Fake transistors from eBay

[thimios]

At least they name ISC devices as such. Hence it is your turn to decide.
Best regards!

Not exactly.. they sell some obsolete parts like 2sa1381. No name.
It is fake for shure.A member from Germany donate me with a pair of no function Slewmaster boards.
Nothing wrong with the construction BUT 2sa1381,2Sc3503 fake from reihelt.
I have recognised those immediately.
All is good after fake replacement.

 

[JMFahey]

So Farouk asked his Cousin who repairs cellphones to register a British commercial address for him.

Can´t blame him, respected Celestion quotes "Ipswich - Suffolk - England" in big bold letters in speaker and carton labels, most ads, etc., although they have been making them in China for Decades.

So who can throw the first stone?

Yes, I know, they stick a small "Made in China" label somewhere on the speaker frame

EDIT: and don´t forget that being Scottish is not "special" any more, nowadays *anybody* can become one, as shown in:
your no fun anymore/man turned into scotsman - YouTube

 

[N101N]

Most in-demand parts have been out of legitimate production for a very long time. What is available is fake and junk from any source.

 

[OldDIY]

So Farouk asked his Cousin who repairs cellphones to register a British commercial address for him.

Can´t blame him, respected Celestion quotes "Ipswich - Suffolk - England" in big bold letters in speaker and carton labels, most ads, etc., although they have been making them in China for Decades.

So who can throw the first stone?

Yes, I know, they stick a small "Made in China" label somewhere on the speaker frame

EDIT: and don´t forget that being Scottish is not "special" any more, nowadays *anybody* can become one, as shown in:
your no fun anymore/man turned into scotsman - YouTube

Almost true

 

[duncan2]

Yes JMFahey its also a "surprise " when tourists arrive in Scotland and find no Scottish males wearing a kilt --- drinking whisky-lying drunk on the ground- not having ginger hair nor caber tossing but there you go .

As you rightly said - who can throw the first stone ? - I could but wont .

 

[garrbage]

So Farouk asked his Cousin who repairs cellphones to register a British commercial address for him.

Exactly, same with US or Canada "based" sellers who sells fakes from China. But it get worse, last few years I started to see fake parts on liquidation/bankruptcy sales. Some of it where purchase by unsuspecting business owners before they went under. A lot purchased out of large audio/video repair shop liquidation sale in Toronto few years back had insane amount of fake components looked like a lot of those parts were purchased around/before 2010.

 

[barbaroja]

It is kind of nasty how off can the ON markings be. That does leave counterfeiters a lot of room to mark like whatever they feel like.

 

[JMFahey]

That´s sloppy because it´s *easy* to silkscreen in a consistent way.

Remember multicoloured prints (as in a front panel) require individual screens, yet "registering" them so they match each other is no big deal.

I can count 11 different screened colours here, all in perfect register:

 

[barbaroja]

That´s sloppy because it´s *easy* to silkscreen in a consistent way.

Remember multicoloured prints (as in a front panel) require individual screens, yet "registering" them so they match each other is no big deal.

I can count 11 different screened colours here, all in perfect register:

So you suggest they do it off on purpose?

That does not make any sense to me.

 

[JMFahey]

Neither to me because it costs nothing to do it right.

Yet we all know about Motorola/ON labels not being perfectly centered, and that´s saying it politely.

While everybody else does it right:

and the mighty:

or the equally classic *military* 2N3055:

China by itself does not mean iffy quality, would you trust this European (Italian) surplus dealer?

1.3 KILOGRAMS of TO3 beauty for only 49 Euro

 

[ga77a]

Glaswegian rectifiers arrived today, probably fake! i cant really tell just buy looking. i have looked at others online from reputable retailers, and the only difference i can see is the position that the characters are placed in are not as uniform as those in the online pic's.

gaz

 

[duncan2]

They have the fuzzy/off color look of fakes , I checked my genuine same type versions , mine look professionally finished,black ,smooth , large current types have a steel casing , fine printing I removed from a well known communications giants own industrial equipment no longer required.


Not Glasgow but a "far east entity " , ask for the order paper work from a genuine "Scottish " maker of diodes that I know exists , those direct manufacturers insist on large initial orders from commercial clients.

 

[H713]

I've had okay luck with used parts off of eBay, especially stuff that has a small market and is difficult to counterfeit. I've never seen a counterfeit hockey puck diode, for example.

That said, if someone is selling a bunch of MJ21194s for $1.00 each, you can be pretty sure they're fake. Sadly, the more people fall for these scams, the bigger the incentive for people to counterfeit these devices.

The thing that I'm not sure about is how counterfeiting a 2N3055 is supposed to work, since that implies finding a crappier transistor to stick a new label on. Short of sticking a TO-92 in a TO-3 can, I'm not sure how you'd do it. Even more of a mystery is why people try to build new amps around a transistor that barely cuts the mustard as a series pass regulator these days.

 

[wiseoldtech]

That said, if someone is selling a bunch of MJ21194s for $1.00 each, you can be pretty sure they're fake. Sadly, the more people fall for these scams, the bigger the incentive for people to counterfeit these devices.

The thing that I'm not sure about is how counterfeiting a 2N3055 is supposed to work, since that implies finding a crappier transistor to stick a new label on. Short of sticking a TO-92 in a TO-3 can, I'm not sure how you'd do it. Even more of a mystery is why people try to build new amps around a transistor that barely cuts the mustard as a series pass regulator these days.

Additionally, these knockoff fakes can lead a dangerous, disasterous result, depending on the equipment they're installed in.


Think about it..... suppose a fake part/transistor/capacitor/etc is used in a control panel of an industrial level winch, used for lifting tons of material.
And it fails... resulting in that winch dropping its load on someone.


Or a battery charging device used for those nasty lithium-ion batteries.... we've already seen explosions and fires resulting from "cheap" quality devices.


Situations like these were once rare happenings....before "greed" kicked in, and manufacturers used quality components in their products.

 

[H713]

Industrial equipment with hazardous potential (like any sort of overhead rigging) has so much liability associated with it that any name-brand manufacturer would likely use only the best they can get, and with rigorous QC since a single failed piece of equipment could end their reputation.

Unfortunately the problem with batteries is often an issue with the batteries themselves, not the circuits managing them.

 

[JMFahey]

Glaswegian rectifiers arrived today, probably fake! i cant really tell just buy looking.

You are not showing the most important part!!!

PLEASE show the package label, and stamps/post seals (if any).

Hide your own name and address but let us see where the package was actually shipped from.

Not impossible that "cousin living at Glasgow suburb" received and reshipped it from a local address but let´s check it.

 

[wiseoldtech]

Industrial equipment with hazardous potential (like any sort of overhead rigging) has so much liability associated with it that any name-brand manufacturer would likely use only the best they can get, and with rigorous QC since a single failed piece of equipment could end their reputation.

Unfortunately the problem with batteries is often an issue with the batteries themselves, not the circuits managing them.

All that's well and fine...... BUT.....


There's always the factor of unauthorized "service" being performed on equipment - quite common these days.
Example: "In a pinch", an employee makes "repairs" in order to meet a deadline, etc.
It goes unreported to the business owner..... and rears its ugly head eventually.
I've seen it happen.


As for charging batteries, a failed design or component overcharges the battery, leading to an eruption.
I've seen that too.

 

[ga77a]

@duncan2 "fuzzy/off color look of fakes" that made me laugh tbh i dont mind so much as long as they function well enough for long enough to enable me to finally get this amp fixed.

@jmfahey i have thrown the package in the bin, but is was post marked from Scotland.

 

[duncan2]

India is now competing with China in the production of semiconductor parts including rectifiers I doubt the guy selling them to you would contact China as he is more related to India.


I am glad my comment made you laugh but I have come across many fakes that seem to be die-cast ( pressurized extrusion molding) with a "powdered effect " rather than a smooth professional one showing a more costly machine tool.

 

[wg_ski]

You know it is relatively easy to test a rectifier to see if it is any good (ie, whether it will withstand ratings or not). Not like transistors where high dissipation and 2nd breakdown are a concern.