At 04:02 PM 1/28/2008, Apptech wrote: > > Our equipment is used to shut down and/or service > > overloaded breakers (8,000-10,000 AMPS at > > moderate voltages). > >It would have to be a pretty massive tin whisker to bother >you then. Not even close. Yeah, I saw the smiley. But I was part of the team that diagnosed a major reliability problem at a coal-fired power generating station and it was I who discovered the root cause: tin whisker growth on a wire-wrap backplane controlling one of the three generators. The company wound up replacing the entire voltage regulator and power stabilizer systems on TWO separate 400MW generators - the 2nd unit had begun exhibiting the same problems as the first. They are actually running these systems over-spec - somewhere near 450MW each. That's 900MW of generating capacity that was at risk because of these tiny tin whiskers. To give you an idea of how sensitive the problem had become: rapping the side of the rack holding those card cages was almost enough to cause the plant to trip off-line - the disturbances were that severe. Some of our customers are insisting that we NOT use lead-free technology in equipment manufactured for them until it (lead-free) has been proven reliable in the long term. Mostly utility companies and such. dwayne -- Dwayne Reid Trinity Electronics Systems Ltd Edmonton, AB, CANADA (780) 489-3199 voice (780) 487-6397 fax www.trinity-electronics.com Custom Electronics Design and Manufacturing -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist