Why do AAs fail so often (even new ones)?

[durangojim]

This is not a Disney bashing post, but from a techincal reason, why do we see AAs fail so frequently? I understand wear and tear but even Dok Ondar and the droid that roasts the rontos (which is a pretty simple movement) aren't working. Why do we see this occur so frequently?

 

[dreamfinder]

New technology that hasn't finished burn in? An older AA's probably don't get the same preventative maintenance that they used to?

 

[Schneewittchen]

Unscientific opinion here. I used to be a bench tech, now I'm in management in IT..... WDW is just a bunch of computers. Computers break.

It's not like a regular consumer electronic device that goes through R&D, extensive testing and then is made on an assembly line with machine manufactured parts. If a board shorts out on your laptop, the manufacturer has a bin of them to swap out..... a tech just pull out the old one and swaps in a new one. No one solders anything by hand anymore. And diagnosing is so much easier now, the manufacturer make software that does most of the diagnostics for you.

Every audio animatronic or ride is a custom job that probably uses hand made parts and boards. At best, it's 2 or 3 of a kind if it's duplicated at another park. So every time something breaks there's probably real troubleshooting involved and then you might actually have to repair a part, not just swap it out.

Anyway, more randomness. My DH used to work as a programmer/tech for a company that sold, built and programmed custom gear for manufacturing plants. He'd go on site to help these companies build new lines and bring them online.

When we visit WDW, he'll point out gear that he recognizes from that previous life. A lot of the gear the runs the rides is customized industrial robots, etc.

 

[JIMINYCR]

I'm thinking because of the level of use they get. A first its from a breaking in period with glitches to work out. After that its from so much frequency of usage. Any mechanical thing will buckle under when worked 7 days a week, hour after hour with little inactive time to get attention/ maintennance to its functioning parts.