This is something I knew nothing about - lead-free solder and tin whiskers

https://nepp.nasa.gov/whisker/reference/te...b-free.pdf

Go to slide 41 for the tin whiskers bit.

One of the unintended consequences of moving to lead-free solders on electronic circuits boards is the unpredictable development of tin whiskers from the solder itself, which in turn could cause potentially disastrous failure of the circuitry.
The implication being that without regular testing of these circuits for tin whiskers then sudden failure may occur which could have huge problems for the flight and motor industry.
Historically the automotive industry has never really bothered with backups for electrical systems; the car either works or it doesn't. But with continued move to autonomous driving I think physical duplication or even triplication of critical safety systems may be required.

For example if a tin whisker causes a single sensor to misread then how does the CPU know; unless the values are outside the viable range. If you have two sensors and one misreads how does the CPU know which one is wrong. But with three sensors then two should be concordant making the wrong one obvious. Jules

Using lead/tin solder stops the problem & is easier to solder. You don't need much lead. So if you have tin solder you want to get rid of, use together with lead/tin solder. Easier on a larger join like an Anderson plug & heat gun used as soldering iron. Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!

Acoustic insulation ARB TPMS 3xARB air compressors After cooler Air tank On-board OCD pressure air/water cleaning Additional 50L fuel Carpet in doors ABE 2x1kg Waeco 28L modified fridge Battery 4x26ah Solar 120w Victron MPPT 100/20 DC-DC 18amps 175amp jumper plug Awning 6x255/60R18

Out of interest the EU has just given permission for the (scary) Steer-by Wire.
https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-car...%20exists.

Drive by Wire Fault Safety Integrity is a very complicated subject - link to outline article.
EDITED to give link that works (Sorry)

FAULT-TOLERANT DRIVE-8Y-WIRE SYSTEMS - CONCEPTS AND REALIZATIONS -
Rolf IsermaDD, Ralf Schwarz, StefaD StOlzl
Institute of Automatic Control Darmstadt University of Technology

https://pdf.sciencedirectassets.com/314898...&cc=gb

The best way would be to have (as steering does now) a Mechanical Connected back up, but this is heavy and expensive.

Triple Redundancy electronic circuits with a voting system doing comparison is a pretty safe alternative, but also is expensive, takes room and adds some weight.

Dual Redundancy relies on software limits and algorithms to alert module to error and enable a switch to standby unit.

Software is much harder to monitor as faults are most likely to be built in and not transient.

Personally I hope that, whatever the system, on unrecoverable error it will bring me to a gentle stop in a safe place.

Also I hope that enough money is available to provide
- fault-tolerant sensors,
- fault-tolerant actuators,
- fault-tolerant process parts,
- fault-tolerant computers,
- fault-tolerant communication (bus systems)
- fault-tolerant control algorithms

as I don't carry a parachute.

(Please read the article as this is not my field of expertise) FL2 XS SD4 Auto 2010 2012-2017 (21k - 91k miles) (MY2011)
FL2 Metropolis SD4 Auto 2014 2017- (16k - 77k+ miles) (MY2015)
Metro in its 11th Year of (Extended) LR Warranty / Full LR Service History
(Expensive, but Trouble/Worry free - hopefully?)

Last edited by IanMetro on 13th Nov 2023 11:21 am. Edited 3 times in total

jules wrote:

For example if a tin whisker causes a single sensor to misread then how does the CPU know; unless the values are outside the viable range. If you have two sensors and one misreads how does the CPU know which one is wrong. But with three sensors then two should be concordant making the wrong one obvious.

I personally have no desire to have an EV and as yet I've not seen anything that could accommodate the caravan towing I do, another issue is living in a terraced house with no off street parking. But that's just me. Interestingly though I've had two in-depth conversations last week, on Monday I had a guy come and do some smart repairs to the cracked rear panel on my caravan. He was telling me he had owned the small BMW EV with the range extender and just couldn't live with the range anxiety, his words, putting the heater on and watching the range meter drop 20 miles so he sold it. Then over the weekend I was talking to a neighbour with a 70 plate Tesla model 3, he absolutely loves it. I asked him about charging and he explained he charged it at work FOC but he also said that he uses a local "super charger" and gets 260 miles range for £20. 2007 TD4 XS The work horse that earns its up keep
2013 SD4 HSE The posh one for towing the caravan
1973 Triumph Stag I bought in 2009 and restored.

VED on BEV was bound to go up as ICE numbers fall.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications...-from-2025

I see that our civil service is so inept that they could not even use a spell checker properly.




"To ensure all drivers begin to pay a fairer tax contribution, this measure will bring electric vehicles, which do not currently pay VED, and AFVs and hybrids, which pay a discounted rate, into the motoring tax system, in the same way as petrol and diesel vehicles"..


And I dont think they intend to bring the ICE taxes down towards that of BEVs Jules

ICE vehicle VED will continue to rise year by year. Not all BEVs are free VED, as those that cost over £40k new (which is a lot of them) have to pay a value based VED charge for the first 5 years after purchase. This is about £500, which is a way for the government to get back some cash that will otherwise be lost.

I'm waiting for the Fisker Ocean to become affordable, as it looks like that could be a perfect replacement for the Freelander. Hyundai Ioniq 5 Ultimate. The family car.
2009 Rimini Red SE TD4. Gone.
2006 Tonga Green i6 HSE. Gone.
Audi A5 convertible, my daily driver.
1972 Hillman Avenger GT, the project.

unfortunately the luxury car tax applies to the vast majority of LR products - just paid my last luxury tax instalment, it's only £150 next year for the DS Tangiers Orange - gone, missing her
Replaced by Ewok what a mistake - now a happy Disco Sport owner

The problem is that a lot of normal cars are over £40k, hell even the Freelander 2 was almost there a decade ago. So I don't consider a £40k vehicle a luxury vehicle these days, even though they're taxed as one. Hyundai Ioniq 5 Ultimate. The family car.
2009 Rimini Red SE TD4. Gone.
2006 Tonga Green i6 HSE. Gone.
Audi A5 convertible, my daily driver.
1972 Hillman Avenger GT, the project.

Had to laugh this evening when national news covered charge rage which is an emotional (angry) response to lack of charging. Apparently, there can be conflict when someone tries to push in front to get to a charger and also some have found their charging discontinued by someone stopping the charging to charge their own car

There are approx. 30 EVs to every charging point!

Well i suppose at least this is a change to usual bullsh&t about saving the planet by driving one.

I watched a little charge rage on my way back from holiday. Some services somewhere up the M6 with limited charge points and a queue of EV’s waiting supposedly in turn, until someone wasn’t paying attention and missed an ev departing. Quite amusing really. A bit like the fuel shortages in the 1970’s when things got so tight they started to issue ration books again, and people queued at filling stations.

While there may be only one charge point for every 30 EV’s I’d hate to think what the fuel pump to gas guzzler ratio is. At least it only takes a few minutes to fill them up. Sometimes it takes longer to pay for the fuel than to fill the tank.

I saw an amusing video recently of a guy with a doorbell camera who spotted a lady parking outside his house and plugging her car in to his charging point. Surely you can lock these things?

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Agy_iazEw8I?feature=share 3 x FL1 2 manual + 1 auto
5 x FL2 4 manual + 1 auto
Now Discovery Sport P250 MHEV SE

Very Amusing - hardly Road Rage - I almost agree with her Point of View - The charger is handily placed. FL2 XS SD4 Auto 2010 2012-2017 (21k - 91k miles) (MY2011)
FL2 Metropolis SD4 Auto 2014 2017- (16k - 77k+ miles) (MY2015)
Metro in its 11th Year of (Extended) LR Warranty / Full LR Service History
(Expensive, but Trouble/Worry free - hopefully?)

dorsetfreelander wrote:

I saw an amusing video recently of a guy with a doorbell camera who spotted a lady parking outside his house and plugging her car in to his charging point. Surely you can lock these things?

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Agy_iazEw8I?feature=share

We’re having a new garage built , have sorted out all the electrical work to future proof for an EV . The sparky will be providing a 40amp feed with an isolator . No doubt you can get smart chargers that need blue toothed approval ftom a phone or have a pad for a PIN , but nothing trumps a double pole disconnection . Apparently the new garage door has a ‘ smart’ activator too , we’ll see how smart when it meets wife Mk2 2009 GS Auto Zermatt Silver - Sold June 21 after 10 years of ownership

2016 Subaru Outback SE 2.0 diesel SE Premium Lineartronic Sold 2024 after 8 years and 80k miles . Best Car I ever owned !

2023 Toyota Hilux invincible X 2.8 Auto .

Elon Musk's Tesla "recalls" two million cars over Autopilot defect

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-67693935


Apparently you can get weights that attach to the steering wheel to fool the autopilot into sensing that the driver has their hands on the steering wheel when they dont.

https://teslord.com/tesla-steering-wheel-weights/

Where there's a will... Jules