Summary

Julia Evans repaired two 10-year-old rechargeable bike lights whose batteries had degraded to a 5-minute runtime by replacing the coin cell batteries herself. Working at a local queer makerspace, she learned to desolder for the first time, identified the battery type (LIR2477) with LLM assistance, ordered parts from AliExpress for ~$20 CAD, and successfully restored both lights. The process was messy and imperfect — she ripped silicone, lost screws, and the re-gluing was sloppy — but the lights work. The post doubles as a reflection on the value of community repair spaces, the limits and occasional utility of LLMs for hardware identification, and the satisfaction of fixing something with minimal prior expertise.

Key Insight

Old rechargeable devices that seem dead are often fixable with a cheap battery replacement and minimal skills, and the messiness of the process is part of the learning.

Spicy Quotes (click to share)

• 4

  I don't know much about electronics and this post does not contain any safety advice because I don't know much about safety.

• 2

  I think it's nice to do projects in a community space where you can get help.

• 2

  I definitely ripped some silicone in the process and it was pretty messy but I got it open.

• 5

  I just used fewer screws and hoped for the best.

• 5

  It's a good example of what's fun for me about trying to avoid LLMs, this 'List of battery sizes' page is super interesting and if I use an LLM I might never find it.

• 1

  The lights work! I have used them to bike at night!

• 2

  I thought it was really cool that I was able to do this with extremely minimal electronics skills!

Tone

enthusiastic, self-deprecating, curious