My RAM / memory sticks got wet, can I still use them?
I had a small pile of accumulated, salvaged desktop RAM / memory sticks sitting on my desk. I made the apparently unwise decision to drink my triple-extra-large sody-pop near them, and to my demise, my desk got flooded with the sticky crud.
A couple of the sticks got wet; I dabbed them dry, but once they have dried out further, are they still usable? Do I risk motherboard sparks flying and BSODs popping?
I'm thinking because the memory was not powered at the time, and no electrical charge was present through my Coke-ductive puddle, I could simply dry them off and use them later. Or could I?
Maybe some isopropyl alcohol could be used to dry them off?
They'll be usable if you haven't created any new electrical paths. That means:
- No corrosion, which creates new paths
- No leftover liquid, which would be conductive
To address the corrosion, you'll have wanted to make sure you cleaned them quickly and thoroughly, especially as you mentioned you spilled soda, which is acidic and hence will tend to oxidize metals.
To address the leftover liquid, any environment to encourage evaporation at a relatively high rate (elevated temperatures, low humidity, and no weathering - i.e. high sunlight, etc) should be fine. If you can't do the temperature, you can place the RAM sticks on a few handfuls of rice grains, or use other similar drying tricks that you might use for cell phones and devices dropped in water.
Wash them off with clean water immediately (soda can be acidic and can do damage if not removed). Then dry them with a hair dryer, being careful not to get them too hot. Let them sit a few hours just in case there's any stray moisture around, say trapped under chips. If you get them thoroughly clean and dry, they should be okay.
I would as quickly as possible rinse briefly with distilled water (or clean tap water, if distilled isn't immediately available), then rinse briefly with rubbing alcohol (to help remove the water). Dry 24 hours in a slightly warm (not hot) location (eg, near your PC exhaust) before attempting to use.
Your two big hazards are that the phosphoric acid in pop is highly corrosive of printed circuit like stuff (hence the urgency to rinse off) and you may leave a conductive residue if the sugar, et al, is not rinsed off completely.
(I'd also be tempted to apply a very thin coat of silicone "high voltage grease" (from an auto parts place) to the contacts, to discourage corrosion.) (And, no, the grease will not "insulate" the contacts and prevent them from connecting properly.)