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It took a while yes. The solder ball BGA issues with GPUs were a typical example. But they're pretty much ironed out now. The EU is doing the right thing thoug

It took a while yes. The solder ball BGA issues with GPUs were a typical example. But they're pretty much ironed out now. The EU is doing the right thing though. Lead is bad for us and cumulative. And RoHS was about a lot more than just solder.

nickff 5y ago
>"The EU is doing the right thing though. Lead is bad for us and cumulative. And RoHS was about a lot more than just solder." If you're worried about lead used in electronics and electrical systems, the focus should be lead-acid batteries, which use >10x more lead than circuit assemblies ever did. Lead-acid batteries were, however exempted from RoHS, while circuit assemblies were not.
- babypuncher 5y ago
  Nearly all lead acid batteries are properly recycled as required by law. Passing laws like that for electronics using leaded solder would be way more intrusive and annoying than just telling manufacturers to use a safer alternative.
- bbojan 5y ago
  Lead acid batteries have something like 99% recycling rate. Whereas most electronics ends up in the trash.
- GekkePrutser 5y ago
  Yes but this lead is in contained units that can be removed and recycled separately. Not spread all over the entire device. Also at the time there was no alternative for these. Now that even UPSes are starting to use lithium, I think these will be banned sooner rather than later too.
  - CamperBob2 5y ago
    The thing about metallic lead is, it pretty much stays where it is. Don't eat it or spread it around by atomizing it, you'll be fine.
google234123 5y ago
I've definitely noticed how lead-free solder looks/feel much more brittle. So the EU is basically guilty of vastly increasing E-Waste for most of the electronics made in the last 20 years (which is probably is more than we've made in the time before).
- GekkePrutser 5y ago
  This is not the only thing that happened in the last two decades. Everyone started manufacturing for the lowest possible price in China and started designing for planned obsolescence. In my opinion these were much larger factors in e-waste.
paulmd 5y ago
Tin whiskers are absolutely not "ironed out" and there still is not a good answer besides alloying with either lead, or antimony, both of which are toxic. But it's a tradeoff, because without the lead or the antimony, tin whiskers will eventually form. There is no known way to stop them, on a long enough timescale they will 100% certainly grow whiskers and eventually that will cause a failure. Conformal coatings can reduce the rate of growth, but they don't stop it, and the conformal coating can itself cause failure as the tin whisker still grows and will exert mechanical pressure as it does.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]

nickff 5y ago

>"The EU is doing the right thing though. Lead is bad for us and cumulative. And RoHS was about a lot more than just solder." If you're worried about lead used in electronics and electrical systems, the focus should be lead-acid batteries, which use >10x more lead than circuit assemblies ever did. Lead-acid batteries were, however exempted from RoHS, while circuit assemblies were not.

babypuncher 5y ago
Nearly all lead acid batteries are properly recycled as required by law. Passing laws like that for electronics using leaded solder would be way more intrusive and annoying than just telling manufacturers to use a safer alternative.
bbojan 5y ago
Lead acid batteries have something like 99% recycling rate. Whereas most electronics ends up in the trash.
GekkePrutser 5y ago
Yes but this lead is in contained units that can be removed and recycled separately. Not spread all over the entire device. Also at the time there was no alternative for these. Now that even UPSes are starting to use lithium, I think these will be banned sooner rather than later too.
- CamperBob2 5y ago
  The thing about metallic lead is, it pretty much stays where it is. Don't eat it or spread it around by atomizing it, you'll be fine.

google234123 5y ago

I've definitely noticed how lead-free solder looks/feel much more brittle. So the EU is basically guilty of vastly increasing E-Waste for most of the electronics made in the last 20 years (which is probably is more than we've made in the time before).

GekkePrutser 5y ago
This is not the only thing that happened in the last two decades. Everyone started manufacturing for the lowest possible price in China and started designing for planned obsolescence. In my opinion these were much larger factors in e-waste.

paulmd 5y ago

Tin whiskers are absolutely not "ironed out" and there still is not a good answer besides alloying with either lead, or antimony, both of which are toxic. But it's a tradeoff, because without the lead or the antimony, tin whiskers will eventually form. There is no known way to stop them, on a long enough timescale they will 100% certainly grow whiskers and eventually that will cause a failure. Conformal coatings can reduce the rate of growth, but they don't stop it, and the conformal coating can itself cause failure as the tin whisker still grows and will exert mechanical pressure as it does.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]