energy drink was sugar-free and wasn't sure if water would be necessary.

I have successfully cleaned a few Macbook Air logic boards using only pure IPA. I don't know what was actually spilled on the boards as I purchased them from Craigslist so this is probably the reason water wasn't necessary in my case.
 
The energy drink had sugar
So i mix the rubbing alcholo with some distilled water or did i misunderstand ?
 
Last edited:
BatGesh said:
The energy drink had sugar
So i mix the rubbing alcholo with some distilled water or did i misunderstand ?
Click to expand...

Rubbing alcohol already has water. 70% IPA and 30% water. You can also buy 99.9% pure IPA but then you want to turn it into rubbing alcohol by adding distilled water. Easier just to use rubbing alcohol. I use my hot air soldering tool set to 100C and held about 6 inches from board to quickly dry everything after the scrub.

Water is the universal solvent (no coincidence that life is water based :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Samuelsan2001
Okay okay, massive thanks for all the advice
I will open it up in a bit
Fingers crossed for no liquid on the logic board
 
BatGesh said:
Sorry for triple posting
Alright, so basically the keys & the trackpad are a bit sticky
What i am worried about is, what if there is some on the battery, because i dont have the screw to access it.
If there is, only the battery will die ?
& will clean the keys individually and i will buy a screw to remove the battery and clean underneath the trackpad.

https://ibb.co/ekVS8m
https://ibb.co/j9tEom
https://ibb.co/d1quom
https://ibb.co/jVZ9M6
https://ibb.co/n9kuom
https://ibb.co/dAA5uR
Click to expand...

If it’s on the battery it could blow the board.
 
Samuelsan2001 said:
If it’s on the battery it could blow the board.
Click to expand...
Explain that one? I find this unlikely, the battery cells are pretty well sealed and even if the liquid got in a cell and damaged it, it won’t hurt your computer because there is a voltage regulator.
 
MichaelDT said:
Explain that one? I find this unlikely, the battery cells are pretty well sealed and even if the liquid got in a cell and damaged it, it won’t hurt your computer because there is a voltage regulator.
Click to expand...
It can corrode very quickly the battery connections if it gets in there and short the battery providing a power surge and shorting a component in the logic board it’s not likely it’s just possible.
 
Alright gentlemen, so i bought me a Y screwdriver.
Opened up the battery, fortunately there was pretty much nothing on it, or atleast nothing that could endanger it

There was some dried energydrink on the cable, for the side button that shows battery "percentage"
the button was sticky as well though.
So i cleaned it & the trackpad, they are working/clicking as before.

The only complain i have is the keyboard is a bit.... too clickly if i can express myself that way.
Maybe i will just replace it in the near future, otherwise everything seems to be working fine.
I'm charging it for half an hour now and no problems whatsoever.
 
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