Walking Animal Toy Adapted by Hard Wiring The Leash

This toy is a classic and there are many different types. They range in price from $5 to $20.

I was working for a school and they wanted me to adapt around 50 of these toys for the holidays, but they were looking for the most affordable option. I was able to find a version of them from FiveBelow.

Note: This product appears to be seasonal at FiveBelow. It tends to become available around the holiday season.

There are two different ways I have adapted these.

1. Remove the leash and make a battery interrupter.

2. Adapt the remote on the leash

What you need:

• Walking Dog from FiveBelow and 2 AA batteries

• Heat Shrink Tube

• Lighter

• Helping Hands

• Utility Knife

• Soldering iron with a way to clean it

• Solder

• Tin Spins or a File

• Mini Screw Driver

• Wires

• 3.5 MM Jack

Test the Toy

Always test the toy before adapting it! There is nothing more frustrating than adapting a toy and it not working. If did not test if first, you don’t know if its an adapting issue or the toy itself.

Remove the Batteries Before Adapting the Toy

Prepare the Jack:

To learn how to prepare the Female Jack click below:

Open the Remote and Choose a Jack

Unscrew the two screws on the back of the remote. Once you open up the remote you can decide on which type of 3.5 mm female jack to use. I decided on a jack that would stick out of the remote instead of the type that would be housed inside the remote. Click on the picture to find these products

Remove the Old Solder

Pull the switch out of the remote. When you do, you will notice that there is a lot of older solder. There are three ways that you can remove the old solder

1. Using the Soldering Iron: For this method you are going to place you hot soldering iron on the old solder and move it around until some come off on your iron. This method is more trial and error. Be careful to not accidentally burn yourself.

2. Desoldering Wire/Wick: For these you are going to want to place a piece of the wire over the old solder and then heat it up. Once it gets hot enough it will soak up the old solder. If you are using this method leave the wick attached to the roll so that you don’t get burnt.

3. Solder Sucker (a.k.a desolder pump): To use push the button/plunger on the top down until it clicks and locks into place. Then using your soldering iron, heat up the solder on the switch. Once the solder is hot you are going to push the button on the solder sucker, and it will suck up the solder. You might have to do this a few times.

The wire from the toy will come off and you should see a hole in the switch.

Connect the Jack the the original switch.

Reattach the wires from the toy, to the switch. You are going to want to attach one wire to each side of the switch, just like you did with the wires from the Jack

Solder The Wire on to The Jack

Now place the switch into one of the alligator clips on you helping hands. Then, take the soldering iron into your dominant hand and the solder into the other and hold the solder and the iron to the wire for several seconds. I start with my soldering iron on medium but you may need to adjust it as you go. Once some of the solder melts onto the wire, pull back the solder but leave the iron there for an additional few seconds.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

• You should notice the solder on the Jack becomes shiny, this means it is heated up enough.

• You really don’t need a lot of solder, I am definitely guilty of this.

Place the Switch in the Remote

Now you are going to want to place the switch into remote. Make sure to adjust the wires so that they fit in the remote. That means making sure the jack exists the remote where you want it. And the Wires that are attached to the toy fit back in correctly.

Test the Toy

Before closing the toy, you are gong to want to test both the switches. Test the switch that came with the toy and then plug an adapted switch into the 3.5mm Jack you added and test it using the adapted switch.

Optional: Adding a Zip Tie and or Hot Glue

This is optional but recommend as it helps secure the jack if there is any pulling on the switch and thus the jack. Before closing the toy you are going want to add a zip tie around the new jack you just added.

Some people prefer using a dot of hot glue because it can be hard to get the zip tie tight enough. Also, if you open up enough childrens’ toys, you will find many toys use hot glue to secure things into place.

I sometimes do both.

• Side Note: Other people will make the wire of the jack a little longer and tie it into a knot in it before they attach it. I don’t do this because I am not sure if over time that has any impact on the effectiveness of the Jack’s wires.

Close the Remote

Make sure everything fits into place nice and securely. You can even test each switch once more. Then close the remote and screw it shut.