Did somebody said… CAT?!

Hey folks! I thought I’d make a quick post about this. Basically about 3 months ago I have been given an old laser cat toy thing that was working sporadically. It’s not one of these super expensive toys but still a fair 40-50$CAD. Was definitely worth an attempt to fix.

I initially thought it changing the wire since when it has been given to me, the negative wire had snap from getting stuck in the mechanism and pulled. Which seemed to help but the thing was still not working great. Once in a while the laser would just die and turn off then magically turn on later.

After a quick peek online for a replacement laser piece, costing a whopping 2.75$ for 10 laser pieces ( shipping included ), I decided to give it a shot. Fast forward 2+ months after I finally received my package. A quick swap of the laser module did in fact fix the problem permanently!

Enjoy a picture of my two feline creatures appreciating the little red dot ( or being confused by it. )

Now, for the forensic of the former part. Once I had solved the problem, I thought I would investigate as of why the other one was not behaving. Oh it didn’t took a very long time to find out the root cause of the problem. When the mechanism yanked on the cable, I suspect that it pulled on the module and caused one of the three solder pins on the laser diode to crack, resulting in a joint that doesn’t work properly. I did pry a little before that picture, it wasn’t “THAT” bad before heh.

Hope you enjoyed!