It’s Back!

I got my freedom back!  Now I can run anywhere I want to.  My husband fixed my garmin!  Yes, he FIXED it.  He’s talented at repairing gadgets, toys, furniture, appliances, you name it.  He doesn’t think he is, BUT I know he’s a fixer.  When something breaks, I never fret too much because hubby can probably fix it.  (He doesn’t know it yet, but he’s going to fix my dead computer).

All I said was this:  “Honey Will you open it up and look?  If you destroy the garmin, it won’t matter because it’s already dead.”

And thus began the process of getting my Garmin Forerunner 305 back.

He pried it apart with a sharp wood chisel and immediately saw the problem.  On the screen side of the case just under the Forerunner name are 8 contact “fingers” that press against the battery side contacts when the case is closed.  One of those copper “fingers” was broken. 

This is what he did:

1. Cleaned the area around the contact where the “finger” was.

2. Took a small piece of phone wire from inside an old wall jack.  He stripped both ends 1/8”

3. He flattened the wire and wrapped it around a nail, giving the wire a coil so it had the ability to fit into the open corner of the case when closed. 

4. After slipping the wire off the nail, hubby soldered one end of the contact where the finger was.

5. Then he soldered the other end to the corresponding contact on the battery side of the case.  That way, the two parts of the case were like an open clam shall, connected by the wire.

6.  Then he closed up the case, careful to avoid pinching the wire. 

7.  At last, he pushed the power button.  AND IT WORKED!!  AND IT HAS CONTINUED TO WORK.

8.  The last step was to glue it back together.  He tried silicon and strapped bands around the garmin until it dried.  But it came apart easily after that.  So he used super glue, and it held.

There!  Did that make sense?   I could have never done it.  But my talented husband was able to bring back one of the most important objects in my life, the garmin. 

To keep my streak alive, I strapped on the garmin and went for a short run around the neighborhood.  I turned a corner whenever I felt like it, knowing my garmin would measure the distance.  I completed my 8th day of streaking with a 1.7 mile run.