Alt-BEAM Archive
Message #08784
To: beam@sgiblab.sgi.com
From: Dave Hrynkiw dave@solarbotics.com
Date: Sun, 02 Jan 2000 18:38:06 -0700
Subject: [alt-beam] Re: The lifespan of a bot?
At 03:56 PM 1/2/00 , Thomas Pilgaard Nielsen wrote:
>I just browsed through Tildens Telluride handout and noticed the
>following : "a high quality solar-engine that allows the device up to
>4000 hours of continuous operation in sunlight.". I also remember
>someone on the list asking if anyone has had a bot running for over a
>year.
>
>What gets worn out on a bot? Is it the cap? The cell itself? Please
>enlighten me.
We've seen a few things: brushes on motors wearing out, dried out storage
capacitors (lots of sun, I guess) reducing capacitance, fatigue failure on
structural solder joints...
Over time the solarcell is supposed to degrade too, but I haven't seen
anything other than some slight discoloration in the 4 years I've been
using the Sunceram series.
Regards,
Dave
---------------------------------------------------------------
"Um, no - that's H,R,Y,N,K,I,W. No, not K,I,U,U, K,I,_W_. Yes,
that's right. Yes, I know it looks like "HOCKYRINK." Yup, only
2 vowels. Pronounciation? _SMITH_".
http://www.solarbotics.com
8785 Mon, 03 Jan 2000 02:03:37 GMT [alt-beam] Great little motors beam@sgiblab.sgi.com "Ben Kirk" I have discovered a great place to get tiny little motors. I tore apart my
broken sony discman. It contains on motor very similar to pager motors. It
draws about 20mA. It has a 3 piece gear head attached. There is also
another larger motor. It is a great place to get low budget motors. I know
of many people with broken CD players, so they are widely available.
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