Well, thanks for that Miata man. You motivated me to get mine up and running. The missing ingredient was a sober moment, and a calm temperament.
I like the idea, but am still dissatisfied with the execution. The button and display are in the wrong place, so I have to remove the battery, remove two screws, remove the base, loosen one screw, turn a ring, re-tighten the screw, replace the base, install the two screws for the base, then *carefully* replace the battery - watching out for shorts such that I might have done something wrong.
I am getting .5 to .6 volt drops, a bit more than in deal-doh mode. I work from home, with a fist full of
batteries, so not a deal breaker, but definitely an annoyance.
And, just did a quick test, trying to remove the battery tube does again loosen the mount on the base, so I will be back again in break it down mode.
It needs a good scrub, some noalox (or whatever that stuff is for electrical conductivity), and definitely some loctite.
I think it was the founder of Tektronix that said that a connector is a point of failure between two pieces of perfectly working equipment. This sticker base, with all of its parts and such, did not get that memo.
And the battery tube and the control head tilt toward each other. A bit.
I am going to keep it, but I am having a hard time explaining why.