what is ROHS?
Rotten, Old, Hard Sell
OK, now that that's out of the way, here's a link:
http://www.rohscompliancedefinition.com/
what is ROHS? Rotten, Old, Hard Sell OK, now that that's out of the way, here's a link: http://www.rohscompliancedefinition.com/ |
RoHS is not a world wide standard. It is an EU standard (Note: There are a few other nations that have also implimented the EU standard). If a manufacturer wants to sell electrical products in the European market place the product must be RoHS compliant. The problem with RoHS compliance is that the materials used in the manufacturing of these electrical components form dendritic grain cells (non uniform, spike like structures. These structures alter (distort) electrical flow through cables, wires, and solder. In some electrical devices this does not matter, in other devices it makes a great deal of difference (Note: Military and hosital electrical equipment is exempt from RoHS. They are exempt from RoHS because the circuits created with RoHS materials are not reliable). Perhaps some manufacturer of high end equipment would like to weigh in on this and describe the sonic differences in using RoHs compliant materials vs lead, tin, and silver. |
Led acid batteries are exempt from ROHS. In general ROHS requires amount of lead to be lower by weight than certain percentage of total weight of the unit. In theory one could make unit much heavier by oversizing lub adding stuff and pass ROHS. Etbaby - reliability issue you mentioned is related to so called "whiskering". Circuits soldered with lead free solder start over time to develope small whiskers that eventually short ciruits - dangerous with high density SMT. Also SMT soldering temperature for lead free solder paste is higher and components in modern hot-air ovens are exposed to higher temeratures. It should not be problem with the right profile but easy to stress component when soldering profile doesn't match. |