On Sunday 10 October 2021 09:52:40 Jeremy Nicoll wrote: > On Sat, 9 Oct 2021, at 19:52, sp...@caiway.net wrote: > > I really like Logitech mouses (fast scrolling!), but when used often > > they break each one/two year. > > I use my mice almost always in bed, with the mouse either on top > of the duvet or running around under it on the sheet. (The laptop > is on an overbed table.) > > What kills them most often is me forgetting where they are and > getting out of bed causing the mouse to fly off the bed where it > often collides with a bookcase (or worse) the metal frame of the > overbed table. > > The poor mice expire traumatically, not even managing to call for > help. No SQUEAK! Just a thud.
The most common failure is the solder joints on the bottom of the boards under the swithes. That wave soldering process demands that the switches be held solidly to the board, not floating 1 to 10 thou up it the air. The solder is many times heavier than the switch so if not solidly held down while the solder wave goes by, they will float just a hair, leaving an air gap between the board and the bottom of the switch. This air gap is closed by the finger pressing the button, which gradually loosens the grip of the glue holding the copper to the bottom of the board and eventually cracking the solder joint, leading to a quick double click effect from the switch closing in response to the finger, then a break as the crack opens, followed by a second click as the finger lifts again and the crack closes, then the switch opens again, giving a double click where the finger made but one push. Those of us that have a hot soldering iron grafted to a hand can fix that, but we're often considered rare birds to be avoided by the girls lest the geekiness is catching. Some of us are even CET's, but that card, laid on the HR desk has gotten me every job I ever wanted, some quite lucrative. Cheers, Gene Heskett. -- "There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order." -Ed Howdershelt (Author, 1940) If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable. - Louis D. Brandeis Genes Web page <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene>
