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Watch this video below to understand why at least I go through a lot of trouble to test and find good product for resell. You may be surprised at what steps they go through in China to take any number of assorted chips and then sandblast them, re-coat them and laser etch them to whatever label they wish.The same holds true with transistors.
At the end of the day you may save some money on eBay and then end up with something like this:
Video is already cued to a good spot to begin. About a 4 minute watch.
Like I said there are people like me, Small Bear and others who go through a lot of trouble to find the best Transistors and IC Chips so you do not have to end up with a non-functioning build or a build that works for a limited time and quits.
I saw that one last year. It shows not only from where these parts come (literally from junk and scrap yards), but how they are harvested, sandblasted/cleaned and re-stamped. I got burned once from a seller on eBay who had great ratings and lots of sales, but the FV-1 chips they sold were all duds. I tried all ten of them on a build and they all failed to work at all. They even had the proper chamfer on the long edge for pin #1. They looked identical to a real FV-1 and no tinning on the leads. When I got a proper FV-1 from SmallBear, the circuit fired right up. Fortunately, my soldering skills are sharp enough to have NOT ruined the PCB on to which the chip was soldered.
Good stuff Barry. Thanks!
This is why I avoid buying chips and transistors off sites like E-bay. I will buy only from well know sources that I know should be reliable such as Barry, Small Bear, Mouser, etc.
Got a deal on a pile of PT2399s a couple years ago on ebay – would have been a decent deal if half of them worked but I ended up tossing the whole pile after testing them in a working circuit I originally populated with a chip I bought from Barry. Barry, SmallBear or Mouser.
Chuck
You would not even believe how many tricky dick scenarios I have uncovered in my searches for the good stuff.
I have very few sources I trust, and even fewer I recommend. You sir, being one.
On the brighter side of such skullduggery . . . . I have had the fortunate experience of finding a precious few sellers on eBay, (and yes, even a couple from China), where their goods are top-notch, will full disclosure, free-returns and money back guarantees.
The most precious finds were from a seller in France (who let go of several genuine NOS Ge Mullard [black glass] OCxx & CVxxxx transistors) and a Ukrainian seller who provided a a couple hundred NOS Russian MP20B transistors that were all perfect – and only one of them had poor leakage. (What I particularly like about the MP20B is that they are very forgiving with regard to bias. They just seem to work well across a large sweep of bias trim.)
So, of course, I saved those sellers in my eBay ‘Favorites’ list. One them is a fellow in China who has 100% rating (rare for China sellers). And when I went searching for the impossible to find ‘genuine’ RD5106′ BBD (used in old Deluxe Electric Mistresses [ver 4 & 5]), no reliable sellers came up in any eBay searches. But when I went to the store-front of my save Chinese seller, I searched there explicitly and found that he has some. He was offering them at great price (~5 bux each), so I bought a couple to see if they are indeed genuine. They should be here about 10 o’clock next summer. LOL! The 90’s re-issue of the Deluxe Electric Mistress I have is in perfect condition – except the signal stops at the RD5106, even tho the clock (LFO) signal is present. So I’m pretty sure the problem is a bad RD5106 BBD chip. I’ll post back when they arrive and I’ve tested them.
Again tho, I cannot stress the importance of finding a “reliable” eBay seller – even from China. But is seems that roughly 98% of them are BS.
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