Boards usually don't burn unless overloaded. I have one example in an ebay RN-1 that has a blown board, but who knows how that happened - jammed up servo, etc, typically some event causes it.
Gears wear, but abusing gears makes them fail prematurely. Remember, every time you yank an unpowered servo into some position, you are stressing the drive train in a way not exactly intended.
Dead LED's? They usually don't fail for a VERY VERY long time, unless they're overdriven (more than rated current).
Batteries do fail with age - they're chemical, and will give out. That said, LiPo has a better lifespan than NiMh (like the RN-1's stock battery) or NiCd.
Soldered pieces breaking? Uh - how?
I saw one failure in my first RN-1 out of the box personally (a fried MRC-3024), and one in person in the ebay bot (again, who knows what kind of abuse it sustained). If you take care of your stuff, it should last longer, but nothing lasts forever! Buying spares isn't a bad idea, esp w/ RN-1 now obsoleted. As all things, depends on how much you use it, too. But, even batteries go bad sitting around. My stock batts still work, but I haven't put them on a decent charger to see how many mAh are left in them.
IMHO, don't worry about it if you don't run your bot much, or if you do so with caution. Slower is better, and if you compete, expect things to break / fail - that's part of the game, pushing things to their limits, and buying more parts.
Also, if you notice a problem, FIX IT! Ignoring a tick in a gear means something will break in time, and if you let it go, it could get worse (broken tooth jams gear, gear locks motor, motor fries, board fries, servo gone).
There are a lot of moving parts in our machines, mostly in the servos. Having spare servos is a good thing. I bought the stock ebay bot as a complete set of spares (though abused spares!). At some point, Hitec Robotic servos that fit the RN-1 will be gone, and the RN-1 will be unsustainable in the long term, but the uknown is just how long.
Take Care,
Paul
Statistics: Posted by PaulL — Mon Nov 28, 2011 12:48 pm
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