So you had a bad experience with a shyster on EBay and now all SMPS are bad and China is evil?
I never said that ! I buy PCB's from China and only once had a problem.
My experience of ebay and China is:
1/ Bought four duff SMPS.
2/ Bought 3 flash drives, 3 months to arrive and none worked.
3/ Bought transistors from China, lasted 10 minutes. New ones from RS Components still going months on.
Need I go on ?
Ebay and China just aren't worth the hassle anymore.
So I just buy semiconductors from RS and Farnell.
Sadly a lot of UK stuff is China based anyway so you get rubbish whether you get it from China or the UK !
I am sure there are good and bad companies in China just as there are everywhere. You pay your money and take the risk.
But you are basing much larger judgments on your singular experience. While in your case the failure rate of SMPS bricks is 100% ... that certainly is not the case anywhere else. You can't generalize a personal experience onto the whole world that way. The odds are you'll be wrong every single time.
The fact is that I and everyone I know is constantly surrounded by SMPS in their computers, routers, modems, stereo gear, phones, clocks, televisions, even power amps, and of the hundreds, I've yet to see one of them fail.
The fact is that I and everyone I know is constantly surrounded by SMPS in their computers, routers, modems, stereo gear, phones, clocks, televisions, even power amps, and of the hundreds, I've yet to see one of them fail.
I've been stung in bogus EBay deals often enough that I don't buy anything from there anymore.
I got a really nasty TPA3116 board from there... but put blame where it belongs, on the EBay seller... it doesn't mean the chip is bad and it certainly doesn't mean China is bad. In fact, outside of the one counterfeit board, I've had really good experiences with that chip and the stuff I'm buying is all Chinese.
There's nothing wrong with SMPS bricks when used within their limits. In fact it's a good source of cheap clean DC for your projects. So I suggest you talk about your one bad deal, but stop trashing SMPS cause that's not the problem.
I got a really nasty TPA3116 board from there... but put blame where it belongs, on the EBay seller... it doesn't mean the chip is bad and it certainly doesn't mean China is bad. In fact, outside of the one counterfeit board, I've had really good experiences with that chip and the stuff I'm buying is all Chinese.
There's nothing wrong with SMPS bricks when used within their limits. In fact it's a good source of cheap clean DC for your projects. So I suggest you talk about your one bad deal, but stop trashing SMPS cause that's not the problem.
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When I first started using eBay I read some advice first, the best I read was not to buy anything from anybody who had a feedback rating of less than 99.7%, I've stuck to this advice and it has paid off.
I am not saying all SMPS are bad just some of the rubbish I bought off ebay.
I have designed SMPS myself both flyback and LLC and as far as I know the ones I sold are still working years on. My PC has been running fine for many years on a SMPS. It did fail once but that was due to the air inlet getting blocked with dust.
It's maybe another price tag, but I manage in our company dozens of servers and shelfs for storage since years, all have SMPS, none of them ever failed.
I have to ask what are YOUR qualifications that we should all trust YOUR experience, while you disparage ours?
Smps’s are electronically noisy and put out serious RF trash back to the mains and to output voltage, unless super ultra filtered which is very uncommon.
Shoule we trust YOURS then? 🙄
Start by showing, not even Electronics knowledge, which is a specialized knowledge, but general purpose text comprehension. 🙄
It´s pure Semantics, zero Electronics content, because it´s not needed here.
if you personally feel disparaged, despised, urespected, slighted (pick one, all synonyms) by an unrelated comment directed to others, I fear you are in a deeper hole thani t seems on first sight.
Suggest professional help.
You wouldn't believe me anyway...
But, Okay, I'll bite... I started in electronics as a hobby in the early 1960s when my uncle introduced me to HeathKits. After high school I took 2 years of training to become a technician. Built my first system from the ground up in 1978. Then at various points in my career I've worked on consumer audio, pro-audio, 2 way radio, office electronics, point of sale systems, computer service, home theatre. I also used to teach in a commercial setting, having trained more than 150 technicians. Did a stint as the national service manager for a big electronics company. There are three patents with my name on them. I also have been into home audio as a personal interest this entire time.
And how about you?
Quite similar.
I'm a metrologist today, so not at all unfamiliar with high end instrumentation, and traceable lab methodologies. Where we seem to diverge is I don't doubt the validity of other's experiences.
I could never wrap my mind around the sonic differences of detachable mains cords, but would NEVER dis an experienced audiophile for claiming to hear such.
Really, you can't think of a reason why one might affect the sound of the equipment?
So... give me some proof... not just your say-so. You say you are a man of science, why would you even think to entertain such obvious fallacy?