Connectors... 94% of failures in mainframes and all other electronic
related equipment are related to connectors. More than 50% of the
problems related to connection, a simple unplug/replug fix them all.
People think that scale integration was a result of looking for space
savings, but great part of the energy and money invested in it was to
eliminate as much connections as possible from the circuits.  Who
remembers the TTL family in '74 and on? power hungry wires and circuits,
there was no power and cards connectors that could deal with that thing
correctly without generate lots of problems, and heat!

How many times did you checked your computer power connectors when
looking for a problem? how many times your hardisk just reset itself
because a bad contact on those black, yellow and red wires connectors?
sometimes they are lose, sometimes they are so tied you need a
screwdriver to force and unplug it.

We tried to reinforce a surface connector by drilling incomplete holes
below the connector. At the installation, epoxy drops are deposited into
the holes to glue the connector "in place", it also helps to reinforce
the connector mechanically on board.  Good connectors helps a lot.

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Wagner Lipnharski - UST Research Inc. - Orlando, Florida
Forum and microcontroller web site:  http://www.ustr.net
Microcontrollers Survey:  http://www.ustr.net/tellme.htm