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Thinking back to a week in 2015 when a single faulty resistor in a batch of 200 motion sensors had us chasing ghosts in three different buildings.
It was for a commercial strip in Tempe. We'd get random zone faults at all hours. Spent days re-running wire, reprogramming panels, the whole nine yards. Finally, one of the old-timers on our crew, Frank, took a magnifying glass to a board and spotted a tiny crack in a surface-mount resistor. Every sensor from that lot had the same flaw. Had to pull and replace every single one. The supplier covered it, but the labor was on us. Made me really appreciate how one cheap component can burn a week. Anyone else have a 'one bad part' story that ate up a huge chunk of time?
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abbyc337mo ago
Always test a spare from the new batch first.
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ray_morgan7mo ago
Learned that lesson the hard way with a new pack of light bulbs last week. Screwed one in, flipped the switch, and it popped like a firecracker. Scared the cat half to death. Now I've got a closet full of bulbs and trust issues. What's the worst thing you've ruined by not testing it first?
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kim_nelson6mo ago
Testing a spare first just adds another step to the chore. If a product is that unreliable, maybe the problem is the brand and not the method. I'd rather return the whole batch if the first one fails right out of the box. Why should we have to do quality control for the company?
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