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Are refurbished RF power transistors from Ebay China Real? Or Fake?

Radio Tech

Radio Tech

Radio Operator
Sep 9, 2008
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North Carolina
www.gokarters.com
Got home real late and found a few packages in my mail, so decided to burn the midnight oil to see if they are any good.
In this video we have a Kenwood ts-2000 that has a blown 2sc5125. No longer available I ordered a refurbished transistor from China. Are they real? Fake? Lets see.


2SC2782 replacements
https://www.rfparts.com/rftransistors/transistor-2sc/transistor-2sc-2500-2999/2sc2782.html
Lilly Electronics Ebay
http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-5...0001&campid=5336136228&icep_item=251474805053
 
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Radio Tech said:
Are they real? Fake? Lets see.
Click to expand...

They are fake. Can you rebuild a fuse? Those are salvaged from equipment and may or may not have been the cause of failure the equipment went through the salvage process. If they have been reconditioned why are they still covered in nasty looking solder.
I didn't watch your video till now. I work in a company that flight safety was an issue in almost every thing you did. Used parts are forbidden. The repeated heat stress shortens the life of semiconductors. We soldered on semiconductors twice, once to install and during removal to discard afterwards. I would have to contact my customer before putting in used parts and that would be the very last resort.
But that's just my opinion.
 
Last edited:
Not so much fake I don't think. More like you said Tallman, they most likely come out of a radio that had other damage and they can't sell them as new parts, so they call them a refurbished part I suppose. It tested good and worked properly so I wonder if they are actually testing them before shipping. I would think so. But I didn't really check the add out. Just watched the video. Anyway. I could be totally wrong. Just appears that way.
 
First let me get this out of the way. I would NEVER install a used part in someone’s equipment unless prompted by the owner to do so.
This radio belongs to me.
So in the past I have ordered some parts from China that are indeed fake including some RF power transistors. I ordered a pack of 10 2SC1969's a year ago. The silk screen rubbed off with just your finger.
Transistors that are no longer available become a target to forgery. Happens quite often.
I do agree there is no thing as a “refurbished” transistor. So these were pulls. The transistor I got and shown in the video has no solder at all on it. Somehow they found a way to remove it chemically. The transistor in the video that has solder on it is the shorted transistor from my radio. I had to coat the leads with flux to even get solder to adhere to the part.
Anyway the video is only to show that not all obsolete parts from China are fake.

I talked with the seller before I ordered and he told me he test all used parts before selling them.
 
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Radio Tech said:
First let me get this out of the way. I would NEVER install a used part in someone’s equipment unless prompted by the owner to do so.
This radio belongs to me.
So in the past I have ordered some parts from China that are indeed fake including some RF power transistors. I ordered a pack of 10 2SC1969's a year ago. The silk screen rubbed off with just your finger.
Transistors that are no longer available become a target to forgery. Happens quite often.
I do agree there is no thing as a “refurbished” transistor. So these were pulls. The transistor I got and shown in the video has no solder at all on it. Somehow they found a way to remove it chemically. The transistor in the video that has solder on it is the shorted transistor from my radio. I had to coat the leads with flux to even get solder to adhere to the part.
Anyway the video is only to show that not all obsolete parts from China are fake.

I talked with the seller before I ordered and he told me he test all used parts before selling them.
Click to expand...


Looks like you made out good. My first reaction was how the hell do you refurbish a transistor? LOL Then I watched the video and understood better. Yeah those appear to be REAL pulls from equipment. You can barely see the slight bends in the tabs indicating they were not brand new fakes but rather used originals. Buying things like that from anywhere especially China is a hit or miss proposition. Sometimes you win and sometimes you loose. I have bought many things from China and have pretty much always been satisfied. A few things were lower quality than I really wanted but at 1/4 the price I can deal with it. |Functionally they worked great but the overall appearance was a little low but they were just panel meters and a pair of matching meters, 50 volt and 50 amp DC are not cheap. I got both shipping included and with the proper 50 amp meter shunt for $23.00. A single ammeter WITHOUT the shunt was more than that from North American suppliers.
 
Captain Kilowatt said:
Looks like you made out good. My first reaction was how the hell do you refurbish a transistor? LOL Then I watched the video and understood better. Yeah those appear to be REAL pulls from equipment. You can barely see the slight bends in the tabs indicating they were not brand new fakes but rather used originals. Buying things like that from anywhere especially China is a hit or miss proposition. Sometimes you win and sometimes you loose. I have bought many things from China and have pretty much always been satisfied. A few things were lower quality than I really wanted but at 1/4 the price I can deal with it. |Functionally they worked great but the overall appearance was a little low but they were just panel meters and a pair of matching meters, 50 volt and 50 amp DC are not cheap. I got both shipping included and with the proper 50 amp meter shunt for $23.00. A single ammeter WITHOUT the shunt was more than that from North American suppliers.
Click to expand...

LOL, that was the importance of watching the video.
I always laugh when I see the word "refurbished" on a used electronic component.
I will say they did a heck of a job cleaning it. No idea what they used. Not a spec of solder on the terminals.

Seems to me China is getting much better when it comes to parts. And like you said about the meter, cant beat the price.
I figured if the transistor was bad I would only be out of a few bucks.
The other package in the video were some 1SS83 diode replacements.
http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-5...0001&campid=5336136228&icep_item=171097783508

Real Hitachi 1SS83 to be correct.
I am happy.
 

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