Where do you buy your electronic components from?

[Robb]

Even though I live in "Silicon Valley" - aka known as the greater San Jose/Bay Area, there are actually few places to buy electronic components. Flies in the face of reason. There is a company called Halted/HSC in this area that sells surplus material (some new parts too), but no one company selling new parts outright.

And who wants to take their chances with the Hong Kong companies on eBay? You have to wait three weeks just to get the parts - and even then the parts may well be "phony".
Been there - done that.
Have you?

I recently used Electronix.com. Haven't received the parts yet; but the prices are fair - IF they have the parts you want. Of course, they had most of what I ordered. Anyone else deal with is company before?

I'm sure that members here have their favorite place(s) to order from. I'm not saying that ALL eBay sellers are bogus. Not all of the Hong Kong vendors are either. And I'm pretty certain that no one uses just one vendor to get their parts from, as no one vendor has all of the parts in stock that you might need to get a job done.

Pricing of parts also varies. For example, an 2sc2312 (a 2sc1969 substitute) transistor can be had for as little as $7 or as much as $28! Some firms 'pad up' the shipping price ("CBRadiosplus") or even have a minimum purchase per order. I can accept the latter; but not the former.

Don't you love it when the vendors have the end user jumping through hoops just to get something they need?
I do not . . .

"RF Parts.com" are just plain o u t r a g e o u s!

WHO would you recommend - and WHO would you say to stay clear of?
Horror stories - anyone?

 

[eagle1911]

The first place I check is ebay.. but not China sellers usually. I've found HEAPS of nearly every kind of component I've looked there for without dealing with Chinese sellers.

Otherwise I use mouser, rf parts or digikey.

 

[kb6led]

Hi Robb, if I am not in a hurry I order from Futurlec they ship from overseas and they have good prices, I have purchased a few times from them mostly electrolytic capacitors when repairing CB’s and it usually takes 3 to 4 weeks. Futurlec, The Electronic Components and Semiconductor Superstore

 

[Peter Walker]

Depending on what I'm needing I use either Digikey.com or Sparkfun.com. The reason I use these place is because another of my hobbies is Robotics and they have everything I need for that.

 

[jazzsinger]

Even though I live in "Silicon Valley" - aka known as the greater San Jose/Bay Area, there are actually few places to buy electronic components. Flies in the face of reason. There is a company called Halted/HSC that sells surplus material, but no one company selling parts.

And who wants to take their chances with the Hong Kong companies on eBay? You have to wait three weeks just to get the parts - and even then the parts may well be "phony".
Been there - done that.
Have you?

I recently used Electronix.com. Haven't received the parts yet; but the prices are fair - IF they have the parts you want. Of course, they had most of what I ordered. Anyone else deal with is company before?

I'm sure that members here have their favorite place(s) to order from. I'm not saying that ALL eBay sellers are bogus. Not all of the Hong Kong vendors are either. And I'm pretty certain that no one uses just on vendor to get their parts from, as no one vendor has all of the parts in stock that you might need to get a job done.

Pricing of parts also varies. For example, an 2sc2312 (a 2sc1969 substitute) transistor can be had for as little as $7 or as much as $28! Some firms 'pad up' the shipping price ("CBRadiosplus") or even have a minimum purchase per order. I can accept the latter; but not the former.

Don't you love it when the vendors have the end user jumping through hoops just to get something they need?
I do not . . .

"RF Parts.com" are just plain o u t r a g e o u s!

WHO would you recommend - and WHO would you say to stay clear of?
Horror stories - anyone?

in light of the present climate of fake transistors everywhere, i'd stay well clear of anywhere offering genuine mitsubishi 2sc2312 for 7 dollars Rob, RF parts may be expensive but your less likely to get ripped off like the thousands of unsuspecting customers who have already been ripped off.

of all the 2sc2312's and 2sc1969's on e bay i'veever seen about 80% or more are fake, especially suspect those who don't show pictures or even worse show pictures of transistors where you can't see the markings on them. most fakes are pretty shit copies if you know what your looking for.

first the C2312 or C1969 on the real ones have an elongated letter C,like a oval that has a bit cut out, most fakes have a rounder letter C,

second the c1969/2312 is directly under the mitsubishi logo, not on the bottom line where the date/batch codes should be.

third and usually the most critical idenntifier of original mitsubishi rf transistors and i've never seen this on any fakes (usually because they are generic regulators or low power transistors dubbed to look like originals),between the emitter/collector/base legs is a small plastic triangle between each pair of pins.

they generally have two small circular indentations on the front at each top corner too.

if you don't see all of these things,keep your dough in your wallet/purse.


i know its not exactly what you wanted to know Rob, but previous experience of even previously reliable companies has proven if they get hit with fakes 9 times out of 10 they will pass them on to their customers and hide behind the "we don't warranty transistors line", often claiming your mishandling of them is what damaged them. that alone stops me suggesting anyone too you,

on this side of the pond, Mark weazle 66 on e bay is a good guy to deal with, now he mostly sells eleflow replacements for original mitsubishi transistors but he is very upfront about it and his youtube videos prove they do work, from time to time he comes across good bulk batches of genuine transistors too, and every single one i've ever had off Mark was REAL, be they mitsubishi,nec,ir, or whatever.on top of that he's a real genuine guy to deal with and it has always been my pleasure to deal with him.( one time a while back i took the risk of buying 2sc2312's in france as they were seriously cheap) within hours of me buying them i got the nod from Mark in an e mail telling me they were fake and to send them back,which i did, although it was only a few euro's it proves the guy cares about his customers, he must have noticed from my feedback i'd bought them. i've ben very lucky, i've only ben hit with fakes twice,and on both occasions realised (once with mark's advice) that they weren't even worth trying.

i hope that helps you and others stay clear of the pitfall of fake power transistors.every single one of the 2sc2312 hong kong/chinese ones on e bay just now are fake,of the 1969's the odd couple that are original are very pricey,knights cb £11.95 etc.



REAL:

FAKE: some are clearly fake as the only company that made 2sc2312/2sc1969/2sc2166 was mitsubishi,so if it says nec or anything else its fake.

http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/7369/2sc2312reditthumboj1.jpg

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

I buy most of my parts from Electro Sonic - Distributor of Electrical and Electronic Components whenever I need them. I order online and pay via credit card and have the parts in less than a week if they are in stock. I have been dealing with them since at least 1984. That is where we got all our electronic components when I was in the broadcast business as well because they carry damn near everything under the sun.