Yes Virginia, mechanical switches CAN fail...

[BiffRocko]

...like the one in my Reo Grand just did.

So, can we as a group please stop telling people that mechanical switches will never fail? They are mechanical. Anything mechanical will eventually fail.

/EndFrustratedNicotineDeprivedRant

 

[scubasteve25]

what happened? how did it fail?

 

[BiffRocko]

The spring mechanism inside broke. So now when it's pushed in, it stays pushed in. No idea how it happened. It was just sitting on my desk and was working fine the last time I took a vape. Wasn't dropped, bumped, smashed, or anything.

I have an email out to Reo. Hopefully they'll fix it. It's only 2 months old.

 

[scubasteve25]

wow 2 months and it failed. should be a fluke, my reo is built like a tank. im sure rob will take care of you, i assume you unscrewed the delrin cover to see what happened on the inside?

 

[BiffRocko]

Nope. I tried to get in there to see what made it tick, but the screw was in there way too tight and I'm lazy so I gave up.

I'm guessing it was just a fluke since I haven't heard anyone else complaining about the switch breaking on the Reos. In any case, my rant wasn't directed at Reo. I just keep seeing people posting to others that "mechanical switches will never fail" and that just isn't true as evidenced here.

 

[six]

The likelihood of failure of a spring return switch is remarkably low. Most micro mechanical momentary switches are rated anywhere from 10,000 to 50,000 cycles. Some solid state relays could perform that well, but it would be a lot harder to find one appropriate for this sort of application.

I am sorry yours broke though. Hopefully you have some back up PVs around.

 

[BiffRocko]

I'm not debating that a mechanical switch should last longer than most electric switches. There's a big difference between the statements "will last longer" and "will never fail" though. A lot of non-technical people come here for advice and are going to believe whatever they read. We should give them good information and not make exaggerated claims.

That being said, given how often we push the buttons on our PVs, some manufacturers install switches that are rated for 1 million cycles.

 

[air1]

The likelihood of failure of a spring return switch is remarkably low. Most micro mechanical momentary switches are rated anywhere from 10,000 to 50,000 cycles. Some solid state relays could perform that well, but it would be a lot harder to find one appropriate for this sort of application.

I am sorry yours broke though. Hopefully you have some back up PVs around.

This is a little misleading...
Mechanical 50,000 - 250,000 cycles
MDR 3-8 million cycles
SSRs virtually an unlimited number of cycles

Source. I have seen many similiar sources.
Solid state contactor glossary of terminology

So in reality a touch switch with no mechanical action would last the longest. Longer than a lifetime. And can be cycled millions of times per second (faster than a finger). The failure comes if it gets shorted out.

Anyways I hope it worked out, as I'm sure it will.