SSR failure rate

[Mactayl]

As Brain explained in his earlier post ESD is a very important concern and it should not be taken with a grain of salt, sort of speak, it is very dangerous to the electronic components that we use for Blinky Flashy. Damage may not be immediate as it can take awhile for symptoms to show up. I am not saying this is the problems with these triacs but general ESD precautions should always be part of handling any electronic component that you work with. I included a link that may help some of you better understand why it is very important to practice ESD procedures to help protect the time and effort you spend putting PCB's together so you don't have ESD failures later down the road. It is also a good idea to purchase an ESD Mat for when you build your PCB's, they are not expensive and they help eliminate ESD related failures. Here is a link if you would like to get an idea about ESD and the problems it can cause. I have been in the semiconductor industry since 1975 and I have seen a lot of ESD related failures that could of been avoided just by being ESD smart.

http://www.maelabs.ucsd.edu/mae_es/p...SD/ESDfund.pdf

[budude]

An ESD wrist strap is not a bad idea either - just be sure to NEVER tie it to ground directly - it should bleed through a 1M resistor to leak off any charge you have. I have an ESD mat on my work bench that I got at a surplus place here when a business moved out.

[Mactayl]

An ESD wrist strap is not a bad idea either - just be sure to NEVER tie it to ground directly - it should bleed through a 1M resistor to leak off any charge you have. I have an ESD mat on my work bench that I got at a surplus place here when a business moved out.

They are both worth there weight in gold, as they should always be used when handling ESD sensitive devices. !!!!!!

[JP90]

Update:

I just sent 10 - bad BTA04-700t traics to mouser for Failure Analysis. I have not heard back from Ed at ST, I will give him till the end of the week then give him a call.

Gary

[DennyMo]

never mind...