I lap swim.
I LOVE to swim.
Swimming laps in a pool is BORING!
I was at work one day talking to a customer of mine about how boring my lap swimming is. All I do is stare blankly at the black line on the bottom of the pool, sing to myself inside my head, and play "I Spy" with the random garbage I see on the pool floor (like Band Aids!). And if I'm REALLY bored, I glance at the shoes of the people doing water aerobics.
And then she told me...
They make a WATERPROOF MP3 Player.
REALLY????
I never knew there was such a Demon!
After work that day, I went home and looked on the net to find out what on earth she was talking about. Sure enough, (I must have been living in a bubble) there they were!
You can buy a brand new, fully waterproofed, Apple IPod Shuffle for (get this!) $150.00!!
$150.00??
That's Insane.
A new, non H20 proof one runs roughly $40.00.
...And then my ever restless mind began to think.
How is it waterproofed?
Why DO electronics quit working when they hit the water?
Can I do this myself?
I spent hours searching the Internet for the answers to my questions. I scoured the websites of the companies that offer these, I have read forums of people with the same questions as me, and forums from RC Car racers that needed H20 parts for their cars. I also watched videos of people that have tried doing this themselves. I figured that since I have an old 2 gig IPod Shuffle kicking around, that I wanted to try and waterproof this myself.
Below are the steps to what I did.
Most of what I had read about doing this yourself said to use Dielectric grease. Dielectric grease is primarily used in the Automotive world on spark plugs/boots. It is meant to protect electrical connections, and ignition parts and wiring from moisture and corrosion.
From what I had learned from reading the DIY'ers attempts, they had been injecting DG directly into the headphone jack of the IPod. And so that's where I began...
I immediately learned that this grease is VERY thick and wasn't going that far down into the IPod. Not knowing much at the time about this grease, I decided to try a different approach. Heat. I decided to place the IPod in a sealed bag, and place it in a glass of almost boiling water. (Doing the same with the tube of DG.) My thought process was that it being a "grease", I should be able to heat it up and melt it into the space I'm trying to get it in. It didn't work. It wasn't budging. I heated it, I jiggled it, I repeated. FAIL.
Suddenly, I had a new question brewing: What is the melting point of Dielectric Grease?
The answer: It stays consistent even at temperatures over 400*!
So much for THAT idea. I wasn't going to be able to heat water to that temperature easily, and I wasn't sure what would happen to the actual electronic if I got it that hot!
So much for THAT idea. I wasn't going to be able to heat water to that temperature easily, and I wasn't sure what would happen to the actual electronic if I got it that hot!
Because of this roadblock, I tried a different approach... I decided to take off the plastic fascia. My thought was to use a syringe and inject it further into the casing. Again, no luck. With this grease being too thick (couldn't suck it up with a syringe), and the injection space being too limited, this too wasn't working. Nothing worked.
My only other option was to completely disassemble it.
With the help of a lovely step by step YouTube video, I was able to take it completely apart.
I had to remove 4 of the world's tiniest screws (salt granules are bigger than these screws!!)
Knowing that I didn't have a screw driver that small, I used a piece of sandpaper to file the tip of a steak knife into a thin, blunt point.
(A sewing needle... A steak knife... A piece of sandpaper... Why YES, I AM the female MacGyver! LOL!)
Once opened, I learned that all of the time spent injecting DG through the Headphone jack was a complete waste of time. Inside the IPod, the jack is close ended. Meaning, the grease had nowhere to go!!
You can clearly see by the photo above, that the actual board of the IPod barely has any grease on it. Definitely NOT waterproof. The other side, which house the actual jack and the battery was completely grease free.
Since I had it apart, I used a Q-Tip to completely "Goo" up the connections with DG. I had it caked with grease before re-assembling it. In theory, I knew that this would work. The Dielectric Grease will protect the circuitry from causing a short, and with DG being impermeable to water... WINNING!
Re-assembly was a bit tricky.
I cannot say it went "smoothly". I actually busted off a small piece of black plastic while gently stuffing it back into the housing. I was devastated! I had already invested an hour into my project, and thought for sure I had broke it just by putting it all back together again. I was bummed...
But I inspected the piece of plastic and came to the conclusion that it could have only been one thing. A piece of plastic to act as a shock absorber (you can see the black plastic "thingy" (technical term!) on the corner of the board in picture #4).
Once fully back together again I powered it on. I was ecstatic to learn that it fired right up!
(Tearing stuff apart is the EASY part, putting things back together, and having them WORK - not so much!)
I was confident that this H20 proofing would work,
and so.....
Mission Accomplished.
(Total cost of project: $2.95)
SCORE!
***UPDATE***
(4/4/2013)
So far, I've taken the shuffle on 2 swims. Each time swimming over a mile. I've surface swam with it, and have dove under water with it. I attach the shuffle onto my swim goggles, and it remains in place. I am able to operate all of its functions while swimming. I have even accidentally ripped the headphones out of the jack and have had to reinsert them. - All without issue. It does appear to get water inside of it (I can see tiny water droplets coming out from the housing seams), but so far- it hasn't been an issue.
As for sound quality...
I am currently using a cheap ($11.95 - Amazon.com) pair of Pyle H20 headphones. They are the long corded ones. I have the majority of the cord neatly twist tied onto my goggles, leaving just enough slack for the ear buds to reach my ears. Not the prettiest set-up, but it works. The sound quality is marginal. I've found that the more water you get in your ears the worse, and more muffled the sound gets. I'm sure that's just a learning curve with the headphone's earbuds. They did come with 4 different sizes, and I'm on my second size looking for the best fit.
I have yet to do any flip turns with the shuffle. I am pretty certain the earbuds will fly out of my ears- creating just another distraction to take my attention away from my workout.
***UPDATE***
(12/3/2013)
Still water proof!
I've actually been kind of abusive with this Ipod.
I've left it sit in my car season after season, from extreme heat through extreme freezes. I just recently started swimming more regularly again, and it's still working perfectly under H20! I've even done flip turns, and the ear buds do stay in! I'm very pleased that for a whoppin $2.95 I have a pefect little H20 proof Shuffle!
***UPDATE***
(4/4/2013)
So far, I've taken the shuffle on 2 swims. Each time swimming over a mile. I've surface swam with it, and have dove under water with it. I attach the shuffle onto my swim goggles, and it remains in place. I am able to operate all of its functions while swimming. I have even accidentally ripped the headphones out of the jack and have had to reinsert them. - All without issue. It does appear to get water inside of it (I can see tiny water droplets coming out from the housing seams), but so far- it hasn't been an issue.
As for sound quality...
I am currently using a cheap ($11.95 - Amazon.com) pair of Pyle H20 headphones. They are the long corded ones. I have the majority of the cord neatly twist tied onto my goggles, leaving just enough slack for the ear buds to reach my ears. Not the prettiest set-up, but it works. The sound quality is marginal. I've found that the more water you get in your ears the worse, and more muffled the sound gets. I'm sure that's just a learning curve with the headphone's earbuds. They did come with 4 different sizes, and I'm on my second size looking for the best fit.
I have yet to do any flip turns with the shuffle. I am pretty certain the earbuds will fly out of my ears- creating just another distraction to take my attention away from my workout.
***UPDATE***
(12/3/2013)
Still water proof!
I've actually been kind of abusive with this Ipod.
I've left it sit in my car season after season, from extreme heat through extreme freezes. I just recently started swimming more regularly again, and it's still working perfectly under H20! I've even done flip turns, and the ear buds do stay in! I'm very pleased that for a whoppin $2.95 I have a pefect little H20 proof Shuffle!
