The failure tag has no wiki summary.
1
vote
2answers
73 views
What problems can arise from temporarily shorting power supply of a small microcontroller circuit?
A friend purchased a microcontroller-controlled lighting device and in the process of testing it, shorted the VCC and GND together for a second or two. Coincidental or not, the device stopped working ...
5
votes
2answers
140 views
How do (unused) electronic components age?
For a fictional text, I was wondering whether, and how, electronic components are affected by oxygen and moisture in the air, natural background radiation etc, over the course of years or decades.
...
3
votes
1answer
114 views
How might one “short out” a diode?
Many moons ago, as a kid, I was playing around with electronics and proudly demonstrated my latest project to my parents. In my eagerness, I made a mistake in my nest of wires, and the acrid pale grey ...
-1
votes
1answer
98 views
What Happens when I use all of my CPU resources? [closed]
I've been trying to convert some video with ffmpeg and realized that this is taking ~97% of my cpu when I check with top. What ...
10
votes
2answers
405 views
How do ADCs fail?
I'm responsible for maintaining a satellite that has an ADC that is failing in an unusual manner. Essentially what is happening is that it toggles back and forth between two values, if the raw voltage ...
5
votes
1answer
212 views
What causes components to “jump” during reflow soldering?
I've been using a hot plate technique (with a PID controller / thermocouple / SSR setup) to get into making SMD boards. I had an interesting experience earlier today, and I was hoping some more ...
4
votes
2answers
607 views
Reliability and failure mode of MLCC (chip capacitors)
Recently I've been preparing to manufacture a product which exclusively uses MLCC capacitors across the board. It integrates an onboard buck converter which uses them, and MLCC are also used for local ...
6
votes
5answers
350 views
How do we test reliability and quality so as to minimize the risk of board failure in the field?
We are developing a smart cable for a customer. The market potential is hundreds of thousands of units. The vendor who designs and supplies the boards (with firmware) that will be built into the ...
8
votes
3answers
1k views
Do MOSFETs usually burn open or closed?
I was wondering if a power MOSFET fails due to overheating, will it usually burn as an open-circuit or short-circuit?
Also, does over-temp damage usually cause the gate oxide to blow through as a low ...
1
vote
2answers
189 views
What is failure analysis of PBCA?
I do not know whether this is the appropriate place to post this question but i guess its related to electronics. Basically i'm doing some research on what is the term for "PBCA" in failure analysis?
...
6
votes
3answers
297 views
Could smoke allow arcs to form?
I've been trying to find the cause of power supply failures, and noticed that an NTC is smoking if it runs at full power. Obviously the NTC needs changing. But is it possible that the smoke in the ...
6
votes
3answers
1k views
Why is SMPS controller IC failing?
I'm back to diagnosing power supply failures, in an LLC resonant SMPS based on the L6598, from a 400 V PFC supply with ostensibly 400 W output. I'm new to SMPS, and learning this all as I go, and the ...
5
votes
3answers
681 views
What's up with these plated through-holes / vias?
We purchased a number of stainless steel kiosk keyboards from a Chinese manufacturer a while back and have been seeing extraordinary failure rates (around 30%). Groups of keys just stop working. ...
1
vote
4answers
340 views
Failed multimeter
I have a cheap handheld multimeter that has stopped working. It basically behaves as if the leads weren't connected: the Vdc readout stays at zero, and the ...
8
votes
4answers
634 views
How do LEDs fail?
I am trying to develop a very high reliability product, with a MTBF exceeding 100,000 hours, hopefully in the 250,000 hours range. Yep, I know - stupidly high reliability, at least 10 years.
Most ...
1
vote
2answers
495 views
What causes an IC to glow RED hot?
I found an old 15 GB HDD lying around in a pile of spare computer parts. I decided to see if it would still work because it could be an emergency backup. So I plugged it into my ATX PSU only to find ...
