My sister gave me a set of Magic Tracks (with a car) for Christmas. The track glows in the dark and is appropriate for me because it is intended for kids ages 3+. Unfortunately, after assembling the track and installing batteries in the car, I could not get the car to run.
When my brother-in-law, Terry,
arrived at my house at midday, I retrieved a few tools and a digital multimeter
so we could troubleshoot the car.
The problem was obviously
electrical. Between the two of us we had
a fighting chance to fix the car. We
have reasonable skills. Terry worked as phone
company technician. I was an
electrician.
After a few minutes of poking
at the car, it started running when I attempted taking a voltage measurement
across the batteries. We soon discovered
a poor connection point at the end of one of the batteries. The car would run if I forced the battery
against the terminal with the test probe of my meter.
“Something is goofy,” I said, “the
battery won’t connect.”
“Tin foil,” Terry suggested. “Maybe a wad of foil at the battery terminal
so we can make a connection.”
“Brilliant!”
NASA and Apollo 13 have nothing
on us.
Ten minutes later, my little
car was performing victory laps—thanks to a tiny wad of foil.
Working on the Car
Victory Lap Video
—Mitchell Hegman
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