OT Re: [AT] Generator--doing funny things, Now electronics.

[Howard Weeks]

When these new machines with all the electronic control systems get to be
about 10
years old, many of the critical electronic parts are not going to be
available at any price.

And many of these critical parts cannot be replaced with something else.
For example,
even if you could get a compatible "programmable part", the software that
Tom writes
will not be available either.

I have a junk pile full of electronics around here that is full because of
what I describe.

The only way around it is to reverse engineer the electronics and design a
general purpose
replacement for it.  I have done some of that and it takes lots of time and
effort.  Unless you
have the skills needed yourself, hiring someone else to do it will be very
expensive also.

Bottom line, they do not design them to run more than a few years.  They
want to sell you another
machine or widget.  They do not want you to be repairing them after the
point where you should be
shaking off the money to buy another.  Throw away?

None of these new machines will be running 50 years from now (or even 25)
unless a workaround
for the electronics is found.

Howard
Harlem, GA

----- Original Message -----
From: "Thomas O. Mehrkam" <tomehrkam at houston.rr.com>
To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Saturday, June 17, 2006 8:11 AM
Subject: OT Re: [AT] Generator--doing funny things, Now electronics.


> They new stuff is great until it breaks then watch out.
>
> I am currently having a problem with my 1996 Suburban. The AC stopped
> working. I traced it down to a transistor in the AC control module. I
> replaced this transistor four times and it kept failing. Or course the
> number on the transistor was non standard and I had to reverse engineer
> the ckt by tracing out the ckt and drawing a schematic.
>
> I finally replaced the module for $226. It ran for a month and then
> failed again. I guess there is a intermittent short somewhere in the
system.
>
> Guess what this module is replacing. Remember the old ones where cables
> controlled the vents and switches and relays controlled the compressor.
>
> I will be replacing the transistor again and tracing the ckt out inch by
> inch.
>
> I would take it to the dealer except I am sure they would start by
> replacing the A/C module. It would take a thousand dollars and several
> trips for them to find the problem. I guess I will just plug along on my
>   on.
>
> Maybe I can rig some cables and relays. :-}
>
> What does this have to do with Antique tractors. Nothing. But all those
> soon to be antiques that are being produced today are controlled by
> Electronics. I wounder what collectors will do 75 years from now to
> restore them.
>
> charlie hill wrote:
> > Larry,  our grandfathers and great grandfathers thought the same thing
> > about our  old tractors when they were new and replaced the horses.
> > Personally I like both the old technology and the new.
> > A friend of mine recently got re-married to a guy that tends 3500 acres
> > of cotton.
> >
> > She was telling me about bedding up rows.   I quized her because I knew
> > that level of tractor operation was above what she knew how to do.  Then
> > she explained that it was the new tractor with the GPS system.  Seems it
> > has all the fields they farm mapped into it.  All she has to do is drive
> > the tractor in the field and line it up with the line on the display.
> > Then it takes over and she get's to turn it around at the other end of
> > the field. Apparently the  thing never varies more than a inch from one
> > end of the field to the other.
> >
> > I don't know about you but  I never ran a row that straight.  grins.
> >
> > Charlie