The south end of the beach at Hua Hin, Thailand.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Hua Hin, Thailand.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Maldives on March 23rd.

Wednesday, September 7, 2016

I can't believe I let that happen!

Cool day yesterday, but with the sun shining we decided to go for a short morning hike. I took the iPhone with us, and using the Motion-X GPS app, we know that we did 5.9 kms (3.7 miles) in an hour and forty minutes. Not bad. Gotta get those hiking legs in shape for Romania, so we'll be out a lot more over the next few weeks. It feels great to get back into it!

But by the time we returned, the battery in the iPhone was almost dead. I knew it was getting bad, and had already ordered the necessary parts to fix the problem.

Here are some photos from our hike...

Heading out!

A photo of Kevin, taking a photo!

Hmm. How do we get across that?

There is no actual hiking trail. But sometimes we can follow the cow paths.

I saw something glistening in the sun, so I went up to have a look.

An old stubby beer bottle. It's probably been there for 40 years or more!

Ruth, waiting for me down on the path.

We returned on the upper plain.

And we got a nice view of the park. Sure looks better with water in the lake!

Compared to the end of May when the water was at it's lowest. Yikes.

After lunch, I took a quick drive into town to pick up the mail. Two packages had arrived for us. One was the windshield repair kit that I had ordered from Colorado. And the other was the tool kit that I had ordered to replace the battery in the iPhone 4S. It came all the way from China!

In the evening, I decided to change the iPhone battery. I had already received the battery in a previous order. I had bought it online at eBay here in Canada for something like $8.00. But then I learned through watching a youtube video that I needed some special tools to change the battery. Apple doesn't want people doing their own maintenance I guess. This way, they can try and charge $79 to change the battery for you! Crooks.

Anyhow, I ordered the toolkit from Amazon.ca for $5.44 CAD. It showed up yesterday. It had shipped all the way from China. Took about three weeks to get here. 


How can they sell this tool kit for $5.44 CAD ($4.00 USD) and ship it all the way from China and still make any money on it? I don't get it...

The two tiny specialty screws.

So there are two tiny pentalobe screws in the bottom. But none of those fancy tools properly fit those two screws. I almost gave up when I tried the tiny phillips driver and managed (with some pressure) to get them loose. Fortunately it didn't strip the head.

Then, on the inside you have to remove two extremely tiny screws from the battery connector. I needed a magnifying glass! It was all going well until I went to put it back together and I dropped one of the screws. I heard it bounce off the table, and then I heard it bounce two or three times on the floor.

Dummy.

I can't believe I let that happen. Should have been more careful.

Ruth and I searched the floor, but couldn't come up with it.

I took a flexible business card shaped fridge magnet off the fridge and ran it across the floor hoping to pick up that tiny invisible screw. And it worked! Turns out that it was right beside the floor heating vent.

Put everything back together, and the phone works fine. Hopefully there's a noticeable difference in battery capacity.

We're off to town today for weekly grocery shopping.

Have a great day!

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20 comments:

  1. Good job on finding the screw, lucky it didn't drop down into the vent.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, it was very lucky! We will have to remember next time not to do it near a vent.

      Delete
  2. So you didn't use any of the fancy tools from China? LOL I think the eye glass tools might have worked. Good idea using flat magnet to pick up screw...I have to remember that or write it down so I don't forget!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, he went back and tried the tiny Phillips screwdriver again, applying a little more pressure this time and it was able to loosen the screw and not strip it.

      We had already tried the eyeglass tools before he had ordered this special kit but the eyeglass tools were still too big!

      Delete
  3. An acquaintance had a book published in China and wanted 10 copies - very much cheaper and came back in no time!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I must have several part thiefs running around. If I drop anything small in the house or motorhome, it is gone forever:)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Maybe you can take a few of the suggestions from the comments for your next project. Don't know what we would have done if Kevin hadn't found that screw, not sure if you could find a store that would sell something like that.

      Delete
  5. Well done on thwarting Apple. Fabulous header picture.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Sherry. :-)

      Kevin was NOT going to pay Apple to do the job!

      Delete
  6. What a gorgeous hike. Awesome photos of the campground.

    I know this is after the fact, but when we are working with small parts, we put a towel down so that if we drop something it won't bounce. So glad you found the screw. Good job.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Paul and Marsha, it was a beautiful hike. It is amazing that the hills are still green, normally at this time of year they are more golden/brown in colour. Shows you how much rain we had this summer.

      If Kevin has to do a job like this again, we will put down a towel/cloth and we won't do it near a furnace vent. We did however put the cat into exile for this task! ;-)

      Delete
  7. Replies
    1. Neither do we Chris but seeing as we got it for free, we will use it. :-)

      Delete
  8. Congratulations on doing the repair yourself. It is always a problem losing tiny parts. We had a large black rubber mat at work for this purpose. If something fell it could not bounce so you could pretty much count on it being somewhere on the mat.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That goodness we put the cat into exile and that Kevin didn't do the job in the living room area where there is carpet! Next time we do a similar job we will put some of these suggestions into action.

      Delete
  9. Another suggestion is use a dish towel,,it stays where it drops but not a bath towel the plys are too deep and hard to find a micro screw in

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Another good suggestion, thank you Mister ed. :-)

      Delete
  10. Im sure things from China are so cheap because of what they pay their workers and that is sad. However, having said that I still am pleased that I can buy my prescription progressive eye glasses from Republic of China for $80 including clip on sunglasses!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I am sure this is exactly why things are cheap. Having said that if we didn't buy these things then those people wouldn't have a job and be even poorer.

      Delete

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