Re: EOL's

[Robert L Bass <sales@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> I don't mean to belittle you as you are obviously trying to do to me,

No, Al.  I tried to explain politely why you are wrong.  If you
consider that belittling, you've got a problem.

> but you really show how little practical field or
> bench repair experience you have when you say
> that high temperatures, combined with high
> humidity cannot affect resistance in a carbon
> resistor.

Speaking of journalistic integrity (or lack thereof), that is
*not* what I said.  I said that the temperature required to cause
such a significant change in the resistor's value would be enough
to ignite the house.  I did not say that high temps and humidity
can't affect carbon film resistors.  I did however point out that
the resistors are sealed make humidity a non-issue.

> Although it may not be common for a field resistor
> to change value based on high ambient heat and
> high levels of humidity, it can and does happen in
> the real world...

Not with the temperatures in a homes environment (unless you plan
to install the thing in the oven).

> To tell anyone that this is not so is doing them a
> disservice...

Actually, when you offered advice as to the cause without
understanding you did a disservice to everyone who reads this
newsgroup.

> Also, perhaps this man's resistor suffered an induced
> high current due to a nearby lighting strike, in which
> case the excessive heat caused by the high current
> could have super heated the carbon, causing its
> properties to change.

Uh-huh.  If that had happened there would have been much more
damage to the system than a changed resistor value.  A lightning
hit that created that much heat would have blown the sensor to
Waco.  Have you ever noticed how fragile magnetic contacts are
compared to a resistor?

> What I've told him I stand behind from both my electronic
> training and my experience in the field...
> --- snip resume ---

Stand wherever you like.  You're still wrong about resistor
tolerance.  It does not mean what you said and switching to a
closer tolerance resistor would not protect against a recurrence.

> I stand behind my statement 100% unless someone
> else who has some real engineering knowledge can
> step up and refer me to an on-line source of information
> that says, as you have, that temperature and humidity,
> combined with time, cannot change the value of a
> carbon resistor.

That is not what I said.  Stop trying to twist my statement into
something you can challenge.  It makes you appear olsonic.  I
merely corrected your error when you insisted that the resistor
tolerance indicates a propensity of the resistor to change over
time.  It means nothing of the sort.

I also explained another fact of which you seem blissfully
unaware.  Heat and current sufficient to significantly alter the
resistor's value would be enough to start a fire.  The presence
of that much heat would be very apparent -- melted insulation,
vaporized of frozen magnetic contacts, etc.

> That's my final word until that day comes.

That day was yesterday.  Feel free to continue waiting for its
arrival.

--

Regards,
Robert L Bass

Bass Burglar Alarms
The Online DIY Store
http://www.BassBurglarAlarms.com

--

Never underestimate the power of very stupid people in large
groups.