Steve, It is not a Class One product, the whole product range is of much the same technology. I would make an assumption that it is a class two product as it is a complete series of Engine Management Computers, ranging from race applications to production vehicles. On top of this, I would have thought that the Racing application with extreme vibration and temperature requirements would have already shown the need for a higher quality PCB, however, no. So hence, you see my need for documentation to convince them otherwise. Cheers -----Original Message----- From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Tuesday, 9 April 2002 13:24 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [TN] Single-sided/Double-sided PCB Reliability Hi Mike! Probably the first question would be; "What is the application?" If this is a class-1 product, then I would think that you're going to have a hard time convincing your customer to add the cost of changing from a single-sided PCB to double sided plated through hole... As an example, I was sitting home one weekend, on a Sunday, "vegging-out" (as it were) flipping my TV back-and-forth from the NASCAR race to a football game. When all of a sudden, my remote control quit working!!! EMERGENCY!!! EMERGENCY!!! Of course it was too late to go to a store and buy one of the "All in One" replacement remotes, so I thinks to myself; "Self, you build this stuff, you can fix it!". I open it up, and almost puked! I have never seen such poor workmanship! Then again, I have never built class-1 stuff. Sure, it was a single-sided assembly, but I have never seen such residues! and such marginal solder joints! The residues looked like tar! But I guess that's what class-1 is all about...throw away stuff... If it's single-sided, non-plated through-hole, I imagine it's class-1...and you're going to have a hell of a time convincing the powers that be to add any cost to the fab to improve reliability...the market is very competitive for this stuff.... BTW, I found a fractured solder joint on a component on the keypad and was able to re-flow it with my BIC lighter (didn't have a solder station laying around...hehehe). Was able to sit back and be a couch potatoe (or potato, need to ask Al Gore to be sure) for the rest of the day!!! Necessity, is the mother of invention...hehehe -Steve Gregory- Hi there tech-netters, I am currently producing a product for a customer that is based on 100% T/H devices, and is loaded onto a single sided non-T/H plated PCB. As for obvious reason's I am keen to switch this to a double-sided PCB (i.e. T/H plated barrels), however, it seems to take a lot of effort to try and convince the customer that this is the preferred type of PCB for his application. Has anyone seen or know of any documentation/papers on the comparison of relibility of single-sided (non-plated Barrels) and Double-sided (plated barrels)???? Any information that I can use to convince my customer that the plated barrels are better would be greatly appreciated. Cheers Mike