NSL-32 ROHS version….

[pucho812]

Does anyone know of a ROHS equivalent substitute for an NSL-32 optocoupler?
Does anyone know if there is an exemption for such components within ROHS?

 

[ruffrecords]

The NSL-32 contains a cadmium sulphide photoresistor. Since cadmium is is one of the substances effectively prohibited by ROHS it cannot be ROHS certified.

Personally I have always been confused by how a harmless compound of Cadmium can be prohibited. After all table salt contains the nasty metal sodium and the lethal gas chlorine but nobody would dream of banning it. I have yet to see an official explanation of why CdS shoould be banned under ROHS.

Cheers

ian

 

[gyraf]

As Ian says, there's no solution

Optical compressors as such are now (and since 10 years) outlawed in EU and California.

The industry has desperately been trying to ignore the problem away for as long.

/Jakob E.

 

[scott2000]

Personally I have always been confused by how a harmless compound of Cadmium can be prohibited

Batteries with it are banned there too .....except in medical devices and a couple of other things....?

 

[living sounds]

You can read the interview with Jakob explaining the whole mess the EU made here (it's in German, but you can use translation):

https://www.amazona.de/interview-jakob-erland-zum-gyratec-xxiv-cadmium-compressor/

 

[scott2000]

is it used in solar panels?
https://energynews.us/2023/02/21/ma...rom-federal-incentives-supply-chain-politics/

 

[cyrano]

The NSL-32 contains a cadmium sulphide photoresistor. Since cadmium is is one of the substances effectively prohibited by ROHS it cannot be ROHS certified.

Personally I have always been confused by how a harmless compound of Cadmium can be prohibited. After all table salt contains the nasty metal sodium and the lethal gas chlorine but nobody would dream of banning it. I have yet to see an official explanation of why CdS shoould be banned under ROHS.

Cheers

ian

CdS isn't very toxic, but it is carcinogenic...

And cadmium itself isn't very toxic either, but, like lead, it never leaves your body once it's in it.

In both cases, it's very unhealthy for the miners who work in cadmium and other mines.

 

[cyrano]

As Ian says, there's no solution

Optical compressors as such are now (and since 10 years) outlawed in EU and California.

The industry has desperately been trying to ignore the problem away for as long.

/Jakob E.

The EU is currently changing the rules for some dangerous chemicals, under pressure from the industry. Wonder if CdS and cadmium are amongst the products that they are revising?

 

[gyraf]

Nope - as I understand it, once an exemption falls (and we had an exemption for optos in audio), it cannot be re-instated no matter what. Kinda why this is so *ucked-up - it can't be solved in common-sense-way

 

[cyrano]

There's a push from the agro sector to treat Cd a little less as a heavy metal. They've hired an Irish marketing operation to run it. See:

https://www.saferphosphates.com/who-we-are/
It's about Cd content in phosphate based fertiliser. That Cd ends up in the soil and unless it gets washed out, seems to stay there. One could imagine Cd levels in the soil getting so high it would make food production impossible.

But: removing Cd from the phosphate fertiliser is expensive.

As long as some are spending big bucks, the audio industry (well, that small part of it) probably won't act.

[EDIT]
It sounds like the exemption was simply forgotten. That's a shame!

 

[pucho812]

has anyone tried the rosh complient photocells?

 

[ruffrecords]

has anyone tried the rosh complient photocells?

Which ones would they be?

Cheers

Ian

 

[pucho812]

Which ones would they be?

Cheers

Ian

Maybe I dreamt it, but I could have sworn some were manufactured but they didn’t work for audio. I think they replaced the cadmium with silicone?

 

[pucho812]

Ah ha. I knew I wasn’t too far off.

This is rohs compliant.. but never used it so I can’t say any further.

https://www.digikey.com/en/products...MIvMyegefGgAMVgQN9Ch1m_wmEEAQYASABEgLSB_D_BwE

 

[gyraf]

I'll bet it's a fake claim - otherwise it ranges with cold fusion and hot superconductors

We've seen this several times before - including at the ROHS stakeholder consultations (!!)

The data sheet dosen't even mention ROHS: https://www.advancedphotonix.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/DS-NSL-37V5C3_2.pdf

Ask them for the certification or the basis for such? It's supposedly an american company.. advancedphotonix.com

/Jakob E.

ps: ..asked digikey to look into it..

 

[gyraf]

Digikey now changed it's status to

RoHS Status: RoHS non-compliant

/Jakob E.

 

[clintrubber]

As just posted in the UniVibe thread,
today an UniVibe-clone was announced by the usual suspect. And as it seems with LDRs. Wondering how they approached that.

 

[rock soderstrom]

As just posted in the UniVibe thread,
today an UniVibe-clone was announced by the usual suspect. And as it seems with LDRs. Wondering how they approached that.

Uli trusts in his legal department, a complex company structure and a well-filled war chest.

 

[clintrubber]

Uli trusts in his legal department, a complex company structure and a well-filled war chest.

Out of curiosity, interesting to see how that will develop... thought to have understood the thing is not directly available yet, but expect some inside-shots will pop up then.

 

[tk@halmi]

Some years back I did research on alternatives to the cadmium chemistry for photosensitive materials resistors.

I found that zinc oxide is commonly doped with rare metals to modify its reaction to light. After reading dozens of papers I found one that dealt with reducing zinc oxide band gap using graphene powder. Varying the ratio was deemed to be a path to create LDRs with different sensitivity. I am still trying find the bookmark among the hundreds of links in my browser.

So it seems possible to make useful parts even if they don’t directly correspond to old parts such as a VTL5C1.

However, given the vanishing demand in the industries that used to depend on LDRs (besides audio) we are unlikely to see the research money needed to develop a new cadmium free solution.