Tin Whiskers will cause digital products to fail within 10 years?

[goamules]

... just more stupid, short-sighted, misguided environmentalism. ...Personally, I believe that God gave us silver halides to make photographs with, polyvinyl-chloride to press records with, lead and tin to make solder with, and silicon dioxide to make integrated circuits with. We should use them and be grateful.

And made mercury to be put in tiny camera and light meter batteries that millions of cameras used in the 60s-80s. Now try to get a battery for a Canon F1, Olympus OM-1, Pen-F....ANY of them. You have to buy kludged adapters, or get a soldering iron out (remember! no lead!) to try to make them work. It would have been better to keep making them but have a "turn in/recycle" campaign. Tons of extremely good, fine 35mm cameras are now landfill junk....not because you can't get film, but partially because you can't get batteries to run them.

[E. von Hoegh]

And made mercury to be put in tiny camera and light meter batteries that millions of cameras used in the 60s-80s. Now try to get a battery for a Canon F1, Olympus OM-1, Pen-F....ANY of them. You have to buy kludged adapters, or get a soldering iron out (remember! no lead!) to try to make them work. It would have been better to keep making them but have a "turn in/recycle" campaign. Tons of extremely good, fine 35mm cameras are now landfill junk....not because you can't get film, but partially because you can't get batteries to run them.

675 size hearing aid (zinc-air) cells work just fine. You can use an O-ring to center them in larger compartments. You can block off 3 of the 4 airholes to extend the life.
You can have many of the meters recalibrated to use silver oxide cells. Don't want to pay for a recalibration? What makes you think that 35 year old meter doesn't already need it? I go right on using my Nikon Photomics, Gossens, etc.etc. with 675s, rather than get upset because mercury cells are no longer available..... except for the 6 in my fridge.

[goamules]

I guess I should try the 675s instead of worrying about their slightly higher voltage. I did use a standard Radio Shack sliver oxide battery in my Yashica Electro 10 years ago with no problems, and it was the wrong voltage slightly too. But for meter recal, I doubt anyone around here can do that. I guess I need to put my technician hat back on (20 years ago I was an Electronic Warfare Technician in the Navy, then a Comm engineer for a few years. But I have no equipment, O'scope, bench....

[E. von Hoegh]

I guess I should try the 675s instead of worrying about their slightly higher voltage. I did use a standard Radio Shack sliver oxide battery in my Yashica Electro 10 years ago with no problems, and it was the wrong voltage slightly too. But for meter recal, I doubt anyone around here can do that. I guess I need to put my technician hat back on (20 years ago I was an Electronic Warfare Technician in the Navy, then a Comm engineer for a few years. But I have no equipment, O'scope, bench....

All you need to calibrate meters (in a rough and ready but useful way) is an accurate VOM and an accurate meter to use as a standard for comparison.

[Robert Budding]

Robert...

The point that you're conveniently ignoring is that nobody analyzes the cause of any DSLR failure. They just toss the camera.

Without extensive failure analysis of every dead DSLR, nobody knows what percentage of them are attributable to whiskers.

The same is true of all other consumer electronics. Nobody is willing to pay for that analysis.

In high-reliability environments such as MIL and NASA, such analysis has been carried out. That's how the whisker problem was discovered.

It was found because it DOES exist. If it did not exist, it would not have been found.

- Leigh

As I said before - show me all of the dead DSLRs. You are conveniently ignoring the fact that DSLRs, and c are not failing at a significant rate. And neither are other consumer electronic items. But, hey, if you want to wring your hands and worry, then be my guest. I'll just go on my way and enjoy using my cameras and my other electronic gadgets.

[Leigh]

Robert,

Way back in post #9 of this ridiculous thread I stated:

"The RoHS directive only took effect six years ago.
Most equipment sold even after that date used tin/lead solder, I wouldn't expect you to see problems yet.
Wait another ten years."

Some people have claimed that the problem does not exist. Nonsense. It's been known for 100 years.

The incidence is expected to be considerably higher in equipment made using RoHS lead-free solder.
That's why MIL and NASA electronics are exempt from the RoHS lead-free directive. Tin/lead solder is still readily available.

But whiskers were originally discovered on plated metal parts that were not soldered, so it's not unique to that technology.

As Steve Smith pointed out in post #76 above, if a whisker develops between two points with significantly different voltages,
the whisker will blow open like a fuse as soon as it bridges the two points. Since high voltages were the norm in equipment
of earlier decades, particularly before 1970, many such problems would have cleared themselves instantly and never been noticed.

This won't happen with modern low-power battery-operated equipment.
As I mentioned previously, the current trend to micro-miniaturization will exacerbate the problem significantly.


- Leigh

[Robert Budding]

Six years with no major problems. Maybe the whole thing will blow up once ten years have elapsed. Not to worry - it's 2012 and the world is supposed to end this year anyway.

[Leigh]

If you're talking about the supposed end of the world based on the Mayan calendar,
that's incorrect, and I can discuss the subject in great detail.

There's also some astronomical alignment that's supposedly apocalyptic, but I know nothing about that.

- Leigh

[Robert Budding]

If you're talking about the supposed end of the world based on the Mayan calendar,
that's incorrect, and I can discuss the subject in great detail.

There's also some astronomical alignment that's supposedly apocalyptic, but I know nothing about that.

- Leigh

Thanks, Leigh. That's one more that I don't have to worry about because I know you've got it covered.

[ic-racer]

The unintended accelerations were caused when a tin whisker in the throttle pedal encoder shorted it to make it seem as if the pedal was pushed all the way down!

I thought my theory of the coming of another 'Dark Ages' due to global internet connectivity, social media and a renouncement of scientific theory was just a bad dream. I guess it holds some weight.