The Tooth Brush…
A little while ago, I was messing around with my tooth brush (who wouldn’t?), and I decided to try, for the thirteenth time to open my toothbrush. There is a thin line separating the bottom, and top half of the toothbrush. I had tried many times to get these separate, but for whatever reason, this way works.
In fact, it was as easy as taking a cap off of a bottle!
Inside, I found a tripleA battery. Instead of buying a new toothbrush (Virtually the same, other than battery charge), I simply decided to replace the battery.
I had to force up a metal connection, which, little to my knowledge, ruined the conductivity. IN fact, I think it was engineered to do that.
However, I simply stuffed some tin foil between the metal connection, and the new battery.
This now works, though the toothbrush is cantankerous… It sometimes needs a classic bang to get it going again.
When I need to use it, I press the on button, and tighten the cap. When I turn it off for short periods of time, I unscrew the cap a little – and re-screw it to turn it back on. When I’m done with it, I press the off button, and screw the cap back on completely.
I even leaned a little about how the switch works…
There are two pieces of metal, side by side, where the negative side of the battery connects (The positive side being where the tin foil is.) THere is a plastic rod between these two bars. WHen you press the off button, the rod sticks out ,and pushes the battery off of the two bars. Pressing the on button releases the rod, and lets the battery back on.
It’s a pretty smart design, if you ask me, but I think it could be simpler. Instead of pushing a battery, why not just break the connection?
For example, the plus, and minus buttons (On, and off) are both connected to a plastic piece. Pressing either button rotates the piece. At 0 degrees, the metal is contacted. At 10 degrees the metal is not.
Much simpler if you ask me, but, I suppose the had their reasons.
I do notice that when the cap is tight, I cannot press the off button – this could be another engineering thing.
I tried something similar. Only I stuffed some paper at the end of the toothbrush to force the metal to connect to the battery. This worked to turn the toothbrush ON however it wouldn’t turn off after that. It was then I discovered the same thing you did -the battery changes position when it is on vs. off. That is SUCH a strange switching mechanism. I agree it could be simpler. But I think you are right -these are designed to be “throw away” not to have their batteries replaced. Oh well, good effort!
I agree with you about breaking the connection. It’s how I rigged mine to work.
Mine will now Twist On and Off. 