Jerry Ludy Posted December 4, 2013 Share Posted December 4, 2013 Why does it always seem that when I start up each year, that I have traics failing and causing issues? What causes traics to start failing and eventually not responding? I have purchased over the past 7 years, LOR controllers from various generations. Each year, I end up having to change up a program and reassign channels to other legs of a controller, because a traic is failing or completely stopped responding. Is there something that I am doing to cause this reaction to the controller or is the lifespan of a traic only for a couple of years? Are these components that sensitive that they breakdown and have to be changed out frequently? I really enjoy the LOR controllers, but here lately, I really am concerned of their life expectency, once purchased. I only operate 22 - 16 channel controllers with 8 CCR's. This year alone, I have a total of 8 traics that have failed or on their way of not responding. Even though I leave an extra channel vacant in close proximity to another controller, just in case of failure, I still have to reprogram the configuration to each song. Will LOR provide these replacement traics at no charge? How easy is the replacement of these traics, if done on my own? Curious Minds want to know. Jerry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plasmadrive Posted December 4, 2013 Share Posted December 4, 2013 This has been discussed ad nauseam... The answers are there... you just need to search the threads.. Sorry.. I just don't want to do it yet again.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Benedict Posted December 4, 2013 Share Posted December 4, 2013 By comparison, I've had 19 controllers over 4 years without a single problem. See: http://www.dogpile.com/search/web?fcoid=485&fcop=&fpid=27&qall=triacs&qexact=&qany=&qnone=&qimgc=All&qimgs=All&qlang=&qdomainf=Include&qdomain=forums.lightorama.com 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plasmadrive Posted December 4, 2013 Share Posted December 4, 2013 By comparison, I've had 19 controllers over 4 years without a single problem. See: http://www.dogpile.com/search/web?fcoid=485&fcop=&fpid=27&qall=triacs&qexact=&qany=&qnone=&qimgc=All&qimgs=All&qlang=&qdomainf=Include&qdomain=forums.lightorama.comThanks for putting the link up Ken..... I have only had one triac that was iffy over the last 3 years with 15 controllers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Fischer Posted December 4, 2013 Share Posted December 4, 2013 If you're blowing that many triacs, you're either overloading them, or shorting them out. I don't remember blowing a single triac in whole time I've been doing this (11th season with LOR now) although I bought some used controllers that I had to replace them on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Benedict Posted December 4, 2013 Share Posted December 4, 2013 I keep a stock of these on hand, just in case: http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/STMicroelectronics/BTA24-600BWRG/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMuAO0%252bGuNbnQuGNM0Bb%2fu68kyZGcDFVw5s%3d They're rated a higher current than the LOR ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thevikester Posted December 4, 2013 Share Posted December 4, 2013 I've had 2 go bad in 5 years, a tutorial on replacement would be great, but I'm just going to send them in at the end of the season, which gives plenty of time to get them back : )Thx for that link Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plasmadrive Posted December 4, 2013 Share Posted December 4, 2013 I've had 2 go bad in 5 years, a tutorial on replacement would be great, but I'm just going to send them in at the end of the season, which gives plenty of time to get them back : )Thx for that link KenI am sure that is a liability that no one wants.. a single solder bridge on the high voltage part could cause bad things to happen. I suspect in the case of "blown" triacs there would be carbon tracking and you would have to be able to deal with that and measure afterwards... If you could do that.... you would not need a video as to how to replace them... So, one more things this country's lawyers have done for us... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Fischer Posted December 4, 2013 Share Posted December 4, 2013 I am sure that is a liability that no one wants.. a single solder bridge on the high voltage part could cause bad things to happen. I suspect in the case of "blown" triacs there would be carbon tracking and you would have to be able to deal with that and measure afterwards... If you could do that.... you would not need a video as to how to replace them... So, one more things this country's lawyers have done for us...I seriously doubt that. We have tutorials for all kinds of things, the last thing I'd be worried about is liability from a video I posted in a forum. I'd do it in a heartbeat if I had a triac to replace.You can't live in fear of being sued in the most improbable of cases. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plasmadrive Posted December 4, 2013 Share Posted December 4, 2013 I seriously doubt that. We have tutorials for all kinds of things, the last thing I'd be worried about is liability from a video I posted in a forum. I'd do it in a heartbeat if I had a triac to replace.You can't live in fear of being sued in the most improbable of cases.You should not doubt it. You can put a hobby video out .. but as far as LOR or any other company doing it.. they would be nuts. I have had three industrial controls companies and I can tell you horror stories about your "most improbable of cases" that you would not believe. Some of the low life lawyers out there will sue for any reason if they think they can get money.... it's always someone elses fault but their clients. Kinda like hot coffee, removing the lid, putting it between your legs in a car a squeezing.. yeah.. Most improbable... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Hans Posted December 4, 2013 Share Posted December 4, 2013 I've lost between 1 and 3 every year. I'm all LED so I'm not overloading them and I doubt I'm shorting them out because when I move them to a new channel all works great for weeks (shorts don't heal themselves). I've just come to think it is a fact of life and live with it. Having LOR come up with an automated routine that would change a channel assignment to all my sequences would at least take the big pain in the butt out of it anywayLost one on the first night this year already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Fischer Posted December 4, 2013 Share Posted December 4, 2013 Kinda like hot coffee, removing the lid, putting it between your legs in a car a squeezing.. yeah.. Most improbable...Did you know that McDonalds at that time served their coffee over 190 degrees, and most restaurants serve it 30 or more degrees cooler? Did you know that the woman was in the hospital for over a week with massive burns, and the extra 30 degrees was directly the cause of it?There are a lot of stupid lawsuits out there, but the poor McDonalds lady actually had a decent claim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plasmadrive Posted December 5, 2013 Share Posted December 5, 2013 Did you know that McDonalds at that time served their coffee over 190 degrees, and most restaurants serve it 30 or more degrees cooler? Did you know that the woman was in the hospital for over a week with massive burns, and the extra 30 degrees was directly the cause of it?There are a lot of stupid lawsuits out there, but the poor McDonalds lady actually had a decent claim.Did you know that according to the National Coffee Assoc. the perfect water temp for brewing coffee is between 195-205 deg? The perfect drinking temp is considered between 180-185 deg. Most restaurants NOW lowered the temp because of this law suit... I ran two of them for my dad and one was a truck stop. Coffee that was not around 185 was considered cold by the customers. It doesn't stay as hot when you pour it after just a short time.She took the lid off and put it between her legs and squeezed. She caused her own burns.. That was not a decent claim. She should have taken responsibility for her own actions.. Now we all have to have colder coffee because of the fear of law suits...ain't it funny how all the millions billions of cups of coffee before her, were just fine.. One spoils it for all ... I feel sorry for her burns.. but it was her own fault... no one elses. But yes.. a lot of stupid law suits.. I agree.... Also, I have taken us way off topic... Sorry. Think about this though... if someone tells you how to replace a triac and you don't explain about carbon tracking and there is some.... and then someone that has little knowledge about any of it follows that video and and they either get shocked, start a fire or blow something up again.. such as a triac and they get it in the face or eyes.. who do you think they would go after? I'm just saying... do a hobby video and you should be fine.. do a commercially sponsored one and it can be a problem. That is most likely why you wont' see one from a business... But hey.. ya never know.. someone might get brave.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffl Posted December 5, 2013 Share Posted December 5, 2013 Soldering station, solder sucker and some copper braid for removing solder and replacements. The most work is taking it all apart. Depending on the controller is probably 1.5 hours by the time you pull it from the yard and finish everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffF Posted December 5, 2013 Share Posted December 5, 2013 This is our sixth year with LOR and for some reason is the year of the failing triac. Have had four fail in the past week spread out over two controllers. Funny thing is they are the least loaded channels... with either 20 or 100 minis on them(candy canes and arches).Never had any blow before this year. And in my case, no... LOR will not provide them for free which is pretty cheap of them imho. Sending a few links for me to buy them? I could have looked that up myself thank you.The couple times I've written them in the past they have sent things without question(broken fuse clips that I asked about buying). Not sure why this changed except for maybe the person that wrote me back...At any rate... I've gotten good at importing channel configurations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LOR Staff Posted December 5, 2013 Share Posted December 5, 2013 This is our sixth year with LOR and for some reason is the year of the failing triac. Have had four fail in the past week spread out over two controllers. Funny thing is they are the least loaded channels... with either 20 or 100 minis on them(candy canes and arches).Never had any blow before this year. And in my case, no... LOR will not provide them for free which is pretty cheap of them imho. Sending a few links for me to buy them? I could have looked that up myself thank you.The couple times I've written them in the past they have sent things without question(broken fuse clips that I asked about buying). Not sure why this changed except for maybe the person that wrote me back...At any rate... I've gotten good at importing channel configurations. We certainly do send triacs out when requested. One of the few times we don't is when the person either specifically asks for links on where to purchase them, or if they are asking for an inordinate amount of them. What was your trouble ticket number so I can look up what exactly happened? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffF Posted December 5, 2013 Share Posted December 5, 2013 PM heading your way. Thanks a lot for the offer to look into it.Although I do have a 10 pack of triacs and MOPs inbound already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LOR Staff Posted December 5, 2013 Share Posted December 5, 2013 I got your PM with the ticket number, and you are absolutely correct -- rather than offer to send you some, we only gave you some links to buy them. We really dropped the ball, I apologize for that. I'm going to re-open your ticket and get some sent to you. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffF Posted December 5, 2013 Share Posted December 5, 2013 I got your PM with the ticket number, and you are absolutely correct -- rather than offer to send you some, we only gave you some links to buy them. We really dropped the ball, I apologize for that. I'm going to re-open your ticket and get some sent to you.Heh... now that is the kind of response I am used to seeing from the LOR folks! Thank you Mike! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-klb- Posted December 5, 2013 Share Posted December 5, 2013 Will note that in all (roughly 4 or 5) failed triacs I have, not one has visibly damaged its case, let alone left a carbon trail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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