Why electronic items do not last in this country

beeza

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Nov 2, 2006
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For all you techies out there I have come to a conclusion as to why electronics do not last in this country.

In the last five years I have been here, this is the list of failures I have experienced of my own equipment:

Apple Imac computer
Bose sound system
Satellite receiver
Laptop power supply
JVC amplifier
Philips DVD player
Apple time capsule

As you can see these are mostly medium to high end spectrum of brands, so you would not expect premature failures from them.

Having a background in electronics, as I am an Avionics engineer, I decided to investigate the cause of these failures.

In every single case it was a blown capacitor/s on the power supply board or module. A bit of googling lead me to believe that the DR is a prime spot for capacitor failure due to the varying mains frequency, spikes in voltages combined with hot and humid climate.

For those of you who are not familiar with what a capacitor looks like, the ones that seem to fail the most, look like little cylinders that about the size of a marker pen cap. On the top of them, they have an aluminium lid with an X marked all the way across.

A failed capacitor will show a bulge in this top and you might also see a brown discharge from it. These things cost pennies and if you are any good with a soldering iron, you could save yourself hundreds in repair bills or replacements!
 
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jrhartley

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can I add three toasters, two microwaves, a freezer, four dvd players,and five floor fans to your list in less than 3 years, also one laptop and one desk top computer
 

waytogo

Moderator - North Coast Forum
Apr 3, 2009
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You guys sound really unlucky. I have lived in Santiago steady now for 2 years and I have had absolutely nothing burn out. Knock on wood.....
 
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Vacara

I love AZB!
May 5, 2009
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For all you techies out there I have come to a conclusion as to why electronics do not last in this country.

I've reached the conclusion some people are running out of reasons to complain about this country.
 

beeza

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I've reached the conclusion some people are running out of reasons to complain about this country.

Oh really? And how did you come to that conclusion?

Did you see a complaint in my original post? I was only stating the obvious fact that electricity in this country is very bad (although maybe not so bad in Santiago)

What I have done, is offer a solution to some people who might have had some equipment damaged by said bad electricity.
 

sabra

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Jun 16, 2007
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electronic items

Oh really? And how did you come to that conclusion?

Did you see a complaint in my original post? I was only stating the obvious fact that electricity in this country is very bad (although maybe not so bad in Santiago)

What I have done, is offer a solution to some people who might have had some equipment damaged by said bad electricity.
Thanks a lot, Beeza, have a nice evening, Sabra;):bunny:
 
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pyratt

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Jan 14, 2007
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Lightning rated power strips, UPS (w/built-in surge protection)...it's a third world country in every sense of the definition. We protect every electrical appliance in the house...
 

Adrian Bye

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Jul 7, 2002
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i've actually not had many issues. one TV set blew up a few times, and i've been here since 2001. i have a lot of new stuff including an ipad, and everything is fine.
 

Luperon

Who empowered China's crime against humanity?
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I assume a quality sine wave inverter would make a difference?
 
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beeza

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Lightning rated power strips, UPS (w/built-in surge protection)...it's a third world country in every sense of the definition. We protect every electrical appliance in the house...

The problems with UPS' is that when they are in the inverter mode, the power that they give out isn't very clean.

If you were to hook up a generator to an oscilloscope you would see a smooth shaped sinusoidal curve as the poles of the generator change polarity. This is a mechanical to electrical conversion which occurs naturally.

When you try to create that same waveform electronically as an inverter does, that waveform comes out with jagged edges and spikes or squares.

When you use that artificially created waveform with a transformer, which is usually the first stage of a power supply, you might be able to hear that the transformer is humming louder than normally. That is because transformers are "tuned" to operate at their designed frequency (the speed of which the poles of the generator change polarity).

The louder the transformer "hums", the less efficient it becomes. This loss of efficiency is produced as heat. Normally this won't harm a transformer as they are quite robust and there is little to go wrong, but it is this build up of heat that dissipates through the rest of the circuitry, which can be one cause of component failure.

Most electronic devices operate using DC. To get DC from AC you have to run it through a series of diodes called a rectifier. That will give you a "rippled" effect DC, not good enough to run a transistor on. So you have to smooth it out.

That is where these capacitors come in. They absorb the peaks and troughs of the ripple to give as smooth, pure DC line voltage as possible. The worse your AC power supply is, the harder these smoothing capacitors have to work.

So by using inverters, UPS' back up generators and Edenorte, these capacitors have a hard life, which is why they fail prematurely.
 
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AZB

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Jan 2, 2002
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Vacara, failures to electronic equipment is far more common here for the exact reasons mentioned by the OP. I have an MSEE degree (Master of Science in Electronics Engineering). Voltage spikes can wreak havoc on power supplies and the aforementioned capacitors if their voltage ratings are exceeded. Low voltages can also cause issues. The frequent blackouts and switching between inverters, generators and street power just make matters worse.

Corrosion and the etching away of circuit board conductors from the salt air is another problem for those living close to the ocean.

Voltage regulators and line conditioners can help with the voltage spikes and brownouts.

I am also an electrical engineer and I agree with windguy.
Now I must admit that I am lucky or just that I live away from the ocean; Been living here since 1998 and had very few failures (almost can't think of any). I have had desktop power supply issues a couple of times but then again, they were cheap Chinese made power supplies bought locally.
I run everything on inverter (modified sine-wave) crude electricity in case of power outage. I have been very lucky and have been able to stay away from electrical damage. In addition to spikes, low voltage will fry your electrical items, not to mention a local transformer bow-up on the street poll. This will certainly fry everything that is running on electric at the moment.
AZB
 
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waytogo

Moderator - North Coast Forum
Apr 3, 2009
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This will only work if the house is grounded. Many of the older homes including mine are not and a UPS is worthless.
 

DR Mpe

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Mar 31, 2003
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I've reached the conclusion some people are running out of reasons to complain about this country.

I came to the conclusion that u r an idiot. Luz es luz ehhh... e?patras k vas


Thanks to the OP for telling me things that I did not know. On my 11th laptop here and counting
 
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May 29, 2006
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The point the OP was making was that there is a lot of electronics that can prob be saved with a new capacitor and someone who can do basic electronics.

When I was in the Pacific Islands, there was a local Filipino guy that was working full-time repairing electronic gear for about $10/hour. Most fixes were under $30. VCRs were a lot more pricey back then and he did those along with TVs. We had a container load of used TVs come in once from a hotel in Hawaii and he was able to fix all of the ones that had problems in about a week.

One thing the OP might have mentioned is that fiddling around with capacitors can be a dangerous thing to do. An unplugged TV can have a charge built up that can give a very nasty shock.
 
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J D Sauser

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humidity and air salinity!

Back in the times when I lived in Ecuador... electronics would get fried every now and then because of power spikes.
Never had this happen here... maybe, because we seldom have much more than 90Volt under load.
Most homes will boast 3 prong plug outlets, they are usually NOT ground wired correct-or-effectively... or at all. Surge protectors will only work when plugged when plugged on a grounded line!
I have however come to suspect that my lack of "fried" electronics here may be routed back on the low voltage or maybe that the inverter and batteries in the circuit may be the ones taking or attenuating the "hits"... if there are any. Maybe, all of the above.

Most of my losses here have been clearly routed back to humidity and air salinity.
It would seem that apparatuses powered On longer (running warm or hot and/or with internal ventilation On) last longer. Desktop computers left Off for a month, may just not find it's RAM because the complex and delicate connectors are... corroded.
Hard disks! Ha! Never bought as many HD's as I have since I live here. Even thou they are said to be sealed air tight. BS!

I lost the filed coil of my early 1940's Rickenbacher tube steel guitar amp's speaker. Go find somebody find the problem!! Even in the States... but, I eventually did... the guy who took care of it, is so old, I figured that after he had rewound that speaker I'd better not bring the amp back here... this gentleman might just not be around too long anymore, and that IS my sweetest sounding amp, it MUST last as long I plan to last.

Steel guitar strings... they'd rust away. I left all my guit'tars back in Florida now... the land of 24/7 A/C. Dry! I play'em when I visit, play'em hard, minors aloud!

My gym equipment is slowly turning into brown dust too. It's not me, I am not a brute... just yet.

The cure? Central air! Or all your electronics in an A/C'ed room... 24/7. That takes care of the humidity and with that, of the salinity.

My father was right... too much salt will kill you!

... J-D.
 

2ndVida

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Feb 2, 2010
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If you want to stop blowing caps on your equipment, buy these little puppies.

I did the whole 'burn everything up' many times, until I bought some of these. Now everything in my house has them, and I haven't lost a piece of equipment in years.

If there is a surge or drop in current, they cut the current for a set amount of time, usually 3 seconds, or 3 minutes, depending on which one you have.

AVTEK - Voltage Regulator - Voltage Protector

Plug them in your outlet, plug your UPS into it, then your equipment in your UPS.

I use UPS only for all my equipment. Are you saying that without a voltage regulator, the UPS is no good?
 

J D Sauser

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I use UPS only for all my equipment. Are you saying that without a voltage regulator, the UPS is no good?

A UPS or inverter will only produce an even 110V in the event that there is no power (running on battery-inverter). If there is a low voltage, it will hand the low voltage to the user unchanged and try to load up it's batteries on that anyway.
If there is a high voltage, or even a spike (spikes can go into the 1000's V range for a split second), it will not only pass that spike or high voltage to the user but that spike or continued high voltage ALSO may blow the UPS' or invertor's internal circuitry and even damage the battery/ies and everything hooked onto the UPS/inverter.

JD Jones is thus right: If voltage treatment is desired, a separate voltage regulator ought to be placed BEFORE any consumer (UPS being one) on the line to protect.


If one only seeks protection from spikes (not seeking to correct low voltages), surge protectors should as well be placed BEFORE all consumers on the line to be protected (including the UPS).
Some UPS systems sold for computers and such MAY include a surge protection circuitry! But read on:
Surge protectors (and voltage regulators WILL generally incorporate such a circuit) ONLY WORK IF GROUNDED PROPERLY, as they seek to discharge the excess power via that line in order to protect consumer following on the line.

If unsure about your home's grounding, in this country, you may pretty much safely assume that it is not or poorly grounded.
It is fairly EASY to ground a specific wall outlet (like for an office or TV room) on a home's perimeter wall, by drilling to the outside and running a HEAVY gauge wire to the outside and hook it to a copper grounding bar stuck solidly into the ground (deep into it).

... J-D.
 

Matilda

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Sep 13, 2006
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I think I must have the sames issues as JR!!

5 TVs, 4 coffee makers, 2 irons, 4 liquidisers, 2 toasters, 3 washing machines, 2 toasted sandwich makers, one boiled egg maker (very sad to see that die).

Not all of mine were electrical spikes. A lot were to do with the users - when not me.

ie. If you wash trainers and baseball shoes in plastic washing machine it is not good for machine.

If you use toaster to warm up ham and cheese sandwiches wrapped in plastic cling film, it tends to damage toaster.

And if you plug 110 items into 220 sockets which have big signs on saying 220 - it is terminal for the appliance.

matilda
 
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