I learned my lesson with Utsource several months back.
I purchased some 2SC1815s from them and they looked NOTHING like the original Toshiba 1815s in the amplifier.
I think I finally got a refund, but it wasn't easy.
Anyway, I threw the transistors in the trash since I had no idea what they may have been.
I purchased some 2SC1815s from them and they looked NOTHING like the original Toshiba 1815s in the amplifier.
I think I finally got a refund, but it wasn't easy.
Anyway, I threw the transistors in the trash since I had no idea what they may have been.
First, UTsource is not so bad compared to many Ebay stores and they do supply some good, genuine products, if they are not obsolete but in high demand and thus quickly snapped up by resellers. Without consumer laws applying to the origin of the goods, when NOS product runs out, they simply sell copies or fakes to meet demand. Fools that we are, we see a part number with an old pic and order. We only get what we pay for though - if it's cheap and obsolete, it's crap.
The future for thru-hole parts is grim. They are obsolete and SMDs replaced them long ago. We are living in the past because it is easier for our big, stubby fingers and poor vision. If you want to continue with DIY, stop buying many NOS fake types and just buy a selected few replacement parts like KSC1845/A992 for 2SC2240/A970 etc. There are still some TO92 parts like these in production but soon, these too will be obsolete and only SMD will be available. Buy larger quantities now, while you still can.
Many authorized parts resellers now use the same payment facilities as Ebay, so its not a matter of saying we can't buy genuine parts, more that we don't save up and seek out the best deals from genuine sellers of current good products and there are indeed good copies of old products available, such as from Profusion in Europe and the UK who indeed sell audio semiconductors to eastern Europe etc. https://www.profusionplc.com/
I stocked up hundreds of BC546, BC556, KSC1845/A992. I don't think they can do away with the KSC3503 and KSA1381 and other big transistors yet. SMD and power dissipation does not quite goes together. I think I am good for DIY. If I even go into real production, I will go to SMD as much as I can. I prefer SMD for commercial purpose.
Yeah, my last few years are nothing, but the racing with the time. First, when Toshiba finalize their best BJTs for audio, so I have to buy as much as I can. I still have about 150pcs. of 2SC2240, 2SA970, 2SC3423, 2SA1360. Onsemi announced to finish most of their small signal thru-hole parts. So I cleaned up Mouser, for BC550C/560C, BC547C/557C. Now I have about 2000pcs of them...
What I see, that some small companies are take over the manufacturing, and give us some possibilities for the future. My local store sell BC546/556 from CDIL. They cost 25% of the original, but I have no experience with the quality of them...
Sajti
SMD is not option for power devices, so I think, that anything ower 10W will be available in thru-hole version in the future...
Sajti
Sajti, would you be kind enough to post a close up pic of the 2sc2240 for me if you don't mind? I sure would like to see the latest batch
of them.
Cheers,
I just bought 100 pcs of Toshiba 2SK170-GR's (the low noise, high gm JFETs).
I noticed right away that the marking on the parts was different from the Toshibas I have, but I figured I'd give them a shot, anyways.
I gave up after testing 10 of the 100. The gate leakage current was all over the map, sometimes up to 20x that of the Toshiba parts. The transconductance was low, as well -- only ~7 ms down from the 11-13 ms I expected. And the gain looked lousy, too.
So yeah. I've got 100 fake 2SK170-GR's. At least they were cheap.
I noticed right away that the marking on the parts was different from the Toshibas I have, but I figured I'd give them a shot, anyways.
I gave up after testing 10 of the 100. The gate leakage current was all over the map, sometimes up to 20x that of the Toshiba parts. The transconductance was low, as well -- only ~7 ms down from the 11-13 ms I expected. And the gain looked lousy, too.
So yeah. I've got 100 fake 2SK170-GR's. At least they were cheap.
^^Why would you want to do that?
BF862,215 NXP | NXP BF862,215 N-channel JFET Transistor, 20 V, Idss 10 ? 25mA, 3-pin TO-236AB | 626-2434 | Welcome to RS Online
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BF862,215 NXP | NXP BF862,215 N-channel JFET Transistor, 20 V, Idss 10 ? 25mA, 3-pin TO-236AB | 626-2434 | Welcome to RS Online
You can pay in INR using Netbanking. No MOQ and free delivery. Superb service, too.
Everything they sell is 100% FAKE. The specs aren't even close to the datasheets. I was given refunds for everything I bought. I threw all their garbage in the trash. I've been trying to get them kicked off Newegg and ebay but they don't really care. They are only concerned with the commissions from the sales
Huh? I'm referring to semiconductors. I bought several Burr-Brown chips and the pins were cheap tin. the chip ID's were stamped crooked. they couldn't even line up the chips in the machine correctly to stamp the fake ID's
So what's the final verdict on UTSource?
Mine is it's not worth the risk of long wait times and inferior parts to save a few shillings....
With the big houses, I build carts of items I know I will need in the near future, so when an urgent need arises, it's added to the larger cart to save on shipping.
Mouser, Digikey, Newark, and Allied if I'm stuck. Allied will not inform you of the shipping cost until you are billed. I find this unnerving and unprofessional. However, they stock certain parts none of the others do, and some at very low prices.
Mine is it's not worth the risk of long wait times and inferior parts to save a few shillings....
With the big houses, I build carts of items I know I will need in the near future, so when an urgent need arises, it's added to the larger cart to save on shipping.
Mouser, Digikey, Newark, and Allied if I'm stuck. Allied will not inform you of the shipping cost until you are billed. I find this unnerving and unprofessional. However, they stock certain parts none of the others do, and some at very low prices.
That's an exaggerated claim which can't be proven. UT sell many genuine parts as I have bought over the years when the original parts became otherwise grossly overpriced or unobtanium. Among a lot of other Chinese Ebay sellers, they offer about the widest range of old and hard to find parts but I'd agree that are not necessarily original. For professionals though, it would be crazy to buy components from anywhere but the original manufacturer, their authorized distributors or other reputable sources who can supply documentary evidence of conformance, as required. However, you have to be talking big numbers to rate that kind of service without additional charges.
FWIW, fakes are parts that are falsely identified. i.e. The trademark is counterfeit. Possibly, there's only a puny chip inside, intended to show functionality when tested with a simple meter. Other deviations from the original that clearly prevent it meeting specification, such as heat spreaders missing in power transistors and inappropriate bonding materials also identify fakes.
UT supply a dwindling number of NOS parts which are being supplemented and replaced by second-source products (i.e. copies, good and bad) from other manufacturers than those you expected when looking at their Ebay pics and reading the description. In many cases, these will be generic parts, labelled to suit the buyer's specification. This does allow a lot of latitude and certainly too much to expect them to be identical to the OEM parts. As AndrewT points out, unless they carry the OEM trademark, they still can't be termed fakes.
If you buy parts from different manufactures, it's normal to find they don't match in all respects but when you don't or can't check the actual device specs in advance of purchase, I think this is just a bitter lesson in unwise buying. Most of my working life, I've watched purchasing officers buy crap just to save a few purchasing dollars at a greater cost to the company's reputation and time wasted sorting the problems. Often this came with management approval and shows how it is our own naive assumptions that cause problems. Buy cheap-buy trouble, whether you are a DIY with modest needs or a pro. looking for bargains or a piece of through-hole part history.
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