Our original Tivoli Pal (featured here in a 2003 post) went into surgery over the weekend and is doing quite well. This one lives in our bathroom and then floats around on demand to run on battery.

Kathy and I have had a hard time keeping it working though, because the power jack (not plug) seemed to have a short and would stop working. We would wiggle the cord, pull on it, lean it against the wall… all kinds of strategies to keep the power flowing. Finally I decided to take it apart and see if there was anything I could do.

We knew it was not the plug, because trading plugs with the Yellow Pal made no difference. It had to be inside the Pal. Six screws later, I had the front of the Pal removed to reveal all of the wiring, speaker, and other major organs. While plugging the power in and out and wiggling the connection, I noticed a tiny spark on the circuit board.

I photographed the board with my digital camera and zoomed in. I could see where one of the solder joints was cracked all the way around. A neighboring joint also looked half cracked. So I got my old soldering iron that I bought when I was a teenager, and went to work. Good as new! (Even if my soldering joints are a bit ugly.)