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Subject: Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Preventing oxidation of copper outdoors

From: Stefan Trethan <stefan_trethan@...>
Date: 2016-07-31

The tin and solder will also be fine if it tarnishes, as long as there is no corrosion from actual moisture on the board. Only if there is moisture you need to coat the board, even if the circuit is not sensitive to leakage currents it would cause electrolytic corrosion which can eat circuit board traces in a short amount of time.

Apart from the whiskers there is another funny thing that happens with tin at cold temperatures, it gets tin pest and turns into a grey powdery substance. Cody Reeder made a nice video about it (Cody's Lab on Youtube). Again this is a mere scientific curiosity and won't affect your circuit, even outdoors.

I missed the glass body diodes comment the first time around, but it is very valid, also for surface mount glass body diodes. They have a tiny expansion gap on one end, between the glass and metal terminal, which you must not fill with coating or potting compound or they can malfunction after thermal cycling.

I agree that polyurethane is a very good choice, you would want some kind of laquer since polish is often extremely dilute stuff, designed not to build up but to leave just a minimal coating that fills tiny scratches. You want whatever would be used to initially coat the wood, rather than the product meant for periodic maintenance and cleaning. Unlike Harvey I would not hesitate to use Acrylic in place of Polyurethane, I have used it in the past (even regular water based acrylic wood paint) with no problems. Some commercial PCB coatings are also acrylic.


ST


On Sun, Jul 31, 2016 at 6:48 PM, alan00463@... [Homebrew_PCBs] <Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com> wrote:


Thanks, Brad.   I watched the NASA video.

No, Harvey A., my circuit has no glass diodes, or other components that I know to contain glass.

I am glad you mentioned condensation, as I had never thought of
it occuring on my circuit board.    Having just defrosted my freezer yester
day, I  know it grows quickly on cold surfaces.    Since my circuit con-
troller will always be outdoors while in use, I will keep it inside when
not in use, so that condensation doesn't happen.    Nonetheless, I will inspect the PCB for condensation when the outdoor temperature drops.   The only "spray" the box might be subjected to is rain, which is distilled water.   The box will be on my screened-in wooden porch.  The porch was built with pressure-treated wood many years ago, but for the past several years moss has been growing on the wood, which should tell you how damp it is. (Another project--re-waterproofing the wooden porch.!   Will probably need another recommendation for treating that wood too, but email me privately for that.)

Okay, copper oxidation won't degrade the circuit's performance.

What about tin oxide?   Does either Liquid-Tin coating or leaded
solder contain tin?   If yes, do you think tin oxide will degrade the circuit's
performance ?   Or is too "self-limiting" and of no consequence?

I am not sure what you meant by the "Polyurethane wood polish" you recommend.   I am trying to identify a furniture polish containing polyurethane.   So far, I am only finding furniture polishes designed for wood furniture that has a top coat of polyurethane, like the one on your local tavern's wooden bar top.   I'm not sure whether to look for a furniture polish that was designed to be applied to a polyurethane top coat, or that actually contains polyurethane as listed in the ingredients.   Or are they one and the same?    As you can tell, I am pretty much ignorant about this product.   I am guessing its purpose is to fill in surface scratches on a polyurethane top coat.

73 to all.