Statpower update

[john dolan]

>More FWIW(not too technical and not complete)...

Sometime when you have more time Henry, I'd love to hear the complete and
technical version. . I was referring to the cluster of emails and
purchases this
past spring (6 or so) from both the refurbished collection of 40s the
company was
selling on the internet, and the big sales some retailers (West Marine) were
running (40+s) at the same time.

Regards,
John 74 Glacier WASH, DC GMC

 

[hdavis]

Hi gang!

Two items of interest regarding Statpower and Arch's failed unit. First,
the failure was confirmed as a MOSFET failure - nothing that Arch did. This
means that the failure information will be part of a larger sample used
when they design the next charger.

Next, Statpower was acquired by Xantrex, a power supply company. If you
want the press relase, take a look at
http://www.xantrex.com/corporate/press_oct18.html

Henry

Henry Davis Consulting, Inc / new product consulting
PO Box 1270 / product readiness reviews
Soquel, Ca 95073 / IP reviews
ph: (831) 462-5199 / full service marketing
fax: (831) 462-5198
http://www.henry-davis.com/ http://www.henry-davis.com

 

[john dolan]

>Two items of interest regarding Statpower and Arch's failed unit. First,
>the failure was confirmed as a MOSFET failure - nothing that Arch did. This
>means that the failure information will be part of a larger sample used
>when they design the next charger. Next, Statpower was acquired by Xantrex, >a
power supply company.

I realize this study was done to determine the proximate cause of the failure,
but at least some of us were wondering what cause the sound "~bigger than
a .22 but less than a .45... more like a .38 " and almost a big cleaning
bill... since Arch was starring at the LED display only inches away at the time.

You haven't said exactly what caused the sound, I assume because they
haven't told you. You mentioned once, that it took out other circuitry when it
failed, but that's all I recall.

I can imagine there were a few folks wanting this whole thing to go away,
coming at a time of final approval of the sale of the company.

Regards,
John Glacier 74

 

[hdavis]

>
>I realize this study was done to determine the proximate cause of the
failure,
>but at least some of us were wondering what cause the sound "~bigger than
>a .22 but less than a .45... more like a .38 " and almost a big
cleaning
>bill... since Arch was starring at the LED display only inches away at
the time.
>
>You haven't said exactly what caused the sound, I assume because they
>haven't told you. You mentioned once, that it took out other circuitry
when it
>failed, but that's all I recall.

It could have been MOSFETs that made the sound - but other devices failed
also. Keep in mind that some of the devices like the PWN driver are only
supposed to see low
>I can imagine there were a few folks wanting this whole thing to go away,
>coming at a time of final approval of the sale of the company.

Interestingly enough that didn't appear to be the case. Arch got the "easy"
answer from the customer service folks. Based on my interaction with the QA
folks, I'm convinced that they would have received the unit in any case and
started the analysis. Of course, any company would prefer to have any
controversy go away during an acquisition. It speaks pretty highly of their
organization that they ddin't just explain it away and drop the file into
the "done" basket. FWIW, from what I can tell so far, the Xantrex QA
organization is even more powerful than Statpower's. They have to be -
their power supplies fly on the shuttle and other mission critical
applications.

Henry

Henry Davis Consulting, Inc / new product consulting
PO Box 1270 / product readiness reviews
Soquel, Ca 95073 / IP reviews
ph: (831) 462-5199 / full service marketing
fax: (831) 462-5198
http://www.henry-davis.com/ http://www.henry-davis.com