Questions tagged [durability]
21 questions
47
votes
6 answers
Is there a technical reason why most touch screens use glass rather than plastic?
Most modern touch screens in portable devices are made of glass.
This glass often breaks if accidentally dropped. Also, it is very reflective, making it difficult to use in strong light.
I know that touch screens without glass exist. For example,…
Fiksdal
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4
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2 answers
Electromigration, are computers nowadays less durable?
I've been reading press articles and about electromigration and how it is associated with miniaturization. I have seen old computers working for decades, and I'm wondering how bad the electromigration may be nowadays. I wonder if the miniaturization…
Trylks
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4
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3 answers
Failure mode of FLASH memory
What is the failure mode of flash memory? I've got some chips rated for 10,000 cycles - what happens after 10k cycles? Do the chips stop writing properly, do you get read errors, etc.? Does it also happen to EEPROMs?
Thomas O
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4
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1 answer
USB connector durability: plug vs socket
I've been searching for information about USB connectors durability and I have found those numbers:
Type-A: 1,500 plug-unplug cycles
Mini-A: 1,000 plug-unplug cycles
Mini-B: 5,000 plug-unplug cycles
Micro-B: 10,000 plug-unplug cycles
Type-C: 10,000…
CoffeeCloud
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3 answers
What makes an incandescent light bulb run out?
What is or are, the most likely and common ways - the weak links in the chain (including I assume poor electricity wiring / configured housing) - that cause a traditional incandescent light bulb to blow?
And how much does manufacturing / materials…
user22246
3
votes
3 answers
Things that to be considered while choosing electronic components to get high Durability
Creating the Electronic circuits is Ok not so much complicated for experts. But needs to think about the persistence of the electronic circuits. Its very difficult to make the circuits to work for life time. But its important to have the long run…
Puru
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1 answer
Why higher temperatures shorten the lifespan of a PC component?
It is usually advised to keep the temperatures low for every component of a PC. Not only there is a fan (or similar system) for the CPU or GPU, but there are optional fans for RAM, or hard disks.
While I understand the need of a CPU/GPU fan, since…
Arseni Mourzenko
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2
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6 answers
What types of mechanical failure that electronic components might face? Which are the most common?
Which components are the most prone to mechanical failure, via shock or vibration? For example, I know that a speaker coil will generally be more delicate than a fixed resistor, and a IC chip will generally be more fragile than a simple…
Emmanuel Lopez
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2
votes
2 answers
How to roughly know if a electronic scheme will fail soon and protect from it?
I am thinking of a farming project that includes using some board like Arduino, Raspberry Pi or Onion Mega (the list is not exclusive).
As the system will work with sensors and support life of its wards, their health will depend on the work of the…
Sergei Basharov
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2
votes
3 answers
reason for degradation of photovoltaics
Photovoltaic panels can have 20 or 25 year underwritten warranties with a guaranteed remaining efficiency of 80 % of the new panel. That means, that photovoltaic panels seem to degrade somehow.
Why do they degrade? What exactly is reducing their…
erik
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vote
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What is the chemical compound leftover on vintage 80s/90s PCBs with their distinctive characteristic smell?
Most people know the smell of vintage/ancient electronics. There a lot of questions about this smell on forums, but nobody explains what the cause actually is or what the chemical formulation of this compound is. On most PCBs you can spot a…
Codebeat
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Mating cycles - alternatives to standard connectors
During my search for an IP22 or higher connector for SMT assembly I have realised that there are few options except USB and audio jacks that can take >1000 mating cycles. I don't want a standard connection like USB and audio jacks due to the fact…
NoobPointerException
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Temperature vs. lifespan: the 10 degrees Celsius 'rule'
TL;DR: What's the origin of the 10 degrees Celsius rule?
I have heard many times that for every 10 degrees Celsius, the lifespan of components gets halved. There are many documents on the web quoting that number.
But it seems too general to be taken…
Thomas
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2 answers
Can I use stall detection as my only obstacle detection or will that damage the DC motors over time?
I plan to build a robot that is likely to bump into a lot of things quite often. I know I can detect if a motor has stalled by measuring the amps it is pulling and would like to use that as a simple way to detect any collisions, but I'm worried that…
neelsg
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Frequent switching on/off a chip/module
Typically, is the likelihood higher for a chip/module with Vcc = 3.3V to break if it gets switched on and off frequently over a prolonged period? For instance, on for 3s and off for 3s, continuously. That's almost 30k switches a day.
Are there…
WKleinberg
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