How $3 saved the day

You ever spend an embarrassing amount of time troubleshooting your troubleshooting tools?

Because that’s where I found myself: standing over my friends 'free tester', pushing buttons, wiggling leads, staring at it like it had personally betrayed me. No lights, nothing..—like the thing was ghosting me after just meeting it. Naturally, I assumed the worst: it’s broken, fried, cooked, done for. Time to start googling replacements and maybe explaining to my fried "you get what you pay for".

Of course, being the responsible tech I am, I did what anyone would do first—I blamed the manufacturer. Clearly, they sold me a lemon. Or maybe the universe was just out to get me. I even gave it a good “tap” (the ancient art of percussive maintenance) as if smacking it would jolt its tiny electronic soul back into existence. Spoiler: it didn’t.

Finally, after an hour of “diagnostics” (read: cursing, pacing, and flipping the power button harder), I decided to check the most advanced and complicated component of all—the battery. That’s when the truth hit me like a ton of Duracells: the tester wasn’t dead, it was just starving. A fresh 9-volt later, and suddenly it was back working. Flashing its LEDs happily, mocking me for my lack of basic common sense.

So yes, I spent a solid hour troubleshooting a tester that wasn’t broken. I had, in fact, been defeated by a battery. Lesson learned: before questioning the mysteries of the universe or condemning your tools to the scrap heap, maybe—just maybe—check if it’s power hungry.

Because nothing says “professional technician” like forgetting to check the battery. In my defense, it wouldn't take much to include a battery status indicator ;)

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