opinion on chinese made environmental chambers - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: glenenglish
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 24, 2024, 12:30:21 am
content: In Australia, these are rare. I SHOULD have snapped up the chambers that RFS in melbourne has when they closed 2023.I am considering one from China, many manufacturers.....IE -20C to +80deg C cycle thermal stress,, engineering testing at thermal extremes, 1 week production burn-in at 60 deg C ambient etc.etcneeds window and cable harness route for powering and instrumentation.There are plenty of used ones in the US, but shipping to australia is expensive compared to our of East asia....anyone with first hand experience ?-glen

author: coppercone2
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 24, 2024, 03:17:58 pm
content: beware burn out when doing something important that lasts a while.the longer your tests are and the less down time you can tolerate the less appealing it is. These chambers like to burn out when working at the extreme ends of the temperature range.

author: schmitt trigger
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 24, 2024, 04:28:58 pm
content: My comments with respect to Chinese capital equipment, regardless of what they are, is to research the aftermarket support and spare parts availability.A friend of mine purchased some laser metal cutting machines. On one of them, the touchscreen where one has to access all the machine functions, went bad.When he contacted the manufacturer, the original touchscreen was no longer available, it was replaced by a new model. This new model touchscreen had compatibility issues with the motherboard, which also required a replacement. Now, there are several significant software issues with this new motherboard, which haven’t been satisfactorily resolved.The machine has been in this state for over half a year. He is still paying the bank loan he took to purchase a pair of machines. His fear is if the other machine also goes Kaput, and he will be left without the income to pay the loan.

author: glenenglish
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 25, 2024, 08:30:05 am
content: HowdyI agree on chinese capital equipment. Many chinese vendors - there is no concept of after sales support / sustaining engineeringExample- many of the Chinese PnP machines- the software they are sold with is the software they wil have for life. No such thing as software upgrades, bug fixes.The bug fixed version will be a new model next year- might have same part number but otherwise 50% different hardware.....so no software is compatible etc.When I bought my CO2 laser cutters from CN, I purchased 100% spares at the time (which was minimal really) ...

author: Doctorandus_P
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 07, 2025, 01:12:14 pm
content: So what do these things cost?If I was serious about this, my first thought would be to buy a regular household freezer. Then put in a thermostat and some heating elements and an uC to control it.Maybe also saw a big hole in the door and put in a double glass window, but putting a webcam inside may be a viable alternative.Be very careful if you want to poke holes though the wall (for example for adding wires). Part of the refrigerating / freezing circuit is hidden inside the walls and when you drill though it, the whole thing is toast.

author: twospoons
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 07, 2025, 09:56:22 pm
content: Last place I worked at had four Chinese made chambers, I think one of them had minor issues with a heater needing replacement but that was no big deal. These chambers are in use almost continuously, and have been operating for several years. I couldn't tell you the brand though.Regarding modifying a domestic freezer: the heat pump is too weak to do thermal cycling at any reasonable rate - they are a few 100 watts at best. The proper enviro chambers have multi kW heat pumps in them. They usually also have humidity control.

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 07, 2025, 11:11:59 pm
content: A small chest freezer might be 120W, they can go up to 400W+.But yes if you need thermal cycling I would not go there. If you don't need thermal cycling, and just want to do very basic extremes testing, you can get away with a mini freezer and a separate oven for hot tests. Cheap and simple.

author: glenenglish
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 09, 2025, 11:39:33 pm
content: yeah , need a thermal cycling capable chamber .chest freezers are use for certain applications, that's for sure.