RoHS

AFAIK RoHS only applies to Europe, of course manufacturers in other countries wishing to export to Europe must comply with the directive.

Within Europe there are a number of exemptions because the inherently unreliable nature of lead free solder would be directly life threatening in some applications, such as military, aerospace, medical and automotive (not including in car entertainment). It is also permitted to repair equipment originally manufactured with 60/40 using the same solder.

Hobby use is unaffected provided the finished article doesn't change hands to anyone within the EU.

I wonder who is going to police that last one?

Cheers, Alan

On Mon, 5 Feb 2007 13:05:08 +0900, "Alan Rutlidge"

The same people who police compliance with the AustNZ standard for radio equipment imports - no-one. That area was left to industry self-regulation, with importer-resellers to have to vouch for the compliance of the goods they sell.

Of course, individuals buying through ebay defeat the system in both cases, as is evidenced by the huuuuge amount of chinois s**te that is listed daily on ebay.au..

"ian field"

** Must be one of them " rock spider " types.

The ones even the very worst criminals cannot tolerate.

....... Phil

"ian field"

** Fine - so post your home address.

....... Phil

I was actually asking with respect to having to work on RoHS certified equipment that has been imported here. Many EU and US manufacturers are producing gear that is regularly imported into Oz.

"Rod"

** RoHS requirements have no legal basis here - so no need to use lead free in repairs exists.

Normal soldering equipment works fine as the temp difference is fairly small.

Even DSE has been selling Lead Free solder for many ears - if you want to use it.

....... Phil

The official line is that you shouldn't mix the different solder compositions, but the Japs started producing RoHs compliant gear long before Europe made it law, at the time I was involved in TV servicing and a common symptom of RoHS compliance was numerous dry joints that caused weird faults which defied all attempts at logical diagnosis! In most cases resoldering practically every joint on the board would cure the fault as if by magic - of course I used ordinary 60/40, this didn't result in any subsequent problems that I ever heard about.

OTOH if any items of equipment were to be returned to Europe for end of life disposal this would technically be a violation of the directive - but how would anyone ever know?!

PA making a house call......