Re: is it possible for x10 signal bridge to fail?

["Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx>]

"Chip Orange" <acorange@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

> Since this is a completely passive system (my understanding anyway), I'm
not
> sure how it could fail,

Capacitors fail all the time.  Do a Google search on: "capacitor  failures"

To read an interesting article about the recent scandal over bad capacitors
that had a serious effect on the PC world:

FAULTS & FAILURES
Leaking Capacitors Muck up Motherboards

"It has all the elements of a good thriller: a stolen secret formula,
bungled corporate espionage, untraceable goods, and lone wolves saving the
little guy from the misdeeds of multinational corporations. In this case, a
mistake in the stolen formulation of the electrolyte in a capacitor has
wrecked hundreds of PCs and may wreck still more in what is an industrywide
problem.

Aluminum electrolytic capacitors with a low equivalent series resistance
(ESR) are high-capacitance components that generally serve to smooth out the
power supply to chips. Throughout 2002, they have been breaking open and
failing in certain desktop PCs. Motherboard and PC makers contacted by IEEE
Spectrum have stopped using the faulty parts, but because the parts can fail
over a period of several months, more such failures are expected . . . "

continued at: http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/WEBONLY/resource/feb03/ncap.html


 --
Bobby G.