James,
Your readers that store modern electronics long term should be aware of this. There is a problem with all modern electronics that are RoHS compliant. RoHS stands for Reduction of Hazardous Substances. One of its
requirements mandates the use of lead free solder in all consumer electronics. This started in Europe and subsequently adopted here in order for the US to sell products outside this country.
There is a physical process know as tin whiskering, where by tin will grow microscopic metallic whiskers. See NASA’s web site for extensive research and information. Please do your research on this and learn.
The lead in solder somehow inhibits the tins from growing, explaining why is beyond the scope of this article, read the NASA research, the growth mechanisms still remain unknown. There are a few US (and the US only) industries that do not comply with the lead free solder due to reliability concerns, such as NASA space hardware, aviation primary flight computers etc., US military hardware, life critical electronics in hospitals to name a few. They state that the people’s lives that depend on these devices outweigh the small lead quantity in the solder.
The tin will grow whiskers regardless if the electronics are powered or in storage or not. I have seen computer electronic failures caused by tin whiskers in as little as six months. The smaller the distance between leads, components etc. the shorter the devices life may be. This is an unpredictable physical effect. This information should be kept in mind when storing anything that bears the RoHS certification. I am not saying
everything will fail, but the long term reliability is affected. Could you imagine a deep space probe half way to Pluto failing do to a tin whisker? I fought this battle almost weekly when I worked for General Electric
Aviation. GE makes high reliability aircraft electronics and is under pressure from within to become RoHS compliant, I fought for the reliability and always had the support of the FAA, Boeing etc. I finally left due to the poor ethics and hypocrisy within the leadership team at GE. Life and safety outweighs all else. I cannot go against the word of God or my personal ethics toward my fellow man.
Basically if you have a large amount of material in an electronic format you do not want to loose in the long term, the first choice is to print a copy, if that is not an option then see if you can find an older computer, you may have to fix it, upgrade the software etc. to read the format you have data stored in, that was made before RoHS compliance was mandated here. They may be hard to find but if you find one it usually can be obtained for free. You do not want to be in a TEOTWAWKI situation with all your books including your Bible in your Kindle, Nook, etc, and have a tin whisker failure. Yes books take space but I have books my mom gave me that are over 100 years old and while fragile I can read them, so I allocate the space. Some of these books are even are kept in buckets with Gamma Seal lids, because of silverfish infestations in my neighborhood
James, again thank you for all you go and God Bless. – Jimmy in California