Chosen Solution
Removed logic board to clean it in an ultrasonic bath. The board suffered mild (but strategic) water damage. I let it dry for 24 hours before re-installing it. I believe I had at least 10% on the battery, but I cannot verify. I am not sure if water reached the battery connector. Phone was in Recovery Mode waiting for an iTunes connection. When plugging in for the first time into an Apple charger, I get the expected Apple logo (black on white) and then the white iTunes icon with the Lightning cable icon (requiring me to connect to iTunes). Upon disconnecting, the iPhone goes dark. The iPhone fails to respond when connected to a computer (PC or Mac). Plugging the iPhone back into the Apple charger generates the Apple logo and the iTunes icon with Lightning cable icon. The phone eventually cycles back to the Apple logo. Do I have a dead battery? No spares lying around so far for testing, yet. Is the battery charging under Recovery Mode? If the battery’s good enough, what connector should I re-examine if I open this iPhone again. Let’s assume the ultrasonic bath was successful. No, I didn’t remove the shielding during the baths.
First of all, when dealing with a water damaged device, you really should do a full cleanup. Considering you already have an ultrasonic bath (what kind of bath; jewelry cleaner or a “real” one?), you really should remove the shields if you have the proper tools to de-solder them. That way you know where the water has been and what part of the logic board could potentially be damaged. In your case, it sounds like you have a dead battery and a phone that will not charge it. You likely have a defective Tristar as the phone is not recognized by iTunes and doesn’t appear to be charging. If you have a DCPS, you could try to manually charge the battery for a bit but this is fraught with risk if you don’t know what you are doing. Check out this blog to learn more. A Tristar repair requires micro-soldering and is not a DIY repair. You will need to search for an experienced micro-solderer either locally or someone who you can ship your phone to.
