Zip ties

My lightning detector stopped working last week. I suspected a problem with the batteries because it had been acting up, but I was nonetheless doubtful that the batteries could be low. The quiescent current of the detector is low enough that the shelf lives of the D-cell batteries are barely affected. I did suspect that the battery holders could be broken or that the batteries could have become dislodged. I opened it up, and sure enough, one of the battery holders had broken again. I had fixed it once with a combination of a few tapes (aluminium and masking), but the adhesive had pulled off. Not having a replacement on hand and not wanting to make a trip to the overpriced cell phones and maybe some electronics store (Radioshack), I decided to try zip ties. Long story short, they seem to work very well.

This is just a quick post of something interesting yet obvious. I move in to the dorm tomorrow, so I have been busy. HOWEVER, I should have a more interesting and full project writeup soon on something that I began and fully completed within the last few days. Hopefully it is impressive enough to be featured on Hack A Day or a similar site!