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Electronics are built with death dates. Let’s not keep them a secret

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Re: Electronics are built with death dates. Let’s not keep them a secret

#201

Post by hef19898 »

squeaky-clean wrote: post #145
JohnBooty wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$80USD? GaN 90/100W chargers from manufacturers like Anker and Monoprice can regularly be had for half of that. Right now there are a lot of 90W ones from unknown-to-me manufacturers for ~$32 on Amazon. I'm not trying to correct you here; I'm just wondering if there's something I'm missing.

The cheapest 100w Anker I see on Amazon is the $79.99 PowerPort III. The cheapest I see on their website is the $84.99 Anker 736 Nano II (with no listing for the PowerPort III). There are cheaper Anker chargers on Amazon that say 100w in the title but that's only because they include a 100w capable cable, the charger is a lower wattage.

Below 100W, last time I checked, it is easier to find good laptop chargers. Since I need a 135 W one for my laptop, thnings get trickier. Well, the 65W Lenovo from my work laptop managed to hold a charge barely when gaming. So I don't complain too much.

Re: Electronics are built with death dates. Let’s not keep them a secret

#202

Post by hef19898 »

ksec wrote: post #130
deathanatos wrote: post #87

It's not even just batteries. Every laptop I've ever owned comes with a AC to DC converter. Every laptop I've ever owned has outlived that AC-to-DC converter. Every converter that has failed has failed in exactly the same way: the plug/cord connection at the laptop end becomes unreliable. And every single one of them, across a range of manufacturers, has had the cord not be detachable from the brick. So what could ha…

Some years ago I had a "debate" about this on HN. And if you know anything about BOM cost and hardware margins, the cost saving of crappy PSU and decent PSU is quite attractive. To the point manufacturer knew the probability of the PSU failing within certain time frame, now more commonly known as planned obsolescence. While I am not exactly an USB-C supporter. One of the side benefits is that they are much better qua…

Working part time in the reliability field, lower MTBFs make for good cost reductions. Planned obsolescence is just an added benefit I think.

Re: Electronics are built with death dates. Let’s not keep them a secret

#203

Post by SergeAx »

deathanatos wrote: post #87

It's not even just batteries. Every laptop I've ever owned comes with a AC to DC converter. Every laptop I've ever owned has outlived that AC-to-DC converter. Every converter that has failed has failed in exactly the same way: the plug/cord connection at the laptop end becomes unreliable. And every single one of them, across a range of manufacturers, has had the cord not be detachable from the brick. So what could ha…

Brick to wall cord depends on the country where your wall is located. Also, there's about two standards of power cord connection: trapeze like on desktop PC PSUs and three cylinders merged, so company can outsource power cords to a wholesale OEM.

But USB-C will solve your problem. I currently throwed away my laptop brick and just using a GAN power supply with two USB-C ports. It also charges my phone, and, eventually, other stuff like VR headset, joysticks and so on. I have two things micro-USB left: Kindle reader and JBL speaker. I hope next generation of those will be manufactured with USB-C charging ports.

Re: Electronics are built with death dates. Let’s not keep them a secret

#204

Post by clumsysmurf »

jack_pp wrote: post #181
clumsysmurf wrote: post #4

I have been a long time enthusiast of high power flashlights. We typically use 18350, 18650, 21700, or 26650. But I have been in dismay as even in this community, companies are starting to move away from these standards and provide proprietary batteries (Olight) or sealed (some newer Fenix models). It would be good if * We could safely obtain reputable Li-ion batteries from reputable sources. I trust a handful of com…

Vape shops have li-ion batteries from known brands

Perhaps, but some "known brands" like Vapcell just re-wrap something else (and they can change the underlying cell at any time, without you knowing where it actually came from). For example, the Vapcell G50 I purchased a year ago is actually ... a Sumsung SDI 50G. Whether that still holds today is unknown. Some people have had more recessed terminals, which would hint at Samsung 50E.

Why do they do this? Because many high quality manufacturers (Samsung, LG) don't approve their cells for usage in vaping devices. Some like Molicel are OK with it. I'm sure you have heard of Mooch :)

Re: Electronics are built with death dates. Let’s not keep them a secret

#205

Post by yetanotherloser »

fzzt wrote: post #5
beecafe wrote: post #3

It would be great if consumer electronics products had expected lifetime ratings on the front. People would naturally take issue with products with significantly below median lifetime, and also if their own products didn't live up to the lifetime. It would also make sense to phrase other quantities on product packaging in the way they're experienced by the consumer: instead of emphasising the wattage of a bulb, if yo…

Many LED lightbulbs make claims about their expected lifetime. Except these numbers are often a fantasy. The LED itself may last almost forever, but the capacitors commonly go bad in a year or so. I suspect that would be the reality with a lot of the proposed mandatory labeling for electronics, too.

I'm surprised so many people's experience of LED bulbs is short lifetime. Most of the LED bulbs I ever bought have lasted many, many years. I only had one type ever fail and those looked clearly inferior in build to all the other types. ("free" with some light fittings, not my choice). Took one of those apart, no capacitors in the design any more but dodgy wire connections that creep with the hot-cold on-off cycle in an under-ventilated fitting. So am I a statistical outlier, or are most people getting the very worst dreg-quality bulbs, or are there a lot of very enclosed fittings out there cooking the lamps?

Re: Electronics are built with death dates. Let’s not keep them a secret

#206

Post by adrian_b »

fiddlerwoaroof wrote: post #120
caconym_ wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

High power (~100W) charging with USB-C has been a game changer for me. I barely even remember the days when every electronic device came with its own grotty little power brick I had to keep track of and carry around with the device. I guess time will tell how reliable USB-C connectors are, but my naive impression is that the female connectors (device side) are very simple with no springs or other moving parts. I imag…

I’ve personally found usb-c ports aren’t great longevity wise. They have a similar issue as I had with micro-USB: they stop clamping onto the plug and then you don’t get a reliable connection. I’ve found Lightning ports more reliable (with periodic lint cleaning) but it’s a shame that it’s a proprietary standard.

According to the standard, the USB Type-C connectors should have a much longer lifetime than the USB Type-A connectors or any other older USB connectors and also than most other kinds of connectors.

IIRC, the USB Type-C connectors should survive at least 12000 insertion cycles.

In practice, this does not seem to be true, so I assume that many USB Type-C connectors substitute the more expensive alloys and coatings that they should use for the metal contacts in order to achieve conformity with the standard with cheaper alloys, and this is not something that a normal user can check when buying a device.

Re: Electronics are built with death dates. Let’s not keep them a secret

#207

Post by SergeAx »

fiddlerwoaroof wrote: post #120
caconym_ wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

High power (~100W) charging with USB-C has been a game changer for me. I barely even remember the days when every electronic device came with its own grotty little power brick I had to keep track of and carry around with the device. I guess time will tell how reliable USB-C connectors are, but my naive impression is that the female connectors (device side) are very simple with no springs or other moving parts. I imag…

I’ve personally found usb-c ports aren’t great longevity wise. They have a similar issue as I had with micro-USB: they stop clamping onto the plug and then you don’t get a reliable connection. I’ve found Lightning ports more reliable (with periodic lint cleaning) but it’s a shame that it’s a proprietary standard.

Try to clean up your port with a needle. I am doing this with my phone about once a year. It is almost 4 years old now, no reason to complain.

Re: Electronics are built with death dates. Let’s not keep them a secret

#208

Post by adrian_b »

lucb1e wrote: post #10
clumsysmurf wrote: post #4

I have been a long time enthusiast of high power flashlights. We typically use 18350, 18650, 21700, or 26650. But I have been in dismay as even in this community, companies are starting to move away from these standards and provide proprietary batteries (Olight) or sealed (some newer Fenix models). It would be good if * We could safely obtain reputable Li-ion batteries from reputable sources. I trust a handful of com…

Was wondering what these random numbers were, I expected a product number from a manufacturer. Instead: > An 18650 Battery is a lithium-ion rechargeable battery. The first 4 digits of the designation “18650” indicate the physical dimensions while the 5 th digit indicates it is a cylinder cell. The standard 18650 battery is 18mm around by 65mm long. (copied from curl because that page crashed the firefox tab, though I…

A lot of batteries are designated in this way.

E.g. a 2032 lithium battery for computer motherboards has a diameter of 20 mm (20-) and a height of 3.2 mm (-32).

A thinner 2025 battery, used in various appliances, has a diameter of 20 mm and a height of 2.5 mm.

There are many other such standard dimensions encoded in the battery numbers.

Re: Electronics are built with death dates. Let’s not keep them a secret

#209

Post by dizhn »

hanche wrote: post #187
catmanjan wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience all usb c chargers are less reliable than barrel connectors, probably because of the microprocessors required for the handshake

I have a food thermometer with a builtin rechargeable battery. It charges via usb-c, but so far I have not managed to charge it from a usb-c charger. It will only charge with the supplied usb-a to usb-c cable. I would love to understand why. But at least, they had the good sense to not supply their own charger.

It might need a low amp device to charge. My vape does not charge with my good chargers but it does with older ones and the usb port on my laptop.

Re: Electronics are built with death dates. Let’s not keep them a secret

#210

Post by arccy »

hanche wrote: post #187
catmanjan wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience all usb c chargers are less reliable than barrel connectors, probably because of the microprocessors required for the handshake

I have a food thermometer with a builtin rechargeable battery. It charges via usb-c, but so far I have not managed to charge it from a usb-c charger. It will only charge with the supplied usb-a to usb-c cable. I would love to understand why. But at least, they had the good sense to not supply their own charger.

I have a Philips toothbrush like that too, at least it works with any A-C cable, just not C-C
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