Who knew???

I've ordered stuff from them a few times, most recently some 8x8 LED arrays for a buck each in onesies. Good outfit.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

--
Dr Philip C D Hobbs
Principal
ElectroOptical Innovations
55 Orchard Rd
Briarcliff Manor NY 10510
845-480-2058

email: hobbs (atsign) electrooptical (period) net
http://electrooptical.net

Who knew what? Something there that's supposed to jump out at me? ...Jim Thompson

-- | James E.Thompson, CTO | mens | | Analog Innovations, Inc. | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus | | Phoenix, Arizona 85048 Skype: Contacts Only | | | Voice:(480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat | | E-mail Icon at

| 1962 |

Remember: Once you go over the hill, you pick up speed

--
Who knew it wouldn't? ;)

Oh, one other thing--they have really really cheap SMD footprint adapters--like 60 cents for a TSSOP-16 and $1.50 for a 144-pin TQFP. Nothing for SC70 or SOT23-5, however. :(

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

--
Dr Philip C D Hobbs
Principal
ElectroOptical Innovations
55 Orchard Rd
Briarcliff Manor NY 10510
845-480-2058

email: hobbs (atsign) electrooptical (period) net
http://electrooptical.net

I really envy you guys. You have a choice of several sources from where you can just order what you need. It's not that we don't have electronic parts sellers in India. It's the lack of reliable mail order retailers that's so frustrating for someone like me who's in a remote part of the country.

OTOH, in the larger cities, whole streets are lined with parts shops ranging from one-man efforts to those with a dozen or more employees. I buy most of my stock OTC when I visit such places, but it's impossible to stock everything. Prices are generally good. Some random examples (in US currency) -

1/4W 1% metal film TH resistors - $0.60 for 100 BC547 - $0.02 CD4060 DIP - $0.15 NE555 DIP - $0.10 0.1uF Ceramic disc - $0.01 1N4007 - $0.01 PIC16F877A - $3.50

How do these prices compare with those at your local 'physical' shops? (I can and do check prices at online shops like Digikey, Mouser, etc.)

The Bellin adapters come in sheets, but the average cost is low. They have most everything.

John

There are no 'physical' shops left in my area of the USA. Well there is Radio-Shack, but that harldy counts anymore. (Could I buy a 10k ohm resistor at radio shack these days?) There are a few surplus dealers. Everything is now done online.

George H.

The situation is the exact opposite in the US. As you say, we have many indigenous online retailers with good prices. However, I don't think there's anywhere in the US you'd find the streets "lined with parts shops." If you're in a major city there might be a couple such stores; I can think of only one in the Boston area. And the last time I was there the prices were outrageous: like $2.69 for 0.22uF 350 volt capacitor, or $1.49 for a 555.

Unfortunately I wasn't around for the days in the US when there was an electronics repair/parts shop in every town. I think part of the shift is a consequence of "disposable product culture" and the fact that the U.S. has transitioned over the past 40 years from being a net producer nation to a nation of consumers with a "service economy."

Ah. I've seen occasional comments in this group hinting at such a situation. Pity. The ideal situation would be to have a choice of online and physical shops, but I guess the latter's no longer profitable enough over there. When I worked in a medical center

40 years ago, they had strong ties with the US and we got much of our electronics stuff from Radio Shack.

It's largely the result of the cost of commercial space -- even a small store typically leases for >$1k/month, which is hard to come up with when you're mostly trageting hobbyists and selling things that, on average, cost well under a buck. (You know that in many malls in the U.S., the rent is actually a fixed fee PLUS a percentage of sales?! Amazing.)

The places that do survive these days seem to either have good contacts with electrical installers or other commercial interests (making money on large orders for cable, fixtures, consumables, etc. -- these guys do that:

) or else do much of their business via mail order but go the Costco/Home Depot route of having a "working warehouse" that doubles as a retail outlet (here's one up in Portland: -- the guy who runs that place gets around, too; he's at all the ham fests, many computer shows, etc... and I get the impression that as long as he's making enough to keep the lights on and feed himself and having fun doing it, he isn't too concerned about just how much money he's making -- even his business cards quote the Bible, "A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.").

---Joel

Have you been to these guys?

I use the Beaverton location and the selection is orders of magnitude better than surplusgizmos. The prices are higher, but not too bad, and everything is new and I don't have to wait for delivery in those "emergency" situations. Art

That was actually the link I was *trying* to paste in there -- certainly not Maxim! :-) (The Maxim link was actually for Joerg... like many things Maxim, I was telling him what a nifty-looking part it is and how it might be applied in non-TV applications, but contemplating whether or not it was worth the risk given Maxim's well-known problems with long-term parts availability.)

I've been to Norvac's in Salem (although probably not in 5 years now), but not the one in Beaverton. I'll definitely have to stop by next time I make it up that way...

Well, in my mind they're two different types of stores -- one sells surplus so the selection will always be hit-or-miss, the other is almost all new stuff with full lines.

---Joel

I buy most of my development quantity passive and transistor / diode level parts from ebay uk these days. Many of the smaller startup distributors in the uk advertise there and prices are generally very good. Same goes for Ebay us, where prices are often even cheaper, even with the shipping and you are more likely to find the more exotic stuff.

Some of it is end of line, or factory clearance, but for example, recently bought 100 off 2n2907a for less than 10.00 ukp, philips branded in to18 cans. Not all vendors are this low cost and some even more expensive than Farnell, but shipping is usually a day or two, so no reason to apy full price from distributors. Yes, you need to be selective, but you can save a fortune.

Really don't plug for Ebay, but it does work :-)...

Regards,

Chris

When I was a little kid, I used to tour the legendary Canal Street surplus shops in New York City. That was an incredible adventure for a little kid interested in electronic anything.

When TVs and radios had vacuum tubes, a mildly handy homeowner could pull the tubes and go to the local drug store and check them in the tube tester. Those days of user-serviceable electronics are LONG gone, and it has nothing to do with mass culture, it has to do with the way electronics are built. I can desolder and replace most anything with leads, and have even resurrected a dying DSL modem some years ago by swapping the PHY chip when the ISP wouldn't replace the modem again. I work routinely with stuff down to 0.4mm lead pitch.

But, as the move to CSP and BGA components continues, even a guy with a stereo zoom microscope can't deal with those parts.

Jon

I don't have much use for large quantities of anything in TO18 metal cans except maybe for breadboarding.

But, I have started buying reels of capacitors on eBay from China. Resistors are so cheap it isn't worth the trouble, but larger-value SMT caps start to get expensive. And, I use HUGE numbers of them for decoupling, cover the entire back of some boards with them. At least for a while, I won't buy semis, as there is too much counterfeit stuff flying around.

Jon

So, here's an idea! Could you somehow scrape up enough capital to actually open one of your own, to supply the area?

Good Luck! Rich

...

There used to be "Whittier Electronics," but they've recently shut down their storefront and gone exclusively internet. It was the last of the classical mom&pop parts joints - bundles of heatshrink over here, a wall of ECG transistors over there, bins of Rs and Cs, a rack of hookup wire, a selection of connectors; practically everything the hobbyist or experimenter could want for their home lab.

Gone. )-;

And ordering online is so cold - I like to go and actually see and feel the physical merchandise.

Sigh. Rich

The prices aren't all that great at Norvac/Beaverton. For semiconductors for example, last I was there, they were all NTE parts and you had to do the number conversion and then pay a TV-repair price for the part (very, very high.)

A simple, common 2N3055 is "NTE130" and it's premium isn't too terrible at Norvac. The price is $3.95. In-stock. Arrownac has STmicro versions at $0.82 in ones and Avnet is about the same price (nickel higher.) Future shows them at $0.59 (MCC.)

There are some reasonable prices there. But rarely so. I stopped using them years ago, though, despite being "next door."

Jon

Is there a better local (Portland area) option? Usually the internet stores suffice but there are times when I can't wait. The last one was a broken washing machine with a full load of wet stuff in it. I needed an SCR solenoid driver *now*. Art