There are two main disadvantages, the first is that it takes this extra special secret cleaning spray that you must buy from them and second is that it requires batteries. And rechargeables won't do. The motor pulls too much current. On top of that, the seal on the battery case isn't as tight as it could be. So the humidity of the shower rusted the contacts a little.
Luckily, my husband has a degree in electrical engineering. And, with his help. . .well mostly his work actually, we managed to solve the second problem.
First, we need to calculate what kind of power supply the cleaner requires. 4 AA batteries wired in series is 6 volts. Our first victim died when we connected 12 volts to it. It's all in the name of science.
A trip to Menard's to buy a universal power supply, it has multiple voltage settings. 300 mA? Probably will do. Also a new victim, I mean. . .a new test subject.
This is our new test subject preparing for surgery.
Based on our experiences with the first victim, we know where to drill to get access to the wires that lead out of the battery cavity. Drill carefully, and just to be sure check that there are no batteries in the device. (Stupid check, to avoid battery acid accidents.) Only go in deep enough to break through the case.
Look closely at the exposed wires. The orange wire is connected to the positive battery terminal and the blue wire is connected to the negative terminal.
Some stripped ethernet wire, for testing we'll just start by twisting things together. Twist together the orange wire inside the case with the orange and orange striped wire, and the blue wire with the blue and blue striped wire. Use electrical tape to protect the wires.
Testing, by holding the wires on to the power supply connector.
Some connecting and crimping and later
And voila! Now to figure out that secret formula for the cleaning solution. . .
UPDATE: It occurred to me after sleeping on this one night that some people might think I was advocating leaving the Automatic Shower Cleaner plugged in all the time. That's a bad idea. Just to be clear, only plug the shower cleaner in to run it. Also, you'd probably want to seal up the wiring cavity with something to keep the electrical parts from rusting.
FINAL UPDATE: The automatic shower cleaner needs a 6VDC 800mA power supply - and we sealed up the back with a hot glue gun and some plastic pieces cut from a Naked Juice container.
