Just read an interesting article in IEEE spectrum (04/08, p. 42) that stated
that a two-year component obsolescence is now common with some devices.

How is the repair industry dealing with this?

Just curious.

Charles wrote:
Just read an interesting article in IEEE spectrum (04/08, p. 42) that stated
that a two-year component obsolescence is now common with some devices.

How is the repair industry dealing with this?

Just curious.



By throwing away stuff.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

"Charles" wrote in message
...
Just read an interesting article in IEEE spectrum (04/08, p. 42) that
stated that a two-year component obsolescence is now common with some
devices.

How is the repair industry dealing with this?

Just curious.


They might be talking about 'specials' that don't often fail anyway. I have
never had any problem obtaining 'standard' parts. Many transistors and
diodes and ICs that first appeared thirty or more years ago, and achieved
industry-wide recognition for their functionality, cost etc, continue to be
manufactured and readily available right up to the present. Whilst some have
undergone improvements and minor changes - the 74 series TTL chips being a
good example - many devices are still manufactured completely unchanged from
their original format (except for having all of the lead wrung out of them,
of course ... :-\ )

On the other hand, custom ICs - specials - do tend to have a short lifetime,
often allied to the functionality lifetime of the product they were designed
for. When one of these occasionally does fail, they can be very difficult to
obtain even when the equipment is still relatively new, and once it has been
superceded by the next model, such spares for the previous model will indeed
be at least obsolescent, and very possibly, obsolete. How does the repair
industry deal with this ? We smile sweetly at the customer, and tell them
that their beloved item of equipment has just become a doorstop, because
parts are no longer available. 50% of them will sigh, shake their heads
sadly, and walk away into the sunset, carrying their poor dead comrade under
their arm.

The other 50% will explode at the news and rant and rave as though it's our
fault. I usually point these people in the direction of the equipment
manufacturer's customer liason department, and shoo them off ...

Arfa

On Fri, 29 May 2009 19:34:24 -0400, Phil Hobbs
wrote:

:Charles wrote:
: Just read an interesting article in IEEE spectrum (04/08, p. 42) that stated
: that a two-year component obsolescence is now common with some devices.
:
: How is the repair industry dealing with this?
:
: Just curious.
:
:
:
:By throwing away stuff.
:
:Cheers
:
:Phil Hobbs


Exactly so....

Charles wrote in message
...
Just read an interesting article in IEEE spectrum (04/08, p. 42) that
stated
that a two-year component obsolescence is now common with some devices.

How is the repair industry dealing with this?

Just curious.




There is a thriving market in guaranteed non-workers on e-bay, for spare
parts.


--
Diverse Devices, Southampton, England
electronic hints and repair briefs , schematics/manuals list on
http://home.graffiti.net/diverse:graffiti.net/

On Fri, 29 May 2009 18:16:49 -0400, Charles wrote:

Just read an interesting article in IEEE spectrum (04/08, p. 42) that
stated that a two-year component obsolescence is now common with some
devices.

How is the repair industry dealing with this?

Just curious.

Today consumer electronics are being designed with a MTBF of just 3 years.

I have some variable transistor power supplies from the 60's which still
work fine. But then again, they were over designed ;-)

Al

On May 29, 6:49*pm, "Arfa Daily" wrote:
"Charles" wrote in message

...

Just read an interesting article in IEEE spectrum (04/08, p. 42) that
stated that a two-year component obsolescence is now common with some
devices.

How is the repair industry dealing with this?

Just curious.

They might be talking about 'specials' that don't often fail anyway. I have
never had any problem obtaining 'standard' parts. Many transistors and
diodes and ICs that first appeared thirty or more years ago, and achieved
industry-wide recognition for their functionality, cost etc, continue to be
manufactured and readily available right up to the present. Whilst some have
undergone improvements and minor changes - the 74 series TTL chips being a
good example - many devices are still manufactured completely unchanged from
their original format (except for having all of the lead wrung out of them,
of course ... :-\ *)

On the other hand, custom ICs - specials - do tend to have a short lifetime,
often allied to the functionality lifetime of the product they were designed
for. When one of these occasionally does fail, they can be very difficult to
obtain even when the equipment is still relatively new, and once it has been
superceded by the next model, such spares for the previous model will indeed
be at least obsolescent, and very possibly, obsolete. How does the repair
industry deal with this ? We smile sweetly at the customer, and tell them
that their beloved item of equipment has just become a doorstop, because
parts are no longer available. 50% of them will sigh, shake their heads
sadly, and walk away into the sunset, carrying their poor dead comrade under
their arm.

The other 50% will explode at the news and rant and rave as though it's our
fault. I usually point these people in the direction of the equipment
manufacturer's customer liason department, and shoo them off ...

Arfa

You do have a good way with words!!!!

On 5/30/2009 7:10 AM alchazz spake thus:

On Fri, 29 May 2009 18:16:49 -0400, Charles wrote:

Just read an interesting article in IEEE spectrum (04/08, p. 42) that
stated that a two-year component obsolescence is now common with some
devices.

How is the repair industry dealing with this?

Today consumer electronics are being designed with a MTBF of just 3 years.

I have some variable transistor power supplies from the 60's which still
work fine. But then again, they were over designed ;-)

You're confusing the issue he early obsolescence != short MTBF.


--
Found--the gene that causes belief in genetic determinism

On Fri, 29 May 2009 18:16:49 -0400, "Charles"
wrote:

Just read an interesting article in IEEE spectrum (04/08, p. 42) that stated
that a two-year component obsolescence is now common with some devices.

How is the repair industry dealing with this?

Cannibalism. That's one of the uses of a well stocked junk pile.

eBay. Amazing what you can find on eBay.

Substitution. If you have the specs on the part, one can usually find
something similar. At best, an equivalent or a different package. At
worst, some redesign and creativity.

Parts Scalpers. There are vendors that seem to be able to get
anything. However, you won't like the price. I recently paid $200
for a tube of 14 IC's, that were originally worth 25 cents each. I
only needed one. Grrrr... However, it revived a $5,000 piece of test
equipment so I guess I can't complain.

Unfortunately, some parts just can't be found. Custom ASIC's,
unreadable PLA's, and such are difficult to find. It's common for a
manufacturer to purchase the entire production run of some chip. When
the product doesn't sell, the chip vendor discontinues production of
the custom part, resulting in it never even hitting the distributors.

To make matters worse, we now have counterfeit products and parts. In
most cases, they have a very short life, do not meet specs, have bogus
firmware, bad soldering, bad construction, are generally inferior, but
can be found really cheap. I've been fairly lucky but still managed
to end up with several Cisco boards that were suppose to be pull-outs,
but really were counterfeits.

The surest sign of success is pollution. I guess electronics repair
is finally deemed successful.



--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

"N_Cook" wrote in message
...
Charles wrote in message
...
Just read an interesting article in IEEE spectrum (04/08, p. 42) that
stated
that a two-year component obsolescence is now common with some devices.

How is the repair industry dealing with this?

Just curious.




There is a thriving market in guaranteed non-workers on e-bay, for spare
parts.

Are they counterfeits?

"hr(bob) " wrote in message
...
On May 29, 6:49 pm, "Arfa Daily" wrote:
"Charles" wrote in message

...

Just read an interesting article in IEEE spectrum (04/08, p. 42) that
stated that a two-year component obsolescence is now common with some
devices.

How is the repair industry dealing with this?

Just curious.

They might be talking about 'specials' that don't often fail anyway. I
have
never had any problem obtaining 'standard' parts. Many transistors and
diodes and ICs that first appeared thirty or more years ago, and achieved
industry-wide recognition for their functionality, cost etc, continue to
be
manufactured and readily available right up to the present. Whilst some
have
undergone improvements and minor changes - the 74 series TTL chips being a
good example - many devices are still manufactured completely unchanged
from
their original format (except for having all of the lead wrung out of
them,
of course ... :-\ )

On the other hand, custom ICs - specials - do tend to have a short
lifetime,
often allied to the functionality lifetime of the product they were
designed
for. When one of these occasionally does fail, they can be very difficult
to
obtain even when the equipment is still relatively new, and once it has
been
superceded by the next model, such spares for the previous model will
indeed
be at least obsolescent, and very possibly, obsolete. How does the repair
industry deal with this ? We smile sweetly at the customer, and tell them
that their beloved item of equipment has just become a doorstop, because
parts are no longer available. 50% of them will sigh, shake their heads
sadly, and walk away into the sunset, carrying their poor dead comrade
under
their arm.

The other 50% will explode at the news and rant and rave as though it's
our
fault. I usually point these people in the direction of the equipment
manufacturer's customer liason department, and shoo them off ...

Arfa

You do have a good way with words!!!!

Thanks ! I try my best ... d;~}

Arfa

"alchazz" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 29 May 2009 18:16:49 -0400, Charles wrote:

Just read an interesting article in IEEE spectrum (04/08, p. 42) that
stated that a two-year component obsolescence is now common with some
devices.

How is the repair industry dealing with this?

Just curious.

Today consumer electronics are being designed with a MTBF of just 3 years.

I have some variable transistor power supplies from the 60's which still
work fine. But then again, they were over designed ;-)

Al

Please provide some source to justify this statement. Are you just
speculating, are you basing this on some limited information that you have
seen about some particular parts, or do you have some industry wide data to
support this nonsensical assumption?

Leonard

"Arfa Daily" wrote in message
...

"hr(bob) " wrote in message
...
On May 29, 6:49 pm, "Arfa Daily" wrote:
"Charles" wrote in message

...

Just read an interesting article in IEEE spectrum (04/08, p. 42) that
stated that a two-year component obsolescence is now common with some
devices.

How is the repair industry dealing with this?

Just curious.

They might be talking about 'specials' that don't often fail anyway. I
have
never had any problem obtaining 'standard' parts. Many transistors and
diodes and ICs that first appeared thirty or more years ago, and achieved
industry-wide recognition for their functionality, cost etc, continue to
be
manufactured and readily available right up to the present. Whilst some
have
undergone improvements and minor changes - the 74 series TTL chips being
a
good example - many devices are still manufactured completely unchanged
from
their original format (except for having all of the lead wrung out of
them,
of course ... :-\ )

On the other hand, custom ICs - specials - do tend to have a short
lifetime,
often allied to the functionality lifetime of the product they were
designed
for. When one of these occasionally does fail, they can be very difficult
to
obtain even when the equipment is still relatively new, and once it has
been
superceded by the next model, such spares for the previous model will
indeed
be at least obsolescent, and very possibly, obsolete. How does the repair
industry deal with this ? We smile sweetly at the customer, and tell them
that their beloved item of equipment has just become a doorstop, because
parts are no longer available. 50% of them will sigh, shake their heads
sadly, and walk away into the sunset, carrying their poor dead comrade
under
their arm.

The other 50% will explode at the news and rant and rave as though it's
our
fault. I usually point these people in the direction of the equipment
manufacturer's customer liason department, and shoo them off ...

Arfa

You do have a good way with words!!!!

Thanks ! I try my best ... d;~}

Arfa



When you have decent education, basic intelligence, or just a little common
sense, you can get by....especially on Usenet.

Leonard