Dirty Control Board

[Saso]

Hello guys,

I opened up my ninebot one today and discovered that the control board is slightly covered with small particles of sand. It also looks as if some of the wire coating is falling off. It looks like pieces of dried up glue. Can this do any damage to my ninebot? I'm thinking that it should be completely clean right? So is there a safe and relatively easy way to clean it?

I added a picture so you can see the sand.

 

[Keith]

36 minutes ago, Saso said:

So is there a safe and relatively easy way to clean it?

I'm of the view: "If it ain't broke.........." unless you are having problems with the wheel (what reason did you have for opening it in the first place?) it is probably best to leave it alone. Providing the "sand" is sand and not, say, salt it won't do any harm to electronics, if it is salt it would be corrosive over time so would be worth cleaning off. You can buy circuit board cleaning fluid, anything else might do more harm than good although neat alcohol, methylated spirits, etc would probably do no harm.

The white stuff does appear to be glue that has been used to stop the wires moving about and chaffing, again it is best left alone as cleaning it off would then allow the wires to move around.

[SuperSport]

Sand in and of itself is not much of an issue.  The problem is that some dirt has Iron in it, or other electric conducting materials.  One other issue is that if the dirt coating builds up, it can cause heat to not dissipate correctly.

There are electronic cleaner sprays that you can purchase (probably the best solution).  I use Rubbing Alcohol and Q-Tips quite often.  I'm not sure if that's approved by most, but I just make sure to allow it to dry thoroughly before applying electricity back to the boards.  (Keep in mind that liquid will reside under the small chips, so you must be sure it's completely dry)  You could also try Canned Air and see if that alone removes it.

The stuff you see peeling off is actually a waterproof coating they apply at the factory.  That is also available at electronics stores, or even Amazon.  While it's not very likely you will have issues, it is possible that the introduction of dirt and water can cause future issues.  Personally, I cleaned mine each time I was in the wheel just to prevent future problems.  My Water Proof coating was not peeling, so I never did a re-coat.  If you do it, just be sure to not apply too much, again so you don't hold in heat.

PS:  I would not worry about the coating coming off the wires, but rather on the board itself.  Those wires are already fairly waterproof.

[Merrittous MonoWheel]

6 minutes ago, SuperSport said:

Sand in and of itself is not much of an issue.  The problem is that some dirt has Iron in it, or other electric conducting materials.  One other issue is that if the dirt coating builds up, it can cause heat to not dissipate correctly.

There are electronic cleaner sprays that you can purchase (probably the best solution).  I use Rubbing Alcohol and Q-Tips quite often.  I'm not sure if that's approved by most, but I just make sure to allow it to dry thoroughly before applying electricity back to the boards.  (Keep in mind that liquid will reside under the small chips, so you must be sure it's completely dry)  You could also try Canned Air and see if that alone removes it.

The stuff you see peeling off is actually a waterproof coating they apply at the factory.  That is also available at electronics stores, or even Amazon.  While it's not very likely you will have issues, it is possible that the introduction of dirt and water can cause future issues.  Personally, I cleaned mine each time I was in the wheel just to prevent future problems.  My Water Proof coating was not peeling, so I never did a re-coat.  If you do it, just be sure to not apply too much, again so you don't hold in heat.

PS:  I would not worry about the coating coming off the wires, but rather on the board itself.  Those wires are already fairly waterproof.

Hello, I agree fully with @SuperSport.  My preference is to use the canned air particularily since it looks mostly like sand.  As mentioned the key is to ensure that everything is COMPLETELY dry before re-applying power (AC or DC) for both your safety and your wheel.  

Happy cleaning

[esaj]

Just to chime in and (mostly) repeat what everyone else said, I don't see getting the sand off strictly necessary. If you want to get rid of it, just plain canned air would probably do. You could use a vacuum cleaner too, but if you do, don't use it at full power (if it has power-setting) and open the "extra vent" (I don't know what it's actually called, most vacuum cleaners have an extra vent on the handle you can open so it won't get "stuck" as easily) and be careful not to break anything due to the nozzle sucking itself into parts and pushing them around.

I use IPA (isopropanol/isopropyl alcohol, rubbing alcohol) and toothbrush all the time to clean circuit boards, it does not attack metals or (most?) plastics and evaporates very quickly (usually you can just watch it evaporate off the surface in less than a minute after brushing). If going that route, be sure to get the "proper" 99+% pure stuff, not something like anti-freeze, which can contain other ingredients too, like different oils. At least here, you can get pure isopropanol from a pharmacy in small 100ml bottles, but it's fairly expensive. Instead, I order it by the liter from an electronics component distributor (sold specifically for cleaning PCBs), and it's actually cheaper for 1 liter bottle than 100ml (0.1 liter) from a pharmacy

http://www.tme.eu/en/details/ipa-1000ml/cleaning-maintaining-products/ag-termopasty/kontakt-ipa-_-1000ml/

Aaand... I just have to say it, but once again, this proves that the "IP65"-classification of the wheels is a joke (the 6 would mean 100% dust tight, so sand grains shouldn't be able to enter the compartments ever)

[Gimlet]

I normally use the infinite supply of compressed air from the line on my tyre compressor to clean up mucky electrical components and boards.

It's especially effective in dusty computer cases.

[Vik's]

On ‎28‎.‎01‎.‎2017 at 4:56 PM, Saso said:

Hello guys,

I opened up my ninebot one today and discovered that the control board is slightly covered with small particles of sand. It also looks as if some of the wire coating is falling off. It looks like pieces of dried up glue. Can this do any damage to my ninebot? I'm thinking that it should be completely clean right? So is there a safe and relatively easy way to clean it?

I added a picture so you can see the sand.

 

 

While you're at it take a look here:

Could be an idea to take some preventive measures to protect your new wheel and to avoid battery damage.