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Question about the actual failure rate on those cheap power adapters
I was reading a report from a recycler in Seattle and they said over 40% of the small electronics they get have a failed power brick, not the main device. I pulled apart a few of the dead ones from my bench and sure enough, the caps were all bulged. How do you even explain that to a customer who just wants their laptop fixed?
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lindal137mo ago
Honestly, 40 percent is way worse than I ever guessed. That's just nuts. Jamie770 is totally right about the bad dance moves trying to explain it, but the real crime is how much perfectly good stuff gets tossed because of a two dollar part. Makes me mad just thinking about it.
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jamie7707mo ago
Trying to explain bulging caps to a customer is like describing a souffle collapse to someone who just wants their toast. You see the clear, puffy failure of a cheap part, and they just hear "magic smoke got out." My best attempt usually involves sad, bloated little cylinders and hand gestures that make me look like I'm doing bad interpretive dance. It never really lands, and I end up just ordering the generic brick anyway.
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janarivera7mo ago
Forget the customer, how do you explain it to the landfill? All that plastic and metal wasted because a cheap cap blew. The real cost is the trash pile, not the repair bill.
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