2 Mar., 2009 -- There might be a test later...

Battery will not hold a charge any more. Can we salvage the flashlight?
Remove 4 screws & cover.
See that yellow battery? Pry off the hot melt glue and gently pry
the soldered contacts on top and bottom of battery, with mighty Swiss Army knife.
The metal contact stays attached
to the circuit board, and gets bent somewhat. That's desirable.
CR 2032 battery, for you nerds,
is the same as the cmos battery in computers. Available anywhere for a few bucks.
Substituted CR 2016, just
3 volts instead of 3.6 volts. (Remember, this is an experiment! I didn't open my computer
case to salvage a 2032)
This is foam rubber padding
to put pressure on the battery and the flashlight cover. In the final iteration,
I will use hot melt glue to secure it all together and remove the padding.
Eureka! it works on 3 volts,
not full power, because it's a used battery to begin with.

So, crank the handle, and it gets very bright. Doesn't stay bright
unless I crank it. But at least it ain't in the trash bin!


Yesterday's snowman...

Today....
Sorry, Snoopy, ya didn't peddle fast enough.

Now for the test... did the sun shine today?