REPAIR: Kids Electric Toothbrush

They just don't make things like they used to, do they? My daughter received an electric toothbrush for her birthday. In a matter of days, the screw holding the battery cover on had ripped through the thin plastic, leaving the battery unable to maintain contact with the terminals.

I considered pouring an epoxy replacement and re-drilling the hole. But the time involved and low likelihood of success left me wanting an easier solution.

I again made use of plastic package material in the repair. I first cut a small piece of packaging material to fit the bottom of the brush. Drilling a small hole to allow the screw to engage the threads in the toothbrush creates a very simple washer. It is a crude, but effective fix.

The toothbrush doesn't stand flat anymore, and it doesn't look the best, but it works and that's all that matters.

REPAIR: Canon Digital Camera CCD Flaw/Free Service

In October, our digital camera (Canon A80) stopped working. The pictures all had red strips through them and were completely unusable.

I didn't figure there was much hope for fixing it myself, so we went ahead and bought a new Canon A590IS. Before getting rid of the broken camera, I figured it was worth a shot trying to find a repair.

After a few minutes of Googling, I came across this site: Do It Yourself Digital Camera Repair. Which references the exact problem I was having and takes you to Canon's repair site. Gotta love the power of Google search!

According to Canon the problem is:

Malfunction:
It has been confirmed that the connecting parts of the internal wiring of the CCD used in affected products may become disconnected, especially if the affected products are stored or used in high-temperature and high-humidity environments. If this occurs, the signal is not output from the CCD normally in Shooting Mode, which may cause a distorted image or the absence of an image. This malfunction can be confirmed on the LCD monitor screen during shooting. The same malfunction also appears on the recorded image.

I called the customer service number and set up the repair. The gentleman I talked to was very helpful, more so than most any customer service line I have called. He actually wanted to help instead of being annoyed that I was bothering him with my call. Definitely a refreshing call.

After a few days I received an e-mail with a pre-paid UPS mailer to print out. I sent it on it's way and within a couple weeks had a snail mail letter saying the repair would be done for free and to expect the camera back in a week or two.

Unfortunately three weeks passed and nothing came. I looked up the reference number on the letter and come to find out it had been mailed out a couple weeks prior, but to the wrong address. I looked up the UPS tracking records and they had sent it back to Canon. So I called the actual repair location expecting them to say we have no idea where it would be. Again I was pleasantly surprised by another customer service representative who was able to help me quickly and efficiently.

I do have to note however that even after correcting the address, UPS still had to call me to verify the correct destination. A bit annoying, but I'll let it slide.

The camera works as good as new! I am quite happy to have it back since I have the dedicated underwater case which I had no idea what to do with. My father in law had the same issue at the same time with his camera (Also an A80). I forwarded the information about the repair and am happy to report he also was able to get his camera fixed. His came back in about 2 to 3 weeks time.

Models Canon will fix as part of this 're-call': A60, A70, A75, A300, A310, S230, SD100, SD110, A40(*), A80(*), A85(*), A95(*), S1 IS(*), S60(*), S200(*), S330(*), S400(*), S410(*), S500(*)

REPAIR: Cordless Phone Battery Modification

My wife picked up a pair of cordless phones on Freecycle to replace our old phone that was dying a slow and staticy death. Unfortunately, one of the handsets didn't work when we plugged it in.


I suspected it was just a battery issue, and after swapping batteries between the two handsets was able to confirm my suspicion.

Since I had recently replaced the battery in the old phone, I figured no problem, just swap batteries. Or not, as it turns out the connectors between the two brands of phones are different.


There's nothing special about cordless phone batteries, in the end they are just 3 Ni-Cad AA's linked in series to give 3.6V at whatever capacity you want. The more milliamperes (mAh), the longer the talk time. In fact, you could easily buy your own batteries and wire them up to create your own battery pack. But, in this case I just wanted to swap connectors for a quick and dirty fix.

The swap is easy. Snip the wires on both batteries to remove the connectors. Strip a quarter inch or so of insulation from both the desired connector and new battery. The wires for both parts should be color coded red for positive and black for negative. Cross the stripped end of the red wires from the connector and battery and twist to create a connection.

If you feel motivated, the wires can be soldered together to guarantee the connection will not pull apart. I did not do this for two reasons. One, I was in a hurry to make sure the phone worked, and two, the soldered joint will be less flexible for installation in the phone. Another consideration is that the wires are not loaded once installed in the phone, so there is little to no risk of the splices being separated.

Now repeat for the black wires. When finished, wrap the wires individually in electrical tape to hold the splices together and prevent shorting. Re-install into the phone and you are done!

My phone has been operating on the modified battery for about a year now with no ill effects. In fact, we can't tell the difference between the two handsets unless the back cover is removed.

This method could easily be used to maximize the talk time for your cordless handset by utilizing a higher mAh battery pack than normal. You could also save a few bucks by picking the cheapest replacement battery available, regardless of brand and then adapting it to your phone.