Tin Whiskers on Pb-Free Electronic Components

So ROHS may wind up, on balance, killing more people than it saves.

John

Hi,

We were getting quite a few shorts on our caps and boards due to tin whiskers. we resolved the problem by conformal coating. Just wondering if anyone else has this problem and how did you solve it?

Thanks in advance.

Of course it will. And a compact car would today cost under $5,000 and get 60 miles to the gallon if it wasn't engineered by government. These are irrelevant details; the important fact is that the products in question are paperwork-compliant.

We can only hope that large numbers of environmentalists are permanently disfigured by malfunctioning RoHS-compliant electric toothbrushes.

I had a similar problem with a very low power surface mount board. All resistor were very high high values. We were actually getting silver migration from the end of the surface mount components - especially capacitors - that had a steady dc voltage applied. Under a microscope it looked like frost on a window.

Dan

-- Dan Hollands

A low-end car doesn't include CD or GPS (maybe not power windows or AC either). The government, on the other hand, mandates catalytic converters, EGR systems, airbags, and mechanical specifications that _require_ the car to deform expensively if it hits anything, even at low speed.

Next car I buy is going to be from the 1970s if not earlier (I'm looking for an International Harvester Scout).

That Scout probably produces 200x the pollution of my VW Golf. If everybody bought cars like that, the air in most cities would be unbreathable. Government does work for some things, like protecting shared resources.

John

Inappropriate comparison. Your VW Golf can't tow a trailer through six inches of snow up a 15 degree slope. It also can't conveniently carry a

Nonsense, it merely selects which big business will be able to depredate said shared resource in bulk while restricting the ability of individuals to access said resource in a "retail" fashion. (and of course, draining private resources from everyone in the country to sustain the administrative expenses of this process - and pay for hookers and cocaine parties for top govenment officials).

So, it's OK for anyone to pick the flowers in the park?

John

If the choice is between that and me having to pay for someone to guard the flowers, someone to make a law prohibiting picking flowers, someone to create a marketing campaign to tell us all how bad it is to pick flowers, and 4,000 faceless and purposeless bureaucrats in between those three people - then yes, it's the lesser of two evils.

If you're in an environmental state of mind, consider how much pollution is produced as a direct result of government infrastructure, BTW.

Does *government* require the mandatory fitment of power steering, air-con, fully fabric covered interiors, power windows, CD audio systems, GPS navigation etc ?

NO !

The 5000 Euro compact car does indeed exist, although the version sold in western Europe has already gained some 'extras'.

Graham

How about a 77 Dodge power wagon?

Somebody not so far from me (Boston) is offering said PW for sale. Near 30k miles on the odometer and was a military Vehicle. Perhaps that wild camo or drab olive paint scheme the military likes to use - amd what a bonus eoither of them would be. If I didn't have 6 cars and a bike payment and I had just a little more cash I'd go for it myself. Damn, I think he only wants $2200 for it and he claims it's a solid turn-key truck with w current inspection sticker.

good luck to find that Scout

Mmm, if it was on my way to work or something, I'd probably not be able to resist taking it. But I've really become enamored with the physical appearance of the Scout, which limits my search to Scout or an early Ford Bronco.

Plenty of them on eBay, I just have to wait until tax season is over so I know how much I have to spend.

I would imagine that most people have no need to tow a trailer uphill through six inches of snow. I would also imagine that most people don't have an AUV, or even want one, or even know what it is.

However, I would imagine that most people need to get to work and not have the cost of fuel exceed their salary, and they would also prefer not inhaling the fumes from your Scout whilst sitting behind it in traffic.

a) The Republicans are in charge. b) Are you saying that the government is acting like the Music Industry, what with the Hookers -n- Blow parties?

Right. And these people shouldn't be involved in my decision to purchase a vehicle, given that I have those needs and they don't. They also shouldn't be involved in the design of a vehicle.

The "correct" answer to this is, however, an effective, environmentally sound and economically self-sufficient public transportation system - electric trains powered off nuclear plants come to mind - not government regulation of what components go into a private vehicle.

I'd say that depends on your definition of "in charge", but in any case I'm a bit mystified - Republicans, Democrats or the Compulsory Cheese Hats For All Citizens Over Forty Party - it doesn't matter one whit whose silk-swaddled rump is in the seat.

I actually meant the hookers'n'blow as a placeholder for any extravagance at others' expense - but of course I have absolutely no trouble believing that politicians could actually be indulging those specific whims. In fact, some of them probably are, at this specific moment.

Before prostitution was legalized in my home country, the top politicians all went on a publicly-funded "fact-finding tour" of the European sex industry. I fail to appreciate what facts they could have gathered this way that could not have been conveyed in a brief letter from a respected European pimp at a cost of perhaps $2 in postage and an honorarium of $2,000.

The chief function of government is to protect people like me from people like you.

John

No, the sole function of government is self-perpetuation. Part of this involves convincing people that they are better off under the yoke than free.

There is no regulation of what goes into a private vehicle. The only qualifications are that you must build it yourself, and never drive it on public roads. That shouldn't bother a rugged individualist like you.

John

Absolutely, these boards were going into a missile system, luckily we caught the problem before they were shipped over to IRAQ.