MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - When will eReaders become at least as robust (long lived) as a calculator?

curtw · 02-09-2013, 10:41 AM

Many folks are not aware that one of the unintended consequences of the EU's Restriction on Hazardous Substances (RoHS) has been a negative impact on the reliability of electronics.

While you can laud the EU for attempting to remove toxic substances from manufacturing processes, the simple fact is that a small bit of Plumbum/lead in solder (3-4%) helps to prevent cold flow, age cracks and "tin whiskers." The absence of lead is causing consumer electronics to fail prematurely.

Today, world-wide, you would have to use military-grade components to avoid RoHS-compliant electronic parts. These can be obtained at a typical 100 to 1000 times the cost of consumer-grade electronics.

So,while trying to keep Cadmium, lead, mercury and other toxins out of the environment, everything else is going to end up in landfills a LOT sooner than it used to. Irony can be pretty ironic sometimes, can't it?

02-09-2013, 10:41 AM	#8
curtw Outside of a dog Posts: 863 Karma: 4457646 Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Houston, TX Device: Kindle Voyage	*Don't blame just* the manufacturers** Many folks are not aware that one of the unintended consequences of the EU's Restriction on Hazardous Substances (RoHS) has been a negative impact on the reliability of electronics. While you can laud the EU for attempting to remove toxic substances from manufacturing processes, the simple fact is that a small bit of Plumbum/lead in solder (3-4%) helps to prevent cold flow, age cracks and "tin whiskers." The absence of lead is causing consumer electronics to fail prematurely. Today, world-wide, you would have to use military-grade components to avoid RoHS-compliant electronic parts. These can be obtained at a typical 100 to 1000 times the cost of consumer-grade electronics. So,while trying to keep Cadmium, lead, mercury and other toxins out of the environment, everything else is going to end up in landfills a LOT sooner than it used to. Irony can be pretty ironic sometimes, can't it?