How long should a EPIRB last- manufacturer says 12 years

[cormorant]

Just looking at the GME electronics site and they now have a statement up that they the life of their products is 12 yerars. That means 1 battery replacement.

Now it makes sense that 12 year old elecronics are a greater risk but first time I have seen it written down.

So to anyone who was trying to work out the cost of a EPIRB over it's servicable life as said by teh manufacturer you now know

Warranty is only initial 6 years.


From website

http://www.gme.net.au/products/emergency-beacons/useful-life-policy/GME


Emergency Beacon Useful Life Policy

Safety electronics may be called upon to make an important contribution in an emergency. Appropriate handling and care, complimented with the recommended regular inspection and self-test play an important part in maximising the product's life. However like all electrical products reliability reduces with age.

GME Emergency Beacons employ some of the latest materials and technologies making a 12 year useful life* achievable in the case of a correctly maintained beacon.
In fulfilling a duty of care to its customers, products that are over 12 years old will not be serviced by GME or any of it's agents.
GME emergency beacons are required to be serviced at intervals not exceeding 6 years for EPIRBs and 7 years for PLBs, products that are not serviced within this period may not perform to specification when needed.
Effective immediately, this policy applies to all new products sold and those already purchased.


*From date of manufacture.

[SatNav]

1. As a rule of thumb lithium battery service life is approx half shelf life.

2. Based on GME wording you could get 2 services while "less than 12 years" and effectively give another 5-6 years beyond that (total 17-18 years?). There is no legislation in place at present to prevent that.

3. Real question is considering the purpose and after 12 years under the conditions some users put them through is it wise to replace at that age anyway?

[cormorant]

Don't want to play that game. If a professional company assesses the servicable life at 12 years it wouldn't look good for a captain to be using one outside that period. Be interesting to see if at 11 years they will put a battery in it and certify it for another 6 yeras or only one. My guess is only one.

I know commercial skippers who won't use ones out of warranty after taling advice on that point.

No one wants peopel to die especially when there is a working system so maybe AMSA should step in and only accept registrations from EPIRBS that are still within their servicable life and manufacturers should state that life. Would make us aware of total cost of ownership and stop onsale of "ënd of servicable life" products to newer budget minded people getting into boating.

This would allow the manufacturers to better manage their supply ( they can't seem to do that) as they would be more aware of numbers of their old EPIRBS ending service and with only 12 year old electronics everyone would be serviced by more reliable product

So hard for the industry to discuss as they will be accused of collusion etc and trade practise may come in but better than creating a forced redundency inbuilt like so many other products seem to have.