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Washing Keyboard?!?!

C

CedarTeeth135

Senior member
i plan on washing my keyboard as I have heard that it works and my board greatly needs it.

Anyone ever done this before? Just wondering how long I should let it dry and what kind of settings I should use on the washer.
 
don't put it into a washing machine, that is a bad idea

i tried it on a keyboard that my daughter dumped soap/bubbles (the kind you blow when you are 3 years old) onto it

i ran hot water over the whole thing in the bathtub to rinse it all off

then i waited about 3 days for it to dry

it didn't work, it was dead after that

i suggest buying a new keyboard
 
Dude,

don't wash the whole thing. You need to take the KB apart and only was the plastic parts.

I have heard of people washing the whole keyboard, but I would not chance it.

Fobot: could the keyboard have died from the bubbles your daughter dumped on it while it was plugged in?
 
Keyboards work on the principle of capacitence; each key has a certain capacitence, and when you hit it, the keyboard reads it and determines which key you pressed. When something gets into the keys, it changes the capacitence. If the numbers come out right, a "k" can turn into an "a." Most of the time the capacitence will turn into something unreadable by the keyboard. Soap (from the bubble solution) or minerals (in the water) can leave a residue in the capacitors, causing them to change capacitence.
 
just to see what would happen and to use as a backup, I did one in the bath tub, letting the water run through it for an hour or so, shook it out then stood it on end to drain and dry for a few days...sure enough I needed a backup couple of weeks later and the little old Dell recycled $12 special is still hanging in there...but I figure I got lucky...there's other boards around here that I *know* wouldn't take it...
 
i had to recetntly clean out my cordless keyboard b/c i spilled some cherry 7-up in it the other day. Its hard.... well, anyway, here is what you need to do. Open up your keyboard, inside you should have some rubber 'nipples' and a green(probably)sheet...these are the parts you want to wash.
 
You can run the plastic parts through the dishwasher and they will be fine. To clean the membranes with the contacts I use rubbing alcohol and it has always worked fine.
 
I've taken my keyboard apart and cleaned everything except the electronics. I used whatever cleaner was in the bathroom, probably tile cleaner. Works great, expect the keys don't go down as smoothly anymore.
 
Akira13 - interesting conjecture, but incorrect. The capacitance of all keys is the same, it just changes from value one to value two when a key is pressed. There are up/down and across lines (sometimes more complex geometry but still some kind of matrix) going through the keyboard, and a microcontroller determines which keys are pressed by which lines connect (i.e., have lower relative capacitance) to which lines.
 
Listen, the easiest and best way to do this is to put it in the dishwasher (no soap!!) don't put it through the dry cycle, I do it ALL the time, no problems at all. Water won't hurt your keyboard, soap will, let it air dry for a few hours afterwards before plugging it in.
 
JesseKnows, you really do know. Yeah, I was mostly guessing (using what I learned in school, and what I learned when I installed blue LED's in my keyboard) when I put that together. Thanks for the clarification.
 
you put the entire keyboard fully assembled into the dishwasher?!?!

is it worth it for 2 slow keys due to spilled soda?
 
I just killed two birds with one stone. I took my MS Natural Elite apart to change the LEDs to red so it would match my mouse, and at the same time I washed it. I took all the electronics out of it and washed it in the sink. Took a grand total of about 5 minutes to wash and it got left over night to dry since it was already late. So now with the new LEDs and especially the washing, it feels like I have a brand new keyboard.
 
"...Works great, expect the keys don't go down as smoothly anymore..."

A little mineral-oil or vaseline on the bottom of each key when you are putting the plastic leys back on the keyboard will solve this problem...
 
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