Do yourself a favor, and don't buy the Coghlan's 0817 Battery Powered Air Pump. I picked one up because I wanted to save myself the hassle of pumping up our inflatable raft by hand. I had pretty low expectations for the $12.00 pump, but it still didn't meet them.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMfqEumomkuHTt_aWrivl0SZBKOE42AivlswZXoSpBFbke1NyeD3Tw_qwzWXwHUFdTAWsoC2AhN2BYetA3PT-AexlumI71cchaB8p96WjLc6ga39gYiIXMEUMAJYR1M6g4ZWL3/s640/20160720_151705.jpg)
When the pump arrived I put in fresh batteries and hit on the switch. Nothing. I flipped the batteries over. Nothing. I put in another new set of batteries. Nothing. I flipped those. Nothing. Ugh. I had a dud. Off to Amazon I went, where I requested a return. The Amazon experience was hassle free; they'd send me a new one and pay to ship back the broken one.
The second pump arrives. I put in fresh batteries. And...nothing. What are the odds of getting two dead pumps?!
Normally I would have trudged over the computer and requested a refund and bought a new brand. But for the heck of it, I thought I'd troubleshoot the situation. I didn't really have a plan, but I un-bent a paper clip and touched the battery ends like so:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhfUecrW64M9wEEXlMOY4wXW6LR6rzYv9yThEIZrcSYrt7v3zcXZmP6m5FqiiiiWTWlmQXBhs-MI_gmuhIWKs6vqr6zdAZgAsvLwQ4xCgQi4YZUAgn6JZFxPr_e7nqFaq-ZzRc/s640/20160720_151536.jpg)
To my surprise, the pump whirred to life. Interesting. So the problem wasn't actually the motor in the pump. I then fiddled some more. Again, pretty much randomly, I grabbed a bit of aluminum foil from the kitchen and wadded it up. I then put it on one of the ends of the batteries. My thinking was that maybe the plastic that held the battery in place was just a little too long, not allowing it to make contact with the battery. Basically, I did this:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFYfZ1N2aoYCMbWqW95eB0V-OIRU88o9Nrk3OgigVuRPtjlFM0C7TJH_epqnJ1i8RHXyJpxCYUbQdftF_yuSsLVk9bTl1aX0MFmDdRzRYZ9ekhKEP9zDo6NcF5NDKXnF9wDUwx/s640/20160720_151335.jpg)
To my absolute shock and amazement, the pump fully came alive when I hit on the on switch. So yeah, if you do buy this pump and it doesn't work, you may want to try a little foil to help the batteries make contact.
I suppose I can't really complain: not only did I get a pump out of the deal, but I got a little boost of electronics-troubleshoot confidence, which is rare for me. Hurray for aluminum foil and paperclips!
Coghlan’s has always been pretty low end stuff, but good on you for fixing it.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I had very low expectations for Coghlan anything. But I figured it would at least work :-).
ReplyDelete