Repairability?

[KMoffett]

How "field repairable" are the ELVIS III trainers?  I've been responsible for the maintenance for E&L Instruments CADET electronics trainers for years. Students are hard on equipment that they are just learning to use. The white plug board contacts lose tension. Pots get blown. Slide switch contacts oxidize.  Input and output logic chips are damaged.

[I.B.Hating]

Hello,

With regards to the white breadboards on the NI ELVIS III prototyping board, those all have screws on the back and can be very easily replaced. They're standard off the shelf breadboards. The pots, switches, etc are a bit more tricky. I'm sure they can be depopulated and replaced with standard components from Digikey or Mouser but NI also offers replacement prototyping application boards for sale which might be easier depending on how much time you have to fix. As of now, I haven't heard of any components breaking but like you said, kids can be tough on components.

As far as problems with the actual NI ELVIS III itself, we've tested to ensure all ports are able to be shorted and everything is fairly protected (within reason) so it should withstand the engineering student onslaught; however, I recommend calling in to support if there are issues. They can usually either troubleshoot or start our repair process.