Jon, you are not to blame for anything. There is no blame to give anyone.
In my opinion, the Runtz should be super reliable. It uses a purchased potted device used in aircraft, space, etc. They add a PC board for connection and solder it and sleeve it.
If the component is a National semiconductor or Texas Instrument or other well known maker, it should be super reliable. Many of these companies buy from China. Their parts would be spec certified and tested at production and retested at incoming.
The Runtz component could be a substandard non certified part. Those are available for non flight safety type, non critical type consumer products and cheaper priced. Now that Randy Runtz has passed away, I wonder if the family business is aware of the negative reputation that may be building and what they have to say. There are many complaints on the internet. There are possible other reasons: Electrostatic Discharge damage. EMF damage.
If there really is a high failure rate, It can be anything from postal scanners to static in the air to Chinese dumping to low quantity buyers. Then of course user error. At any rate, it's easy to avoid this device. I feel sorry for the Family. It doesn't look like anyone is on top of this. Offering to replace with another bad part will actually kill the company faster. The only thing going for them is it's a household word for old vehicle conversions. Like Kleenex is to facial tissue, like coke is to beverage, like Jacuzzi is to hot tub..... The Runtz is a solid state voltage regulator. It must be properly grounded. This will provide ESD protection and is necessary for operation. The metal tab with a hole in it is a heat sink. The ground is a black wire.
I don't know if any of this applies but it's in our tip
Section.Also this is important
Click
