[RFI] LED streetlights - Lumenistics

[Ken Winterling]

I believe you can thank lead-free solder for many failed joints. It needs
higher heat to melt than the leaded type.  I’ve been working on equipment
for over fifty years and see more PCB solder joint failures in the recent
decades than when I was much younger.

Ken
WA2LBI


On Wed, Mar 4, 2020 at 18:20 KD7JYK DM09 <kd7jyk at earthlink.net> wrote:

> "I remember years ago when municipalities replaced incandescent traffic
> lights with LED lights to save money. They discovered that in winter the
> snow would cover and block the lights since they didn’t generate heat
> like their predecessors."
>
> Another issue, both with LED traffic signals, and automotive lights,
> which personally bugs the crap out of me, is the hot/cold of just the
> weather alone causes the solder joints to fail quickly, and I see lamps
> with various blocks, chunks, stripes, et cetera where a section no
> longer illuminates.
>
> One would have imagined this to be resolved in initial testing, but I
> still see it on a daily basis, after, what, some thirty years of
> technology evolution?
>
> Kurt



> --

Ken
WA2LBI

Sent from one of my mobile devices