Re: Predictive failures

On Mon, 15 Apr 2024 10:13:02 -0700, Don Y
<blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> wrote:

Is there a general rule of thumb for signalling the likelihood of
an "imminent" (for some value of "imminent") hardware failure?
>
I suspect most would involve *relative* changes that would be
suggestive of changing conditions in the components (and not
directly related to environmental influences).
>
So, perhaps, a good strategy is to just "watch" everything and
notice the sorts of changes you "typically" encounter in the hope
that something of greater magnitude would be a harbinger...

Checking temperatures is good. An overload or a fan failure can be bad
news.

We put temp sensors on most products. Some parts, like ADCs and FPGAs,
have free built-in temp sensors.

I have tried various ideas to put an air flow sensor on boards, but so
far none have worked very well. We do check fan tachs to be sure they
are still spinning.

Blocking air flow generally makes fan speed *increase*.