Recently, my son brought me his Hexbug, which had a broken power switch. For those who may not be familiar, a Hexbug is a small robotic creature that navigates its environment by sensing objects in its path and avoiding them using its bump sensor feelers.
The power switch is located on the rear of the Hexbug and features a long plastic actuator. After numerous uses, the plastic piece broke off, leaving only a sharp object as a means to turn the bug on or off. Upon taking a look under the cover of the Hexbug, it appeared that the switch could be replaced. Here are the steps I took to repair the power switch on the original Hexbug.
Remove the battery cover and batteries.
Remove the top cover of the bug.
I managed to pop out some of the plastic connections from the top without breaking them, but others were more stubborn and wouldn’t come out. For those, I used a utility knife to carefully cut the remaining connections. Fortunately, the cover still fit back on properly and remained securely in place after I finished the repair.
Cut the leads of the old switch.
Remove the old switch from the circuit board.
The original switch is attached with solder on each side of the switch.
Using solder wick clean up the old solder from the switch holes on the PCB.
Find a new switch with the same pin spacing
The closest switch I had on hand was from E-switch part number EG1218. The pin spacing matched but the switch was a straight pinned version instead of a right angled one. Bend the leads of the switch prior to installing it on the board to work at a right angle.
Solder the new switch onto the PCB.
The two pins on the right are on the same net so it’s OK to connect them together.
Re-install the top, batteries and battery cover.
We have a working Hexbug again!
