How long do old circuits/electronics last for?

** Some bits last a long time while others do not.

Usually, the failure of even one of them puts the item out of action.

The failure of expensive or no longer made parts normally spells the end .

** Most fail after 5 to 10 years - then get tossed or repaired.

The latter is generally worthwhile only once.

Get specific, if you want any useful info.

....... Phil

snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.co.uk wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@n75g2000hsh.googlegroups.com:

Electronics do degrade with time, temperature, and humidity/air pollution. Electrolytic capacitors are notorious for failing, depending on age, actual use in the design and quality of parts. In television sets, the high voltage section often fails as insulation degrades. Heat, especially too much heat as is common in many designs, kills many things by more than one mechanism.

Even modern semiconductors may not be forever, but they're less than 50 years old so far. I'm not sure of the failure mechanisms there.

Well-maintained equipment of good design with quality parts and periodic replacement of some parts could maintain operation well past the century mark, but >complex< electronics as we know it is mostly half that age or less now.

--Damon

The electrolytic capacitors go bad in perhaps as few as 10 years if they are not powered on from time to time. The nonconductive surface on the aluminum electrode can gradually erode away. Under bias, this doesn't happen.

In theory, the transistors can last much longer than 100 years but since it only takes one failed transistor. The wearout failure of transistors is simirandom.

A better question is which lasts longer, the electronics themselves the platforms on which they are intended to operate?

Think: 8-Track, Beta, U-Matic, cassettes, LP's, MiniDisk, Reel-to- Reel, NTSC, PAL, SECAM, AMPS, Edge, EVDO, GSM, narrowband CDMA, TDMA, ISA, RS232, ISO-9660, S-100, AT Commands, Baudot, Morse Code, wax cylinders, punch cards, paper tape, etc.....

-mpm

Rubber, plastic and lubricators are likely the first to go. This effects mechanical components, electrolytic capacitors, semiconductors, displays and other sealed components.

Some modern equipment relies on semiconductor memory that has a limited life of retention and no means of refresh.

Media and software can become non-functional in as little as 5 years.

Environmental factors can be controlled to extend life, as in a museum.

RL

What? GSM is obsolete already? !!! ???

~MD

At the rate at which he has been spamming for his magazine, you'd think he was THE vintage gear genius.

A cheap survey, by news sector?

Seems to have gotten a little out of hand:

RL

When i was a kid, i repaired a lot of radios that used the 4,5,6 and

7-pin tubes; they used *wet* electrolytic capacitors and some of the capacitors failed (dry). I am guessing a combination of being in a hot climate and roughly 10 or so years old did the deed. Some were good even 5 or so years later, and i heard of a "trick" to rejuvinate them. Other than those caps, the radios worked for well over 20 years. If continually used, the radios would eventully fail due to cathode emmission degradation.

yea....talk to me about media... I had to toss an originally sealed package of 25 formatted 3.5 inch floppies, as half were totally defective ("bad track zero"), or had too many bad sectors.

the 4,5,6 and

nd roughly 10

a "trick" to

20 years.

e to cathode

=2E..and a solid state radio purchased today might "work" for a couple years until the switch to HD-Radio occurs?

I have a 40 yr old transistorized stereo tape recorder, a Roberts Cross- Field, that I still use. Current consumer electronics, according to a recent paper on system reliability, are being designed for a mean-time-to- failure (MTBF) of three years. You may be lucky and yours may last longer.

Al

Unless there is a reasonable substitute at a reasonable price. A top end DIY could probably create a useful sub for a board level functional unit. No one could do it commercially except for some special cases of test equipment.

I generally buy better quality stuff, and regularly get about twice typical life from my gear.

OK i will give you a crosscheck:

8-Track, all but dead; Beta, barely still living; U-Matic, alive and well; cassettes, dying; LP's, dying, but far more slowly than cassettes; MiniDisk, alive but ill; Reel-to-Reel, nearly dead, a few enthusiasts with collections desperately converting NTSC, do not resuscitate (DNR) order issued; PAL, moribund; SECAM, moribund; AMPS, DNR order issued; Edge, seriously ill; EVDO, seemingly alive as TIA-856; GSM, alive and well, though somewhat ill; narrowband CDMA, seriously ill; TDMA, ill but surviving; ISA, all but deceased; RS232, alive and well; ISO-9660, alive and well, see Joliet and Rock Ridge extensions; S-100, deceased (except for museums); AT Commands, alive and well, see PCCA Std. 101; Baudot, deceased; Morse Code, dying; wax cylinders, for Preservationists and museums only; punch cards, museums only; paper tape, old formats totally unsupported; etc, whatever.

The only known failure mechanism for that is delamination (read weird / out-of-control manufacture). I have not been interested in buying cheap for many years over this.

Now that lead-free solder is used, in newly manufactured electronics the time to failure may be determined by the rate of tin-whisker growth. This may even have been intentional (though not publicised, nor explained to the eurocrats), since some consumers were previously so unkind as to continue using the same appliance for decades, which is bad for business. Since all manufacturers have to use lead-free solder, they can thereby shorten the product lifespan without the risk that any particular company will get a worse reputation for reliability that would place it at a competitive disdvantage.

(google "tin whiskers")

Old electronics will generally not have this problem, except where careless manufacturers have used pure tin plating.

Chris