I can't really tell you about chargers; I seem to find a new one and trade up every season! So I've never used a charger for more than a year. But for that year they all (Astro 110D, GP Triton, Dymond Super Turbo) ran perfectly. My current charger, a Hobbico Mark II, has also run all winter and all this flying season without a hitch.

In practice, I would think that barring quality-control issues, a charger should last many years, unless it has been abused. Shorting the outputs, sub-spec input supplies, charging at excessive rates or charging questionable packs might be considered "abuse".

ESC's are about the same. My oldest ESC (a Wattage 380) has been knocking around for four years in one setup or another (all Speed 400 applications) and still works fine. But using too many cells, or too hungry a motor, or doing a bad wiring job when installing it will all kill an ESC. Even hooking it up to a battery backwards, just once, can smoke some of the smaller ones.

I'm not saying you've done any of these things, even unintentionally. But most modern electronics are pretty reliable if they're used within specs.


Steve