<VV> HRPT

[Dave Keillor]

I find it amusing, and somewhat annoying, that this has gone on way too
long.  Having said that, I can't resist making some comments of my own.
I'm an Electrical Engineer and this is a poor design from an engineering
perspective (maybe not from a bean counter's cost perspective, but I'm
not one of them).  Here's why it's a poor design:

1. In most every type of electrical equipment, connectors are
responsible for the majority of equipment failures.

2. Failure of this particular connector can have extremely adverse, and
possibly life-threatening consequences (should the failure occur at the
wrong time and place).

3. Good connections are gas tight and this requires pressure.  This
particular design does a poor job of obtaining and maintaining proper
pressure for a gas tight connection.

4. When a connection begins to fail, it often exhibits an increasing
internal resistance.  Internal resistance in a high current connection
causes heat, and heat does what to plastic?  

5. Mark says that proper maintenance is the key.  How and when does one
"maintain" that particular connector?  Replace it periodically?  As an
aside, I once had a cartridge fuse in my home's fuse box that had a
defective solder joint where the fuse link is soldered to the end of the
fuse.  After several years, it got very hot and burned both the fuse and
fuse box.  Would better maintenance have prevented that problem?

Believe me, it's defective design.

Dave Keillor