I frequently muse about counterfeit electronic components. The entire concept is intriguing and seems like it is not really discussed very much. What is a counterfeit part anyway?
If a part is obviously a fake I'm more inclined to buy it for kicks.
Ebay and Alibaba are favorite hunting grounds for shameless fakes. I'm a descendent of Jean Lafitte as is most everyone from New Orleans. So piracy is in my blood.
But are not all semiconductors now 'fake'? I file away the certs from mouser, digikey etc but are the docs simply placebos?
If the part came from a contract foundry I would call it a Semifake. Derating specs on fakes and living with a few fails is ok. Electric motor distributors have been doing it for years. So the 5hp motor is openly sold as a 3hp, if one fails, ship the customer a same day replacement and give a free lunch. Everybody wins.
To my knowledge, here in Texas we do not have the ability to manufacture Semifakes.
I'm keeping an eye open for cheap foundry deals on Alibaba.
-bruce
If a part is obviously a fake I'm more inclined to buy it for kicks.
Ebay and Alibaba are favorite hunting grounds for shameless fakes. I'm a descendent of Jean Lafitte as is most everyone from New Orleans. So piracy is in my blood.
But are not all semiconductors now 'fake'? I file away the certs from mouser, digikey etc but are the docs simply placebos?
If the part came from a contract foundry I would call it a Semifake. Derating specs on fakes and living with a few fails is ok. Electric motor distributors have been doing it for years. So the 5hp motor is openly sold as a 3hp, if one fails, ship the customer a same day replacement and give a free lunch. Everybody wins.
To my knowledge, here in Texas we do not have the ability to manufacture Semifakes.
I'm keeping an eye open for cheap foundry deals on Alibaba.
-bruce
Attachments
Fakes, counterfeits and generics...
I asked under Pass forum for pictures on the obsolete Lovoltech LU1014D power JFET but the input was lukewarm, Pass chimed in and told he bought a bunch directly from Lovoltech which looked like the JFET seen on DeepSurplus web page, but the rest which can be found on eBay and AliExpress all have a slightly different look and welded legs.
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/pass-labs/301567-pictures-genuine-lovoltech-lu1014d-wanted.html
We, the ones who live in West, don't seem to care too much a multi billion €$£ fake industry outside the West gets supported by our choice, and by extension exporting all our jobs, I as a dirt poor nobody don't know what to say about the greed from people who can afford genuine parts from reputable sources, apparently it's everyone for themselves, hunger game society, the faster eats the slow ones, the beginning of the 21st century looks interesting, pray Godspeed to us all.
I asked under Pass forum for pictures on the obsolete Lovoltech LU1014D power JFET but the input was lukewarm, Pass chimed in and told he bought a bunch directly from Lovoltech which looked like the JFET seen on DeepSurplus web page, but the rest which can be found on eBay and AliExpress all have a slightly different look and welded legs.
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/pass-labs/301567-pictures-genuine-lovoltech-lu1014d-wanted.html
We, the ones who live in West, don't seem to care too much a multi billion €$£ fake industry outside the West gets supported by our choice, and by extension exporting all our jobs, I as a dirt poor nobody don't know what to say about the greed from people who can afford genuine parts from reputable sources, apparently it's everyone for themselves, hunger game society, the faster eats the slow ones, the beginning of the 21st century looks interesting, pray Godspeed to us all.
There are all sorts of counterfeit parts. I will try to avoid them at all (reasonable) costs. Why?
When there are $$$ to be made unscrupulous people will sell just about anything that looks close enough to be passed off as real. Often the "fake" parts pose a real safety hazard, and other times they may just cause the destruction of other good, and possibly expensive parts in your system. How?
Most everybody knows about the capacitors in the high end Dell computers. They were made by a reputable supplier who was sold some bogus electrolyte compound which caused all the capacitors to fail, often venting some of that bogus goo all over the motherboard.
There was a thread here a long time back about some exploding electrolytic caps. It seemed that a Chinese supplier had simply counterfeited the shrink wrap used on Panasonic high voltage electrolytics, and applied it on top of the existing wrapper on whatever cheap cap he could find regardless of value and voltage rating. In the case I read about the 500 volt wrapper was used on a 160 volt cap, and sold as 500 volt caps. They would short out and explode or blow up rectifier tubes and other parts.
There have been all sorts of fake transistors. Usually a cheap part gets washed and painted with the number and logo of a rare or expensive part. The cheap part usually can't stand the voltage that the good part was designed to be used in, and shorts out taking other silicon and maybe speakers with it.
You think you are buying a TI low noise voltage regulator, but you really get a garden variety 7805.
The IXYS 10M45 CCS chip I use in my amplifier designs isn't widely distributed in Europe, so people resort to EBAY. I don't know what the EBAY parts are, but they aren't 10M45's and will not work in the amp. Sometimes they fry a $15 tube.
yep lots of issues to consider when intentionally designing in fake parts.
I just like the challange of it.
Nothing unethical as long as sold as and assumed parts are fakes.
What about tubes?
What differentiates a currently manufactured tube from a fake ?
I just assume all current production are fakes.
Any thoughts on tubes?
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I just like the challange of it.
Nothing unethical as long as sold as and assumed parts are fakes.
What about tubes?
What differentiates a currently manufactured tube from a fake ?
I just assume all current production are fakes.
Any thoughts on tubes?
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There are several current production tubes manufactured and sold as new tubes. They ere what they are, and some are pretty good.
An enterprising American business man has purchased the rights to several vintage brand names and uses those brands to market his high end Russian tubes for $$$$. The tubes are clearly marked made in Russia. Technically these are not "fakes" and most people understand what they are.
There is a growing market especially on Ebay to wash and relabel old east European or Russian tubes as rare and expensive German Telefunken tubes, these are fraudulently represented and can be called fakes.
There are also some rare US tubes like the 6386 that go for over $100. The common, cheap 5670 is identical except for the pitch of the grid wire winding, so there are "fake" 6386's out there that will not work in the old Fairchild audio compressors that use them.
I'm sure other "fake" tubes are out there, but I don't build anything with expensive tubes, so I haven't seen many. I did get some Russian 7189A tubes several years ago that were relabeled junk. They lived a short unhappy life in a guitar amp, and were replaced with some old used US made 6BQ5's that worked fine.
An enterprising American business man has purchased the rights to several vintage brand names and uses those brands to market his high end Russian tubes for $$$$. The tubes are clearly marked made in Russia. Technically these are not "fakes" and most people understand what they are.
There is a growing market especially on Ebay to wash and relabel old east European or Russian tubes as rare and expensive German Telefunken tubes, these are fraudulently represented and can be called fakes.
There are also some rare US tubes like the 6386 that go for over $100. The common, cheap 5670 is identical except for the pitch of the grid wire winding, so there are "fake" 6386's out there that will not work in the old Fairchild audio compressors that use them.
I'm sure other "fake" tubes are out there, but I don't build anything with expensive tubes, so I haven't seen many. I did get some Russian 7189A tubes several years ago that were relabeled junk. They lived a short unhappy life in a guitar amp, and were replaced with some old used US made 6BQ5's that worked fine.
Then you'll pee yourself in delight at this story:
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/lounge/283676-holiday-feel-good-story-about-fakes-china.html
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/lounge/283676-holiday-feel-good-story-about-fakes-china.html
A fake is something that is making out to be something that it is not. In the terms of our hobby this could mean that the fake component doesn't meet the specs of the original or it could be a full spec component that has a manufactures name on it but was not made by them.
I can't understand why anyone would want to knowingly buy either category.
I can't understand why anyone would want to knowingly buy either category.
While in Chengdu Sichuan, I thought this was an Apple mall but alas it was a mall of apples.
260 of the Fortune 500 companies have established branches in Chengdu.
.
My statistical analysis on the molded objects claimed to be "apples" concludes that there are actually only 4 sizes of apples, painted in 6 color patterns, and that the paintshop yield is over 98% completion. Would not buy! "Bu jau."
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