PeekabuPi:
How long can the arduino or those AVR/PIC chips run continuously? Say blinking LEDs on Pin 1. How long can it last until it skips a beat or stops working properly or downright fails?As long as you don't subject the chip to operating temperatures beyond their ratings and power supplied is always within proper ratings I see no limit to continuous operating, there is no 'wear out' factor for the chip. I have a 5x5x5 led cube run with a 328p chip that has been running non stop for over 2 years now, with only a house power outage stopping it momentary a couple of times.
For example, if you make an RFID door to unlock it for a home automation application, you'd want the ensure your controller is quite reliable lol.
The chip will not be the limiting factor to the system reliability, the power supply most likely will be or perhaps the electro-mechanical locking mechanics.
Yeah thats interesting too. I always wondered what chips industrial PLCs use. Do they use commercial ones manufactured by large fab houses or do they program their own controllers with FPGAs, ASICs, etc?