RoHS Certification of Nixie Tubes

[Jovani Pines]

Hello,
Has anyone tried to obtain RoHS certification for old nixie tubes or for modern homemade models?

The point of interest to me is the mercury content. RoHS allows Hg only up to 0.1% parts by weight of homogeneous material of the assembly. The exact definition is as follows:

"The term "homogeneous" means "of uniform composition throughout". Examples of "homogeneous materials" are individual types of: plastics, ceramics, glass, metals, alloys, paper, board, resins and coatings. The term “mechanically disjointed” means that the materials can, in principle, be separated by mechanical actions such as: unscrewing, cutting, crushing, grinding and abrasive processes."

Therefore, the getter pill/strip on its own is a homogeneous material that can in theory be disjointed by mechanical action...

On the other hand, in document 2002L0095 — EN — 25.09.2010 — 008.001 — 1 

Page 9 - M13 4(a), states that up to 15mg of Hg is allowed - "Mercury in other low pressure discharge lamps (per lamp)".

This does not completely exempt nixie tubes from the mercury content but at least it is provides some limit which can be used for comparison to the XRF analysis from an RoHS certification lab.

I will be eager to see if anyone else has thought about this :) 

[SWISSNIXIE - Jonathan F.]

Hi, 

Just my 2 cents:

I think its not a question of possibility. First of all, i'm not sure if all tubes even contain mercury because i bet Dalibor would not use mercury on the tubes he makes. Usually mercury is only used in "long life" tubes.

One issue is that probably the manufacturer needs to get the rohs certification - and that would take all old tubes out of line. I don't think you can't get a certification on a old stock product.

Also, there is the question why one would need the certification, which costy and brings liablities. Nixie tubes are mostly only of interest for hobby people, and most of them don't care about any industrial regulations and a lot of them even solder with lead-containing solder wire...If you actually want to sell a product conatining nixies you will have to follow alot of other different regulations from the electronic authorities. I wanted to sell a kit really legally but my dreams were blown to dust when i found out what it would cost to get all needed licences, not speaking about actually passing them, just the application for them.

Cheers,

Jonathan

[Jovani Pines]

Hi,
The RoHS test is one of the major requirements in order to obtain CE certification. Unfortunately, a lot of tube distributors, clock sellers and manufacturers do not have CE certification. I suspect that one of the main issues is precisely the RoHS compliance.

As far as I can tell Dalibor does include mercury dispenser strips in his tubes. As you said yourself this is in order to prolong the operational lifetime of the tubes. This is a datasheet (HYG/CTL/6.3-4.5) of very similar product getter/Hg dispenser to what he uses (probably exactly the same). In his tubes there is about 10mm long strip which when fully activated with induction heating releases 4.5mg of Hg. This is still within the annex exemption cited above of 15mg per lamp (assuming that it is applicable). Weather he actually has RoHS and CE certification I do not know simply because there is no central register (database) where this can be verified. However having invested this much time and finances into this business I suppose his does have certification. I noticed on your website (http://www.swissnixie.com/tubes/RZ568/) that you have purchased nixies from him. The CE mark should be clearly displayed on the tubes, or on the packaging if they are certified. 

Regarding the certification of old tubes I reckon it is possible, using non destructive XRF analysis. Whether it is cost effective, it probably depends on the volume tested. However there are huge inconsistencies in the getter/dispenser pills. For example I have 18pcs of Z573. From this small batch there are tubes with one, two or no pills at all. Hence, in the XRF analysis they are all likely to show different mercury concentrations.

I understand you point about liabilities, however aimed at hobbyist or not, the clocks and tubes on the European market must be CE compliant. This applies to manufacturers and to distributors of consumer electronics products it is not just for industrial applications.

Cheers,
Jovani

[Mike Harrison]

>I understand you point about liabilities, however aimed at hobbyist or not,
>the clocks and tubes on the European market must be CE compliant. This
>applies to manufacturers and to distributors of consumer electronics
>products it is not just for industrial applications.

With all the blatently non-compliant and downright dangerous junk coming from China, nobody is going
to be interested in the infinitessimaly small trade in nixie tubes.

[Jovani Pines]

I agree. However, is the lack of enforcement, a good reason for non-compliance?

[Mike Harrison]

On Wed, 8 Aug 2018 15:08:55 -0700 (PDT), you wrote:

>I agree. However, is the lack of enforcement, a good reason for
>non-compliance?

Pragmatism.
For something oddball like nixies, much easier to stay under the radar than start asking awkward
questions about mercury content.

[gregebert]

People like myself are also part of the problem; I still use leaded solder (a 1 pound roll lasts many years) and the PCBs I buy from China also have lead in the HASL finish.

Most of the parts I use in projects are purchased new from distributors like Digikey, and they show RoHS/REACH/Pb-free status.

As far as I know, the real hazard is when these items get disposed into landfills.

[threeneurons]

You can probably order RoHS certified stickers from a Chinese vendor.

[Jovani Pines]

For anyone still interested in the topic, I borrowed a handheld Thermo Fisher XRF analyser from a colleague of mine. I screened several Z573, IN-14 and IN-18 tubes. I also had faulty tubes which I took apart to screen the internals. I expected the nixies to be made soft glass - soda lime. Surprisingly all of the tubes I had are made of leaded glass. The instrument detected 20-25% of Pb in the glass alone. The red coating on the Z573 tubes contains cadmium slightly above the threshold. The rest of the substances were within norm. 

[gregebert]

Did the tubes glow during analysis ?

Very clever instrument (XRF analyzer), but way beyond my budget, especially for something that I would use only as a toy. Saw listings on ebay starting around 10,000 USD.