On Jun 14, 8:00*pm, geoff wrote:
In message
, Man
at B&Q writes

On Jun 14, 9:42*am, Tim Watts wrote:
On Mon, 14 Jun 2010 00:34:12 +0100, "Dave Liquorice"
wibbled:

On Sun, 13 Jun 2010 18:11:45 +0100, Ron Lowe wrote:

The vast majority of faults are not fancy electronic failures. 90% are
mechanical, connector, chaffed wire, etc. Of the remaining 10%
electronic problems, 90% of those are PSU-related. Only a very small
percentage is actual gubbins-failure.

I like that breakdown, it's about right. I'd add that a lot of the rare
actual gubbins failures can be put down to the PSU throwing a wobbly or
a spike/dip in the supply.

If stuff survives the first few days or weeks of regular use it will
essentially last forever. Always assuming that it has been designed
well, no components right up at the top of their power rating with
inadequate methods of removing the heat resulting in scorched circuit
boards and weakend joints after a year or three of use or simple
component failure due to being under too much stress.

Electrolytic capacitors a a weak point - they tend to be vulnerable to
failure before other components IME.

Not if tye correct parts are specified at the design stage and
assuming you buy from a reputable supplier so that you actually get
those parts. The latter is one of the major differences between cheap
as chips stuff and expensive automotive grade stuff.

But even silicon doesn't survive forever.

Essentially, again if specc'ed correctly and sourced from a
manufacturer who know what they are doing.

Here we go - back to unrealistic assumptions

In the world of dodgy boiler PCBs, maybe.

MBQ