![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Recalled to Life!
When I was putting back all my clocks this weekend, I discovered that my bathroom clock (one of the few acquisitions that continues to give me pleasure whenever I look at it, because it is just so *convenient* to be able to know the time whenever I am in the bath) had a rotten battery in it. A hazard of a damp atmosphere, apparently, although the clock was still working.
I took remedial measures by using bottled lemon juice to dissolve away the alkaline residue, and then using alcohol screen cleaner to clean away the lemon juice residue, allowed it to dry, and then fitted a new battery. Except that it had stopped working. Difficult to be certain on a clock without a second hand, but I reset it several times over the course of the day, and it never moved.
Over the next few days I cleaned the contacts (which were now sparkling fresh) again and again, removed and refitted the battery both ways round multiple times, and eventually gave up and replaced it on the wall while waiting to acquire a replacement. The battery compartment was basically a sealed plastic casting with the two embedded terminals being the only points of exit, so I really didn't see how filling it with lemon juice could have short-circuited the mechanism attached, but somehow it apparently had... the irony being that the clock was functioning perfectly when it still had a decaying battery in it!
But yesterday evening I was sitting on the lavatory when I became conscious of a steady ticking noise from the wall above. It was telling the wrong time, but it was working... and has continued to work, and to keep time after being reset. I can only assume that the innards had finally dried out in some manner -- in any case I am very glad to hear it back again!
Edit: I was a little over-optimistic. I had a quick (and steamy, due to the cold weather) shower immediately after posting the above this morning, and the clock promptly stopped again and (judging by the time when I checked it again) didn't restart for six hours...
I took remedial measures by using bottled lemon juice to dissolve away the alkaline residue, and then using alcohol screen cleaner to clean away the lemon juice residue, allowed it to dry, and then fitted a new battery. Except that it had stopped working. Difficult to be certain on a clock without a second hand, but I reset it several times over the course of the day, and it never moved.
Over the next few days I cleaned the contacts (which were now sparkling fresh) again and again, removed and refitted the battery both ways round multiple times, and eventually gave up and replaced it on the wall while waiting to acquire a replacement. The battery compartment was basically a sealed plastic casting with the two embedded terminals being the only points of exit, so I really didn't see how filling it with lemon juice could have short-circuited the mechanism attached, but somehow it apparently had... the irony being that the clock was functioning perfectly when it still had a decaying battery in it!
But yesterday evening I was sitting on the lavatory when I became conscious of a steady ticking noise from the wall above. It was telling the wrong time, but it was working... and has continued to work, and to keep time after being reset. I can only assume that the innards had finally dried out in some manner -- in any case I am very glad to hear it back again!
Edit: I was a little over-optimistic. I had a quick (and steamy, due to the cold weather) shower immediately after posting the above this morning, and the clock promptly stopped again and (judging by the time when I checked it again) didn't restart for six hours...