4 ms·

When I started dating my wife she lived in a shared student residence. She would tell me that her internet didn't work when her room was cold. She had to wait f

When I started dating my wife she lived in a shared student residence. She would tell me that her internet didn't work when her room was cold. She had to wait for her space heater to heat up the the room. I didn't believe her at first but it turned out be true. She lived there for a year so I observed it several times. Never did find out what the problem is. I don't know if thermal contraction could effect solders between ~10C -> 22C.

Animats 5y ago
Yes. Not uncommon with bad soldering jobs. Problems like that can be diagnosed with freeze spray if necessary.[1] [1] https://www.techspray.com/using-freeze-spray-to-diagnose-faulty-electronics https://www.techspray.com/using-freeze-spray-to-diagnose-fau...
ethbr0 5y ago
We had it on a copper cable line in university. The line was hung overly-tight without slack (old job). When it got just cold enough in the winter: no connection. Warmed up: connection. Finally realized it was the line, got Comcast to redrop from pole, and situation was resolved.
TheOtherHobbes 5y ago
Yes, and not at all unusual. The gap between the ideal world of textbook circuits and the messy and random world of real circuits is a source of constant distraction and surprise. Thermal stresses, RF interference, issues caused by lighting, rain, and condensation, bad solder joints, other kinds of temperature sensitivity, designs with marginal component tolerances, component drift over time, vibration sensitivity, strange failure modes in damaged ICs, timing issues, power supply noise, coupling between circuit tracks and/or adjacent wiring, logic errors due to radiation (sometimes from surrounding metal), dust, insects, and animal damage - and on and on.
stephen_g 5y ago
Some electronic parts are not rated to work below 0° C - for ‘commercial’ equipment the range is usually 0° to 50°C, and you often have to pay extra to get ‘industrial’ or extended range versions of parts that have ranges like -45° to 85°C (some fairly common parts you can even get to 105°C). It it’s failing at 10°, I’d suspect there is a crack in a PCB somewhere or a badly soldered joint that isn’t actually making proper contact until there’s some thermal expansion. We don’t do anything special with the PCBs or soldering specifically, and all the stuff we make is tested down to -35° and up to 55°C with no issues…

Animats 5y ago

Yes. Not uncommon with bad soldering jobs. Problems like that can be diagnosed with freeze spray if necessary.[1] [1] https://www.techspray.com/using-freeze-spray-to-diagnose-faulty-electronics https://www.techspray.com/using-freeze-spray-to-diagnose-fau...

ethbr0 5y ago

We had it on a copper cable line in university. The line was hung overly-tight without slack (old job). When it got just cold enough in the winter: no connection. Warmed up: connection. Finally realized it was the line, got Comcast to redrop from pole, and situation was resolved.

TheOtherHobbes 5y ago

Yes, and not at all unusual. The gap between the ideal world of textbook circuits and the messy and random world of real circuits is a source of constant distraction and surprise. Thermal stresses, RF interference, issues caused by lighting, rain, and condensation, bad solder joints, other kinds of temperature sensitivity, designs with marginal component tolerances, component drift over time, vibration sensitivity, strange failure modes in damaged ICs, timing issues, power supply noise, coupling between circuit tracks and/or adjacent wiring, logic errors due to radiation (sometimes from surrounding metal), dust, insects, and animal damage - and on and on.

stephen_g 5y ago

Some electronic parts are not rated to work below 0° C - for ‘commercial’ equipment the range is usually 0° to 50°C, and you often have to pay extra to get ‘industrial’ or extended range versions of parts that have ranges like -45° to 85°C (some fairly common parts you can even get to 105°C). It it’s failing at 10°, I’d suspect there is a crack in a PCB somewhere or a badly soldered joint that isn’t actually making proper contact until there’s some thermal expansion. We don’t do anything special with the PCBs or soldering specifically, and all the stuff we make is tested down to -35° and up to 55°C with no issues…