A piece of shiny Mylar, as in a space blanket, under your arm might reflect enough IR to supply some heat underneath. But probably not as much as you’d like.
Hard to know without actually examining it, but it is possible that the pad has two or more heater elements in it, and it implements lower setting by only turning fewer of them on, rather than adjusting the current in one single element? So if one element has failed, the other(s) may still work to provide lower settings.
I would experiment with a multimeter to try to see how the resistance reads on different settings. Though if it has a semiconductor control circuit, which is quite likely these days, that might not give a very clear answer.
Hopefully a replacement is unlikely to suffer early failure, unless the manufacturing process is VERY shoddy, or they just got a bad batch in…?
Those cheapies don’t stand much abuse. I had one and left it on. When I came back my cats were on it. For maybe 10 minutes. It never heated right after that. I’m sure to put my new one off and away when I leave the room now.
I put my pad on the floor under my desk to keep my feet warm. The cats use it more than I do. The pads usually last at least a year. I don’t remember how much my current pad cost, but I don’t think it was that expensive. But probably not a real cheapie, either.
I bought this heating pad. It’s long enough to wrap a ankle, knee, arm or shoulder. The instructions offer advice on wrapping.
Several pads were USB. I was concerned they wouldn’t handle the current requirements. The pad I bought has a 12v transformer for power.
Works well so far. I use it on the lowest heat setting for 20 mins. It has a 2 hour auto shut off. I certainly wouldn’t want it on my arm that long! I assume the shut off is for fire safety in case someone didn’t turn it off.
We had a winter storm Sun night. It’s 5F now and this pad feels very good in my drafty house.
Link Hand Arm Heating Pad for Pain Relief, Large Heat Areas for Joints Pain Soreness,Heated Wrap for Wrist Ankle Elbow Knee and Leg,2 Hrs Auto-Off 3 Heat Settings,78.7 Extension Cord Black https://a.co/d/0jbqaEp