Path: ...!weretis.net!feeder6.news.weretis.net!usenet.blueworldhosting.com!diablo1.usenet.blueworldhosting.com!feeder.usenetexpress.com!tr3.iad1.usenetexpress.com!69.80.99.23.MISMATCH!local-2.nntp.ord.giganews.com!nntp.supernews.com!news.supernews.com.POSTED!not-for-mail
NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 15 Apr 2024 18:28:13 +0000
From: john larkin <jl@650pot.com>
Newsgroups: sci.electronics.design
Subject: Re: Predictive failures
Date: Mon, 15 Apr 2024 11:28:13 -0700
Message-ID: <u1sq1j1ikum0b2vrp0vji6mu115bp2s12l@4ax.com>
References: <uvjn74$d54b$1@dont-email.me>
User-Agent: ForteAgent/8.00.32.1272
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Lines: 27
X-Trace: sv3-i03kBMW7OSBynXMJ8EPNL5ZJXqDYDh4qGMPgOYJdJknQ/XM1xYBhdb8Siw8Y8DrUZYSTI313LoVdA2D!N7NJ2HHsTulw7D4kQeeq/e38kXHw+nA9tNC9q1F8QxqQe7dSVb3hWt0M5SbGIcFVMceOGBoIE4iW!HZ5IwQ==
X-Complaints-To: www.supernews.com/docs/abuse.html
X-DMCA-Complaints-To: www.supernews.com/docs/dmca.html
X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Please be sure to forward a copy of ALL headers
X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Otherwise we will be unable to process your complaint properly
X-Postfilter: 1.3.40
Bytes: 2261

On Mon, 15 Apr 2024 10:13:02 -0700, Don Y
<blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> wrote:

>Is there a general rule of thumb for signalling the likelihood of
>an "imminent" (for some value of "imminent") hardware failure?
>
>I suspect most would involve *relative* changes that would be
>suggestive of changing conditions in the components (and not
>directly related to environmental influences).
>
>So, perhaps, a good strategy is to just "watch" everything and
>notice the sorts of changes you "typically" encounter in the hope
>that something of greater magnitude would be a harbinger...

Checking temperatures is good. An overload or a fan failure can be bad
news.

We put temp sensors on most products. Some parts, like ADCs and FPGAs,
have free built-in temp sensors.

I have tried various ideas to put an air flow sensor on boards, but so
far none have worked very well. We do check fan tachs to be sure they
are still spinning. 

Blocking air flow generally makes fan speed *increase*.