Bangle2 just keeps rebooting after bath

I read that the Bangle2 was water resistance up to 1 meter. So, I didn't take it off when I took a bath in the pool. Now the bangle keeps restarting. It feels like it thinks the btn2 is constantly pressed.

Afterwards, I read the forum and the threads about sealing the pressure sensor, since it can leak water into the clock from it.

Is the only way now to bang my head against the wall and buy a brand new one, or can it be solved somehow? I bought on the Kickstarter campaign.

Thank you

You can try to leave the Bangle2 at sunlight behind a window for one day, the moisture will eventually evaporate. That is worth a try

That is exactly what I have already tried, but still same behavior on the Bangle...

Argh - yes, it's rated for 1m 30 minutes, but that's at room temperature with no movement. If you're moving around the pressures on it could end up higher than if it's just stationary 1m below the surface.

It could take quite a while to dry out (a week or more) so it's worth just trying to leave it somewhere warm and dry for quite a while. Don't try and charge is during that time since having voltage on it when wet will just make things worse - just leave it flat - and maybe with a bit of luck it'll come back to life when you charge it.

You could also try to put it in a sealed bag with silica gel pads...

I am also experiencing that issue now. My unit has probably been in the water for about 10 minutes at a time at most, and definitely never reached a meter deep. I did technically swim, though it was slow and I was using my legs because I thought that would be sufficient to protect the Bangle. (My Pinetime which is also IP67 survived doing that every day for about 2 weeks.)

Is it likely that my watch was defective and should not have been harmed, or is it likely that my watch isn't defective and I subjected it to something that it was not designed to handle? If it's the former I'll try to keep it away from water completely in the future (because it's still my favorite watch), and if it's the latter I'll treat it normally but just won't do that again.

It seems a bit weird to me that the poster of this thread had this issue at almost the exact same time as me, along with this person who has bootlooping but never mentioned water. My first thought is to blame the 2v14 update, but that doesn't seem likely either because an interpreter update shouldn't affect the sensitivity of the MCU to pin state changes, especially in the bootloader. Maybe it's just a coincidence.

As @user141569 mentions I have a similar problem and my watch was also in water shortly (maybe an hour) before the problem arised. I did not mention it because I didn't think it was related, because the Bangle was in water several times before and it was fine.

Yeah, same here. Mine started bootlooping seconds after being pulled out of the water. It was also in the water a few times before and it was fine. I guess no swimming really means absolutely no swimming of any kind, not even light swimming.

As @Gordon said above, the 1 meter for 30 seconds rating is at optimal conditions. As soon as you move your arm in the water you're going to exceed the pressure that an IP67 rating is for. Basically it's splash proof and might survive a quick accidental dunk, nothing more...

If you want something that could be called waterproof you need to have at least IP68.

It has been drying for almost two weeks now, but still same behavior... I guess it is useless then. Really sad, I loved that little thing 😔

Hi, sorry to hear there have been so many problems - and thanks for being so understanding about it.

I guess the recent set of water related problems might have a lot to do with the heatwave in Europe at the moment, and just a higher number of people jumping into pools?

I believe a very small number of the first batch of KickStarter watches may not have a waterproof membrane in (you can look down the hole under the watch strap at the top and see if there's a white visible at the bottom) and if yours was one of those then I'll replace it as there was definitely an issue there.

However since then they should have all had the membrane. I've tried to be pretty clear about no swimming, but I'll update the docs to remove the mention of 1m 30 minutes as I think that definitely gives the wrong impression.

It is white down the hole when I check, so I guess my was one of those. How do we proceed?

It is white down the hole when I check, so I guess my was one of those. How do we proceed?

White means that the membrane is in place and everything is as it should (apart from the dead watch, of course).

Ah, sorry. I misunderstood. So I guess I need to order a new one. @Gordon, is it possible to have some discount for making this less painful?

Your theory about the heat wave in Europe makes a lot of sense. Far more than my software update idea. I'm not in Europe (not sure what % of people are vs around the worlf), but I guess coincidentally the heat wave there happened during a family vacation to a lake, where the temptation to swim is strong.

My watch was bought from the Espruino shop (not Kickstarter) and appears to have the membrane. I think I blame the button.

Thanks for checking - that's what I expected though. The amount sent out without a membrane at first was very small, and we may even have spotted all of them before they went out.

While I guess the button could be less well sealed than it should be, the docs do specifically say no swimming and I think it's unlikely it'd have failed in normal use. So I don't think it's reasonable for me to replace a water-damaged Bangle at my cost, however I also don't want to benefit from your misfortune and I'm happy to offer a discount as @rullen suggested.

If you do want to get a new one, I could offer 40% off the price. Just let me know and I'll send you a discount code for the shop via a PM.

I totally missed the "no swimming" part, but I may have read the docs too briefly... I would be happy to get the discount code, so please PM me. Thank you @Gordon!

@Gordon it might help to avoid confusion about the no bathing/no swimming rule if that would also be in the product description of the Bangle.js 2 in the Shop.

Yeah... The main problem is that people do not understand what the IP-ratings for dust- and waterproofness actually mean. They see "IP67, waterproof to 1 meter for 30 minutes" and think: "Great, I can swim with that as long as I don't dive". When in reality you shouldn't even let a watch with that rating go under the tap while washing your hands (unless you have a really soft flowing tap)...

Exactly my point! 👍️

Thanks, good point - I'll update the shop description (I'd forgotten about that one).

I had changed https://www.espruino.com/Bangle.js2 and the Wiki some time ago (changing 'waterproof' to 'water resistant' and being explicit about swimming), but for some reason I hadn't updated the shop which is really the most important one

Same here. Took off the watch, then it started to behave as if the button gets pressed every 5 or so seconds.
I sealed the back hole with epoxy long ago. Might be related to the current weather here in Germany.
I'll try to open and dry it.
So for Bangle.js3, please make it suitable for deep sea diving ;)

@gfric had you gone swimming with it?

Sealing the hole will definitely help with water resistance, but there is the button still so while it should be able to keep some water out, it's not going to suddenly be totally waterproof.

Aw. Yes, I totally wore it 24/7, incl. swimming etc.
I'll see if it dries, otherwise, I'd have to buy anorher one.

Ah, looks like I am not alone with 'easy water damage' issue. I didn't even swim or take it into a bath. I usually took it off while showering. One day I forgot to take it off before I started the shower. So it got a big splash of water on it. Took it off immediately. But it was too late. The watch showed water ingress after a few hours (refer to images attached). But it kept working for two weeks. The ingress pattern changed (to an interesting one ;-)...) but once the battery died, it never came back on. I deliberately didn't attach it to the charger for almost a month. But when I did, it did not respond at all.
Going to leave it the Sun on the window sill for some more.

I've gone back to my chonky BangleJS 1. And after a firmware update, I am amazed at the quality of apps now. Absolutely loving the functionality in the "Recorder" app, supplemented by the "Run" app. Also the AGPS addition is wonderful! I have two of these, so should keep me happy for a while.

P.S. No one supports water damaged electronics, not even Apple/Samsung inspite of their fancy IP claims. So, no I am not expecting any discount, or support on a £40/- watch.

This is just an FYI for people to be extra careful with their BangleJS 2.

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