Pb-free / RoHS Compliance
We have completed much of the process of switching from our current pb-containing
(lead) manufacturing procedures to bring our products into RoHS compliance. This
new standard is in effect in Europe and will be spreading throughout the world.
It requires discontinuing the use of hazardous substances, most notably lead,
from manufactured products. This means using PC boards, components and solder
that do not contain lead or other hazardous substances.
Most of our products are now RoHS compliant and pb-free. Some must be ordered
pb-free by special request. Currently, most of our PICPROTO(TM) Prototyping
Boards and LAB-X Experimenter Boards meet the RoHS standard. There are
only a few exceptions (noted on the MCUmart product page for each), and those
will be compliant soon.
As for our programmers, a new version of our USB programmer called the melabs
U2 Programmer is now available and it meets the new standards. Unfortunately, it
may be some time before the older melabs EPIC(TM) Programmer is brought
into compliance. We recommend moving to the melabs U2 Programmer in place of
these older products. Most of the programming adapters are currently available
in pb-free versions by special request.
If you require pb-free, RoHS-compliant products, please be sure to state this
at the time of your order so that we can advise you of the current availability.
At present, there are still a few products that are shipped in leaded versions.
This will continue until we can purge our supply lines of the lead-containing
products. We are moving to totally pb-free processes for most of our products as
soon as we can. |