Effect of temperature cycles on electronics ?

From: Gary Hildebrand <ghldbrd_at_ccp.com>
Date: Sun Feb 17 09:00:12 2002

Tom Uban wrote:
>
> What experience have people had with computer equipment being stored
> in a unheated environment for 10-20 years, where the temperature runs
> from -10 to 100 degrees at the extremes of the seasons? Does this
> tend to kill ICs, caps, etc?
>
> --tom


I've found that vacuum tube electronics seemed to handle the temp
variations better than solid state. Nowdays I see mostly bad capacitors
taking out components. And they are most prone to temp variaations that
dry them out over time. I prefer to leave equipment on 24/7 as well.
I've seen more failures happen on power up from the surge than
anything. Silicon transsitors are more rugged than the early germaniums
too.

Gary Hildebrand
St. Joseph, MO
Received on Sun Feb 17 2002 - 09:00:12 GMT