I had a media splash ( electroPioreactor/Media at main · amy-bo/electroPioreactor · GitHub + Medan potassium acetate). Prior to realising that I must power off, I was getting green and yellow lights on the RPi but the blue LED on the HAT would not light. I have attempted to dry the boards at 37C and can now see what appears to be residue. Should I attempt to scrub off the residue (and any hidden inside the 40 pin header, etc.) with DI water and a cotton swab, then with 90% isopropyl alcohol, then dry, prior to reassembly and running self_test?
Sorry @Bingqiao a similar thing happened to me when I connected my CO2 cylinder to the gas out port, and media spurted from the sparger tube. That’s one reason I now advocate strict usage of female luer locks for inlets and male for outlets. Probably safest only pumping in/out media if the vial is in the pioreactor.
I presume you have also inspected the bottom of the HAT PCB? If it’s clear then my guess would be that cleaning the HAT would be worthwhile. Either @gerrit or @CamDavidsonPilon would be better qualified than me to advise on the cleaning procedure. I’d recommend posting this on forum.pioreactor.com too, as wet HATs must be a common issue. There much harder to come by than RPis.
As for the RPi, I’m never one to waste things, so I’d personally have a go at cleaning it too. AI will probably say it’s corroded beyond repair, but I’m hopeful that what we are seeing is dry media rather than water damage. I’d be tempted to order another RPi and HAT now anyway, to avoid delays (since drying takes a long time, particularly if you don’t have vacuum desiccant) and so you have some spares in case of future mishaps.
My apologies for the late reply. I was wondering if compressed air would help in any way to get rid of the particles. Also, drying the board in a closed tub with rice might help as well.
Hi @SandrineH I should had suggested compressed air (assuming they have a dry, oil & particle free supply). @Bingqiao did at my suggestion take the board home and try dried rice, as he couldn’t find desiccant in the lab. I’ve used that successfully in the past, but Gerrit subsequently pointed out some recent thinking on rice: Rice Is for Dinner, Not Repair - iFixit
I think the main issue Bingqiao had though was that this was media with high mineral content. As such I believe it needed DI water swabbing/soaking prior to isopropyl alcohol swabbing/soaking prior to a thorough natural drying (ideally in a desiccant vacuum chamber) before attempting to power up again.
How did it go in the end @Bingqiao ?
Oh, speaking of which, has everyone seen that the price of 4GB+ RPi’s has gone up again? Fortunately the RPi Zero 2WH’s use different RAM so they haven’t been affected, but I ordered a couple of RPi5’s yesterday from CPC in kits that hadn’t yet been repriced.