I remember a thread here 6 or so years ago about how radio shack was drastically cutting back on their electronics components. Got over that. But, they always had inexpensive 6.3 and 12.6v transformers (about 1/2 the cost of an equiv. hammond). Now it appears they are phasing those out as well. They are no longer on the website (the 3 amp ones), and 2 out of three stores I went to today did not have them anymore.
I don't understand their business model these days.. They're just a very limited consumer electronics store.
I don't understand their business model these days.. They're just a very limited consumer electronics store.
HAH! I gave up on Rat-Shack years ago for anything but the most simple of items. I'm old enough to remember the original stores from the 60's where they actually had surplus electronics and parts. That stopped and they went to only new items. Today, however, it's all different. They only want to sell retail consumer items such as phones, radios and other like do-dads. The Rat-Shack near me has had at least a dozen new managers and many dozens of different employees that know virtually nothing about electronics. Whenever I am forced to go there I never see the same person as last time. And more then one electronic store near me that used to sell parts has given up on them. They said that it's just not profitable and requires far too much effort to inventory and bother with them. Plus the times have changed so much that there are very few builders or even people that know how to use this stuff anymore. Sad but true IMO.
Indeed a sad thing. We used to have Tandy over here that was basically Radio Shack. They were not bad back in the day. Could even get Heathkit stuff.
Maplins are now pretty hopeless, although my local shop has a great guy on the electronic components counter. The range is constantly decreasing as is the intelligence of staff(except the electronic guy) soon they will be a form of Maplin genious, lol.
You can of course use standard off the shelf 6 and 12V transformers. The nominal voltage is usually a bit higher and a well chosen 6V transformer for instance will come out almost spot on when loaded.
Cheers
Matt.
Maplins are now pretty hopeless, although my local shop has a great guy on the electronic components counter. The range is constantly decreasing as is the intelligence of staff(except the electronic guy) soon they will be a form of Maplin genious, lol.
You can of course use standard off the shelf 6 and 12V transformers. The nominal voltage is usually a bit higher and a well chosen 6V transformer for instance will come out almost spot on when loaded.
Cheers
Matt.
Tandy used to own Radio Shack. I used to buy their perf board kits, 150-in-one kits and component grab bags. That was a while ago (1974).
Too bad.
I still have a Realistic SA-1000 integrated amp ca. 1975. Works great except for the power light.
Has anyone seen this...?
http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/
Too bad.
I still have a Realistic SA-1000 integrated amp ca. 1975. Works great except for the power light.
Has anyone seen this...?
http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/
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The demise of RS it seems has been a product, result of our throwaway society. When have you last seen a TV repairman? 1970 what?
What we have now is an IC laden electronics universe. How many of us have had some gear or the other, go bad, isolate the problem to a bad "all-in-one" IC....only to be told the IC doesn't exist anymore. And do tell, how old was that 'chip' that ran the whole show?? Perhaps it may have been four to five years old? Now we run into the highly likely scenario of having a "mega-chip" within a component, that lasts a year, perhaps a little more, but only in production ONE year.
I have a half dozen computers now, dead, un-repairable, obsolete...solely function as parts vehicles.
Perhaps Retail is simply following industries' lead.
_________________________________________________Rick.............
What we have now is an IC laden electronics universe. How many of us have had some gear or the other, go bad, isolate the problem to a bad "all-in-one" IC....only to be told the IC doesn't exist anymore. And do tell, how old was that 'chip' that ran the whole show?? Perhaps it may have been four to five years old? Now we run into the highly likely scenario of having a "mega-chip" within a component, that lasts a year, perhaps a little more, but only in production ONE year.
I have a half dozen computers now, dead, un-repairable, obsolete...solely function as parts vehicles.
Perhaps Retail is simply following industries' lead.
_________________________________________________Rick.............
My first job at fourteen was at a TV repair shop. I loved it, possibly my best job ever. The old chap was an ex RAF radar guy. He knew his stuff, I learnt a lot from him but not enough. That's the point though, always stuff to learn.
I still repair TVs now. It's easier now than it ever was. My pal came round the other day with one under his arm (see my point?). He said it was in a skip at the end of my road. We plugged it in an sure enough it was DOA. Usual switch mode supply issues. A couple of resistors and a correctly rated diode had it sorted and it wasn't a bad set.
That diode I am sure was deliberately under rated. Designed in obsolescence. I see it all the time. The manufacturers must spend silly money on R+D just to ensure a device fails after a couple of years. It is terrible that we live like this.
Cheers
Matt.
I still repair TVs now. It's easier now than it ever was. My pal came round the other day with one under his arm (see my point?). He said it was in a skip at the end of my road. We plugged it in an sure enough it was DOA. Usual switch mode supply issues. A couple of resistors and a correctly rated diode had it sorted and it wasn't a bad set.
That diode I am sure was deliberately under rated. Designed in obsolescence. I see it all the time. The manufacturers must spend silly money on R+D just to ensure a device fails after a couple of years. It is terrible that we live like this.
Cheers
Matt.
This thread is going to make me cry ;(
I work in IT, and recently had about 8 printers all fail over a couple months, all purchased at the same time. Another client is having all their old Dell monitors fail. All failing the same way. Indeed, it is a shame we live like this.
Both getting taken advantage of by the manufacturers, and producing so much toxic waste!
Radio Shack summed it up with their recent Super Bowl (American football) retro TV commercial.
RadioShack - In With The New
RadioShack - In With The New
I work in a DC. We recently had a power cut. The UPS took the load fine, the ACBs switched over to generators fine, power came back and the ACBs didn't switch back. Single point of failure was the controller for the ACBs. It had an under rated fet in one of its two possible power supplies. The new controller (soon to be changed) had a note in the box saying "WHEN you change this controller be sure to check the wiring is correct" I take that as the manufacturer admitting that it's crap. This is for a double redundent system! Not a cheap controller either. This dumbing down of common sense design is spreading.
Cheers
Matt.
Cheers
Matt.
If you think about it the idea of supplying DIYers from small neighborhood stores makes no sense today. You can place an order at DigiKey, Newark or Mouser and have it on your porch in a few days with a selection that RatShack couldn't possibly approach. I still go there for the occasional odd item, but they are not anyone's go-to source when a BOM needs filling.
My younger days were filled with sawdust, and Realistic loudspeaker components. They were pretty decent for the price, even though I had already been exposed to high-end audio, was rational considering I couldn't afford Infinity Series 5 or Magnapans. I had a good time learning about acoustics and loudspeaker systems though.
My last trip to Radio Shack involved riding around to all the local stores, about 10 to buy all the ferric chloride solution they had. Not one person in any store knew what I was talking about even though I had the stock number, and could show them that they were claiming "in stock" on my smartphone. I did manage to find some in most stores, usually on the shelf above the parts cabinet. That was about 10 years ago, right after UPS began charging a hazardous fee for delivering the stuff, and many online sellers demanded a Social Security number to buy any.
We design IC chips that require a 10 year operational life minimum in a hostile environment. We use a well known top tier IC fab house in the US. There are different design rules and processing for these type of chips compared to their standard stuff, and the standard stuff is designed for high end computer systems with long lifetimes. This is not consumer grade stuff. A high volume fab like TSMC will push the density to lower the chip cost at the expense of operational lifetime due to metal and ion migration. TSMC also makes long life chips for non consumer grade stuff too. It's all about the money.
We design IC chips that require a 10 year operational life minimum in a hostile environment. We use a well known top tier IC fab house in the US. There are different design rules and processing for these type of chips compared to their standard stuff, and the standard stuff is designed for high end computer systems with long lifetimes. This is not consumer grade stuff. A high volume fab like TSMC will push the density to lower the chip cost at the expense of operational lifetime due to metal and ion migration. TSMC also makes long life chips for non consumer grade stuff too. It's all about the money.
Indeed, I did work RS in 1980-81......counting parts was accomplished "after hours" for a whole evening...so the idea of "too many small parts to inventory", is a non-starter. The last time I went to one of their stores was for a .........you guessed it, a large 12VAC transformer. My furnace went out, I discovered a XX year-old transformer was bad, I had it up & running in no time.
Now, if I didn't have much of any other resources, I couldn't get my furnace up & running, I would have to "Order" a transformer online......meanwhile, what would have happened if it was sub-freezing outside? Burn firewood in the middle of the living-room? Call a "service technician"? " I can fit you in Tuesday after next".
Do tell, what happens when transformers of even the simplest type wind up stacked up in warehouses at four places within a country? Go to a XXX big box store & all you find is SMPS charging devices for Apple I-Phones?
Nothing like making "the people" subservient & suffer like the 'Lemmings'.
______________________________________________Rick..........
Now, if I didn't have much of any other resources, I couldn't get my furnace up & running, I would have to "Order" a transformer online......meanwhile, what would have happened if it was sub-freezing outside? Burn firewood in the middle of the living-room? Call a "service technician"? " I can fit you in Tuesday after next".
Do tell, what happens when transformers of even the simplest type wind up stacked up in warehouses at four places within a country? Go to a XXX big box store & all you find is SMPS charging devices for Apple I-Phones?
Nothing like making "the people" subservient & suffer like the 'Lemmings'.
______________________________________________Rick..........
Of course, no retailer can stock items that sell one every few years, just so you can fix your furnace on a cold weekend. Inventory that doesn't "turn" doesn't keep the doors open. I lost my shirt in a retail audio store in the early '80s, because we tried to stock too broad a range of products.