What you’ll learn:
- Why tariffs may have unintended consequences in the electronics industry.
- What do spare parts have to do with tariffs and electronic designs.
It was a week before the Super Bowl and my wife is a big football fan. Our venerable 67-in. Samsung HL67A750 DLP (Fig. 1) was making noises, so I decided it was time to clean the fans. Wrong move. Seems that cleaning the dust away can cause problems.
So, what does this have to do with tariffs? Before we get to that, here are a few details on changing HDTV support.
For Want of a Fan, a DLP was Lost… Almost
Getting replacement parts for a 2008 DLP is challenging in 2025; it was the last consumer DLP sold by Samsung. As it turns out, my son and I have the same DLP. He ran into the fan issue a while back and found some expensive, exact replacement parts. Unfortunately, he had the parts at his place in Ohio, so in order to watch the Super Bowl, I wound up buying a new 77-in. LG Class C3 OLED (Fig. 2).
The DLP was moved to the side, but eventually the parts showed up. The muffin fans have three wires. One provides feedback to the electronics, so that it knows that the fan is running. If you need a replacement like this and don’t have access to the right fan, then check out the Samsung HL61A750 LED DLP television fan error repair video to see how to use a regular, 2-wire fan:
Samsung did a great job on the design, which is easy to service. The project system is separate from the HD inputs (Fig. 3). Remove a few cables and screws and the whole thing slides out the back. Access to the fans is easy as well, with just a few screws and the power cable. Of course, it helps to have the proper replacement fans as these aren’t the same used in PCs or other devices. Now I just need to figure out what to do with an extra HDTV. This is now the third in a home for only two people.
By the way, replacing one of the LEDs in the DLP system is a bit more involved:
Redesigns Due to Tariffs Can Be Costly
Now back to tariffs.
Getting the fans from China might cost more now with tariffs in place, but it’s something I would need to do it again. Though the cost would likely be more than that imposed through the tariffs, I would probably pay the price to get the unit up and running again.
Likewise, per the video, it’s possible to use a different fan and still get the system up and running. That could be less expensive and easier to access, but the result is less than optimal. A different item might not have a replacement part available, in which case the item would be useless.
Engineers tasked with designing and maintaining systems need to keep this in mind. Having a second source for a component is good practice; however, it’s not always an option. Likewise, a redesign may be required to accommodate an alternative component. The cost of the alternative may be different as well. What was originally an economical design could be cost prohibitive if a component must be replaced by a more expensive alternative.
These issues come into play for almost anything with electronics in the mix from automotive platforms to smartphones. There’s often a focus on major components like processors, GPUs and artificial-intelligence (AI) accelerators, but these devices won’t work if they don’t have power, communication, and software. If a critical component in a power supply or a custom connector is unavailable, then it can prevent the operation of the overall product, be it a car or a medical device. Supply-chain issues caused these types of problems when COVID was unleashing worldwide problems.
COVID was terrible, causing major loss of life, but it forced changes in the supply chain. Companies also adjusted their designs and design processes, when possible, to be more flexible when it comes to the supply chain. Unfortunately, it’s not always possible to provide a second source or design alternative for all components in a system.
COVID tended to delay availability of components, but this is different than dealing with tariffs. Companies may or may not be able to push costs related to tariffs to their customers. And many firms are dealing with a profit margin that tariffs can eliminate, causing the company to go out of business.
Designers tend to have a design dependency graph, either in their head or elsewhere, though the level of detail and depth is likely to vary significantly. It may also not consider all issues related to source materials like rare earths, sensors, and so on, as these were assumed to be available at some point for some price that would be reasonable for creating a product.
Tariffs may not affect companies or products immediately. It could be months or years before they affect companies and products. It can vary from a minor delay to closing of a company or a discontinued product that your design may depend on.
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