This post walks through the process of replacing the “non-replaceable” battery inside a cheap cylindrical dashcam, like the one pictured above.
It’s not hard to do. I did two identical cameras. The second one took about 20 minutes. Both repairs were successful.
You don’t even have to read this post to figure it out. You can get the gist of the steps by scrolling through the pictures below.
If I learned anything from this, it’s that if I ever buy another dashcam, I’m going to be sure it’s the type that uses a capacitor instead of a battery.
With apologies to Song of Solomon, 2:12. But surely the blog title makes at least as much sense as ” .. the voice of the turtle … “. Whatever. This post isn’t about Bible specifics.
The background here is that a friend, has a little kid, who really likes a stuffed toy, that has a broken electronic voice-box.
The catch is that the toy in question is a 25-year-old plush chihuahua dog. It was a promotional giveaway from Taco Bell. It was never meant to be repaired.
There are probably a lot of these exact Taco Bell chihuahua dogs still in existence. You can buy one on Etsy (below). But at this point, it’s a fair bet that the 25-year-old batteries in the device either have died, or will soon die, if the toy is actually used as a toy. So if you want one that talks — and the little girl in question definitely wanted that — you’d best be prepared to replace the batteries, at least.
So, would I mind trying to fix it? Needless to say, replacement parts may be an issue. And in terms of helpful instructions on the internet, I found none.
In the end, I tried to fix four broken Taco Bell chihuahua voice boxes. You never know who might want to read about fixing a mute Taco Bell chihuahua plush toy. So I thought I’d document the fix. It’s not as if hordes of folks read this blog, even on my best days. Bottom line, three out of four now work.Continue reading Post #1842: … and the voice of the chihuahua is heard in our land, …
