cat piss in a ds1

[guitarteck]

this sucks a buddy of mine brought his ds1 that his cat pissed on it didnt work, i changed the led and cleaned the piss out of it now it passes a signal but sounds real weak and intermitant and kind of a fuzzy broke kind of distortion. any ideas before i just tell him to throw it out?
Thanks

[Enzo]

DISCONNECT THE BATTERY.

Pull the circuit board out. Run warm water over it a while in the sink. You want all crystallized urine to dissolve away. COncentrate on where the fluid actually got into things. For example, if a cat pees on the controls, mainly it gets the knobs dirty, but not much really gets in the works. leaking around an LED hole is a real access point/

Look for any signs of corrosion starting. Blue copper-something crystals will form sometimes when electric current passes through an electrolyte like urine.

After the bath, shake it out well, and let it sit to dry for a day or so. Stand the board on end to promote water rolling out from under ICs and other parts. Rap the side of the board agains the table too. That also causes water to pop out from under things. if you have shop air, use it. Rinsing with alcohol will help remove water - seriously. (And to get really anal-laboratory about it, you can use ether to remove the alcohol. I used to clean glassware in a microbiology lab)

[Mark Hammer]

The topic of pedals that were victims of sinkings, or basement floods, has come up repeatedly over the years. Some excellent suggestions for removing excess water that you juuuuuust can't seem to wipe off include:
a) sticking the circuit board in a sealed sandwich bag with uncooked rice to absorb the leftover moisture
b) sticking the circuit board in a sealed sandwich bag with a couple of packs of dessicant that often accompanies new electrical appliances or large containers of medication.

It'll take a couple of days for the magic ingredients to do their trick, but you don't really have to "do" anything for them to work. Just wait patiently. Note that everything above assumes you followed Enzo's suggestions for getting the cat piss out first.

Damn cats!!

[Enzo]

I think we all have our cat piss stories.

I once had a lady bring in a Yamaha keyboard - one of those PSR series with the accompaniment stuff. The cat had peed all down into the keyboard, and she was so afraid her husband would find out, she wrapped it in a blanket and hid it in a closet for several months. Eventually the piss hit the fan, so to speak. She brought it in still in the blanket - which I sent home with her.

I soaked the thing for three days. The urine had had plenty of time to eat into the plastic of the unit, partially dissolving spots. Circuit boards were corroded. Nothing pleasant about the job.

I made it work, but I told her I could do nothing about the smell. I suggested leaving it out in the garage for a couple years.

Then there was a Clavinova... "The cat barfed on the keys. it worked about another half hour before it quit." EEWWWGGG.

[guitarteck]

looks like im gonna have to deem this one dead thanks for everyones help, i tried it all and just has this low buzz broke kind of distortion. no big loss I just thought it would be a challenge to try

[john487]

This is a bummer to hear! I was thinking of trying the cat piss mod.

[guitarteck]

yup didnt quite turn out for me

[Sweetfinger]

Some excellent suggestions for removing excess water that you juuuuuust can't seem to wipe off include:
a) sticking the circuit board in a sealed sandwich bag with uncooked rice to absorb the leftover moisture
b) sticking the circuit board in a sealed sandwich bag with a couple of packs of dessicant that often accompanies new electrical appliances or large containers of medication.

By the time those dessicant packs get to you, they're all used up. In order to use them again, you have to re-activate them by heating in an oven.

I use water, then shop air, then a spray electronics cleaner, then more air. Input/output jacks get Deoxit as well. If the electronics were off when the whiz hit, this usually brings 'em back. If they were operating during/after the "shower" there's greater likelihood that something got a little current or voltage that it shouldn't have.

[David Schwab]

The moral of the story is; get your cat spayed or neutered and they will stop peeing in the house (except in their litter box). Especially male cats. Don't ask me how I know this!