Allie is four months and one week old. She plays with toys now. She pulls things towards herself. She chews and feels and explores.
Wanting to get a reprieve from holding her all day long, I decided to find some of Grace's old baby toys. She had a saucer, a walker, a jumperoo, and some assorted noisy toys at this age.
I knew that Allie would love them.
I hoped that Allie would love them enough for me to get some work done around the house and play with my firstborn and her dollhouse.
Maybe even exercise.
Or blog!
I don't ask for much.
My simple requests in mind, I crawled into our dank, dark basement crawlspace this morning, hoping not to meet anything with six or eight legs.
Twenty minutes later, I crawled back out with the toys, having successfully avoided all things creepy and crawly. Among the toys I found was Grace's Sing-Along Stage.
Assuming that my handy husband had removed the batteries before he stored it away, I grabbed some fresh AAs and a screwdriver and sat the baby in the Bumbo seat.
My handy husband had not, as it turns out, removed the batteries.
Three years in the dank, dark basement crawlspace, and the batteries had leaked their acid out into the battery compartment of the Sing-Along Stage.
"Rats!" I grumbled, causing Grace to come over to see what I was doing.
I cleaned out the battery compartment, making sure to get all of the acid and grime.
Unfortunately, as I cleaned, the springs that were supposed to hold the batteries in disintegrated and fell out.
"Now what am I going to do?" I said out loud.
You can play with me! Grace offered.
Not so helpful.
Anyway, this toy was awesome. It sang and played music and Grace would sit (and later stand) in front of it and dance and sing and watch herself in the mirror and I loved every minute.
I would not allow a little battery acid to stand between Allie and the awesomeness of the Sing Along Stage.
I put the batteries into the compartment even though the springs weren't there to hold them in. I hoped that, if I replaced the back panel, the batteries would not fall out and the toy would work.
Sometimes, I am more hopeful than smart.
I was wrong.
I contemplated, gnashing my teeth.
Then I had a brainstorm. What if the music failed to play because the circuit wasn't closed? Maybe those springs had a dual purpose!
If that was the case, I just needed something metal to wedge in there.
I was about to dissect some pens for their springs when I thought about aluminum foil. I grabbed the roll from the kitchen, tore off two little pieces, and rolled them into little balls.
After stuffing the little balls into the compartment where the springs had been, I replaced the batteries and the back panel.
And the toy started singing.
I was so proud of myself that I posted this on Twitter:
And then Grace took the toy from Allie and sat in front of the stage for an hour, singing and dancing and looking at herself in the mirror.
(I was too excited to look up the spelling ahead of time. It's actually MacGyver.)
Brid says
Yay see this tip and lo and behold my Christmas garland working again - many thanks x
Almira Lenn says
I have to thank you for this tip. I bought 5 singing Christmas angels for my granddaughter two years ago and one of them won't sing. I tired to replace the batteries today (3) and one coil fell out because it was so corroded. I googled " how t fix a broken battery circuit in a toy" and your blog appeared. Was I so happy! I broke the news to my son-in-law and he was surprised at how simple the solution was. Thank you so much for your excellent idea and for sharing it with the whole world.
Have a wonderful Christmas
Beth S. says
Tara, thank you so much for this great fix!!!! We live in such a "throw away society." It's nice to know there are people out there who still repair items to reuse! I had bought my Grandchildren a beautiful Santa/elf statue that sings and dances at a flea market, only to get it home to a rusted out battery compartment!! Cleaning alone didn't work. The foil did it!!! Thank you again, and Happy New Year!
margaret says
I'm so excited to have found this! I have quite a number of toys that I've thrown out due to this problem. I have one last toy that I've held on to,i will let you know how that goes!
margaret says
just tried it on the tonka handy tow truck. it didn't work at all. i don't know if probably the switch isn't working. quite disappointed. i had hoped...
Geoff Read says
Awesome. It worked on a £200 piece of electronics. Phew 🙂
Carol says
Thankyou saved a few of my kids toys , they are very happy
Solene says
Thank you so much! It worked on my boyfriend's 500$ headphones! He was so anxious and was about to throw them away but I just managed to fix them with this easy trick! Amazing.
Cindy Hutchison says
OMG! I had considered that, but never put it into action! Thank you so much!
Jenny says
I am so glad I found this. I think I was looking to fix the same toy for my baby girl that you fixed!! It worked great!
Donna Merle says
I just did the same thing for a battery operated candle but it only worked for a minute and then nada but I didn't think to roll the foil in a ball so tomorrow I shall try that. The candle is not mine but I am a tinkerer so when I saw two candles on a table in my apartment hallway, I investigated to see if they were battery operated and sure enough they were but no batteries and both were all rusted in the battery compartment so I "borrowed them quietly, shhhhh" and brought them to my apartment and tinkered and cleaned the rust and one works so I will try the foil ball tomorrow when I borrow the one candle again shhhhh. Thanks Tara!
Donna Merle says
Tara you are a genius!! I just shhhhh borrowed the candle from our hallway in my apartment building again and Ta Dahhh!!! it is now working after rolling the foil in a ball and then in a smaller ball because now the battery wouldn't fit but after several attempts I just shhhh put it back on the table in the hallway with it's partner candle and now they are all lit up in a joyous reunion and I was not busted.
Nova says
This post inspired me to press on and work to recover my son's recorded storybook with Grandma's voice!! THANK YOU!!!
Tara Ziegmont says
What a gift! My mom died before she could record stories for my kids, and that makes me very, very sad.
Jetman says
Hey Tara! Thank you so much! I was about to buy a brand new nose (hair) trimmer when I googled something about leaked battery installed on unused device for a long time. Found your blog and immediately asked my wife if she's keeping aluminum foil, tried your solution and kaboom! Saved me 25 bucks! Thanks again and God bless!
Tara Ziegmont says
Yay!
Tlane says
Just a quick warning...wondering if anyone else has experienced. I tried this with an outdoor string of lights and it worked like a charm! Tried with a toy and it didn't work, so I finagled with the placement of the foil, battery positioning, turned the item off and on a few times and noticed that the batteries were getting extremely hot even when the toy was turned off. One battery actually looked like it was splitting at the seams. I tossed the whole thing in the backyard, afraid that the batteries would explode or catch fire. Never got the toy to work. Wondering if anyone else has experienced anything like this.
Tara Ziegmont says
We used our toy daily for a year with no problems, but thanks for the warning.
chamzy says
thanks for that! Tried all sorts like paper clips, twisted wire which connected then disconnected too easily!
I have a few (maybe about 6 or more toys )rusty battery compartments. Didn't throw away as it was possible to play with some without the batteries. And were gifts from aunts and uncles.
Too many battery powered toys to keep up with so didn't remove.
So gonna try the foil trick. Hoping it will by pass the super rust on some of them.
Wanda says
Tara you are a true blessing! My 7 year old granddaughter just had her day made when I found this and fixed a You & Me doll so she would talk & all again. It had two bad rusted springs -- the tinfoil worked and fast! I was so glad to find this - my granddaughter too! Thank you ever so much!
Onayimi says
Thanks a lot Tara for this intelligent idea. I just fixed a guitar that my 3 year old son got from his older cousins; and I wish I could record and post his expression of excitement when I got it to work.
By the way, I found this post through google. I am in Nigeria, Africa! Just to mention that you're helping parents to fix this issue world wide.
faria says
u r awesome...i tried it on one of my son's fav toy that i wanted to throw n just did wat u said ....n it started working....
cheers
Julia McAlpin says
I just tried it on my recumbent bike. It worked!!!! I can't believe it...but I did have to fold the tin foil instead of ball it up. Thanks so much...there were no replacement parts made anymore, so I thought the machine was useless.
Briar says
Thank you thank you thank you!!!
Cheryl says
I just bought a lifelike interactive toy cat from a junk shop on a whim - for 1 euro (am in Spain) being told the battery compartment was fubar and wouldn't work as it was so corroded complete with dead batteries - and, yes, wrapping the springs in foil and splashing out on new batteries has got this thing meowing and purring and scratching its nose like nobody's business. Will have to shut it up soon...!
Jennifer says
you just saved my daughter's leapfrog tea time teapot! thank you thank you thank you! wishing i had found this about a year ago. we've thrown away so many RC cars and electronic musical toys you don't even want to know.....
Robert says
You are brilliant! I managed to fix a 30 year old camera that my grandpa had gifted me! Thank you sooo much for this tip! Made my day!!!
Ryan says
I own a HASBRO I-Dog Pup (Pop!/Pink version) (2005) And one of the springs had corroded and not fallen off, I tried everything in my power to make it work again and it will just not. I don't know if it's the corroded spring or something else and I haven't tried the foil thing yet. But can you please help me?
Tara Ziegmont says
Try the foil.
Sid says
Thanks, your tip saved me two toys Fisher Price Rainforest Deluxe gym play mat and Fisher Price Rainforest Jumperoo. i had totally given up after the local repair shops also turned it down. Simple fix, easy to try and worked like a charm. Thanks again.
Tara Ziegmont says
Oh the Rainforest Jumperoo! I have such fond memories of that toy. I have tons of photos of my oldest sleeping in it, having completely jumped herself to exhaustion.
Ellie says
Ohmygod you're the best! I've almost given up on my favorite toy until i read this post. Thank you so much!!
India says
Thankyou so much! Helped me fix a precious thing of mine. You are brilliant!
barry allen says
do we have to take of the springs or not
Tara Ziegmont says
That depends on whether they are ruined or not.
Finn says
Thank you!! I was so disappointed when my fave electric candles rusted out, was told there was no way to fix it. Googled the info anyway and came on your site. It worked! You're a genius!
Fliss says
Thank you,
Op shop barbie is singing again, how many toys have been saved by your wonderful post. Felicity from Australia.