Disintegrating rubber?

[Brent Jordan1]

I have had my band since December and have worn it every day. I do workout, but I am not doing any sort of daily boot camp workouts. So I would say my sweat output is normal. Well today after my 4 mile run I was heading to the shower and like I normally do before I hit the shower I plug my band in to charge. At that point I noticed the rubber over one of the sensors was bubbling. I maybe should have just let it dry, but I touched it and the rubber just disintegrated. Has this happened to anyone else? I did buy the insurance plan, so I plan to get it replaced. but this is not a good sign. I hope it doesn't happen again.

 

[Derausgewanderte]

I have had my band since December and have worn it every day. I do workout, but I am not doing any sort of daily boot camp workouts. So I would say my sweat output is normal. Well today after my 4 mile run I was heading to the shower and like I normally do before I hit the shower I plug my band in to charge. At that point I noticed the rubber over one of the sensors was bubbling. I maybe should have just let it dry, but I touched it and the rubber just disintegrated. Has this happened to anyone else? I did buy the insurance plan, so I plan to get it replaced. but this is not a good sign. I hope it doesn't happen again.

a few threads with posts showing similar wear.
http://forums.windowscentral.com/mi...-your-band-holding-up-thread.html#post3007406

http://forums.windowscentral.com/mi...-after-3-months-everyday-use.html#post2994172

 

[bksalt]

I found out the loss of rubber on the batteries on the sides is considered normal ware and tare and not covered under the warranty

 

[hotphil]

Wherever you live must have sucky consumer laws! Or you got fobbed off by whoever tried that excuse with you.

In a lot of places, if the product basically starts disintegrating well within what would be considered a reasonable lifespan, you'd be entitled to getting it sorted out.

 

[Derausgewanderte]

Agree with hotphil. What happened to you is not correct and I'd try again until sufficiently resolved.

 

[DroidUser42]

Those of you with problems with the rubber (not the metal) - how have you been cleaning your band? I'm just wondering if certain cleaners are a bad idea.

 

[anthonyng]

nervous, I'm on day 2 and so far I just try to wipe it with a wet cloth at end of day.

 

[Derausgewanderte]

Those of you with problems with the rubber (not the metal) - how have you been cleaning your band? I'm just wondering if certain cleaners are a bad idea.

No problems with the rubber here, but small bumps from corrosion of metal areas. I've been using a cloth lightly wetted with rubbing alcohol and water 1:1 for cleaning.

 

[SSgt Bruskowiz]

Wt*, its a sports wearable if it cant stand sweat or moisture, what's the use of it.

 

[DroidUser42]

Wt*, its a sports wearable if it cant stand sweat or moisture, what's the use of it.

And it strikes me as unlikely that sweat and water would do it. But some users have reported using alcohol to clean. While it's an effective cleaner, I wonder if it's isn't stripping out a plasticizer and leaving the rubber brittle. I'll admit to using alcohol a time or two, but not daily.

That's why I wanted to know what people who were experiencing this problem were using.

 

[hotphil]

And it strikes me as unlikely that sweat and water would do it. But some users have reported using alcohol to clean. While it's an effective cleaner, I wonder if it's isn't stripping out a plasticizer and leaving the rubber brittle. I'll admit to using alcohol a time or two, but not daily.

That's why I wanted to know what people who were experiencing this problem were using.

​To quote the Band safety and warranty guide:

​

Do not use cleaning solutions, alcohol, or soap on your device or you may damage the device

 

[Scienceguy Labs]

Those of you with problems with the rubber (not the metal) - how have you been cleaning your band? I'm just wondering if certain cleaners are a bad idea.

You might be onto something. I admit that I routinely sterilize mine with rubbing alcohol every three or four days. Not good, I know. I got my Band during the first week of release, and after wearing it as intended and cleaning it once a week or so with rubbing alcohol, every bit of the rubber coating on the inner part of the wrist bands is completely gone. I called MS, and they told me that I was experiencing normal wear. lol

 

[nmercy]

Sadly it is not the rubbing alcohol... unless for some reason I am sweating rubbing alcohol. I've only used a dry tissue paper and maybe once or twice wet it.
A little bit after one of the other threads, mine started bubbling over the batteries and within a few days started peeling off. It seems to be related to the batteries, my guess is either the rubber doesn't go all the way around the battery edge so water can get in or the edge is sharp enough to allow it to peel or both.
Hopefully this has been corrected on the mass marketed versions they started selling at Best Buy/Amazon/Target...

 

[anthonyng]

it must be what you eat and sweat out... I've had some oakley's forever and then one day, I notice the ear socks melting. I'm not sure what changed but I do try to wipe things down frequently with a cloth and water.

Rubbing alcohol did sound too harsh to me and it's actually listed!

I'm hoping they changed something in this new batch too!

 

[Derausgewanderte]

If you mix rubbing alcohol with water 1:1 it should be pretty safe. If that bleaches out any plasticizer then it's s bad batch of rubber.

 

[anthonyng]

guess we have to me mindful of friction as well, as it's soft thin rubber, can't expect it to handle a lot of friction. Gotta carry lube with ya now hehe

 

[Scienceguy Labs]

So, what we've kinda steered the cause towards is a biological factor that is playing a role in the corrosion/weakening of the rubberized coating...mixed with a certain degree of friction from constant skin contact. I don't have enough money to keep buying Bands and testing which types of foods cause the issues though. ha ha I'm willing to bet that we are on the right track however. The friction probably just pushes the damage over the edge. MS did tell me that the damage I was experiencing was to be expected for some wearers. They also said that the damage was covered by the Microsoft insurance plan. The lady I talked to guaranteed, though, that the Band would continue to function regardless of the damage to the outer coating.

Any chemists out there who can explain how the types of foods we eat can affect our sweat so much as to damage certain types of rubber???

 

[DroidUser42]

So, what we've kinda steered the cause towards is a biological factor that is playing a role in the corrosion/weakening of the rubberized coating...

My personal take:

• Corrosion - biological factor
• Rubber disintegration - cleaning method

At the very least, I'd keep corrosion and rubber disintegration separate until proven to have a common cause. Someone previously posted a quote indicating that we shouldn't use alcohol or soap in cleaning the Band. So I don't think experimentation on the cleaning method is necessary.

As for the corrosion, I'd experiment with regular rinsing, especially after getting sweaty. Sweat is salt water, and salt water can cause corrosion.

Diet would be pretty far down my list.

 

[Derausgewanderte]

I agree with DroidUser that we have to separate the two symptoms.
I've used rubbing alcohol and water for cleaning my band for months and all rubber parts are perfectly fine.

The bumps on the metal parts that others and I've seen on mine as well occurred over a only few days and did not change passed that. The bumps have not gotten any worse for over a month (even with continued cleaning with rubbing alcohol). I believe it was a single event that caused them, with probably too salty conditions or some trapped organic acids.

We also should not ignore the possibility that it could be a problem with the deposition of the metal caused during the manufacturing process. The corrosion seems to come from the metal sensor interface, not from the top, skin exposed area (therefore we see bumps and bubble like features with the skin of the metal still OK). If the chemical that causes the corrosion from underneath had a chance to get there throughout use then I consider that a manufacturing issue as well. The seam between metal and sensor or rubber is not sealed well enough (maybe mechanical stress leads to fine cracks that let salty/acidic fluid enter).
The metal corrosion does not seem to be wide-spread as far as I can tell. I got mine exchanged yesterday and will observe the new band carefully.

The pictures I've seen about the rubber skin look more like mechanical and friction fatigue to me. Maybe it is a combination of both mechanical stress and use of cleaning materials.

If somebody can send me just the rubber skin covering the batteries I could try some of this in the lab in a series of experiments (DMA fatigue tests with and without a set of cleaning chemicals, water etc. ). Otherwise it's just going to be more of a mystery why it happens for some and not others.

 

[Scienceguy Labs]

Thanks for posting some great thoughts on the matter. I appreciate them.