Can anyone find me the equivalent of a FairChildSemi
FAN6520B at Texas Instruments? Ive looked but I dont really know what Im looking for. I ask because I can order samples from Ti but not from FairChild. Thanks!

 

Are you seriously trying to tell us that you refuse to buy a couple of pieces at less than $0.75 each because you think TI will cough up samples? Fairchild or a distributor will cough up samples if you're asking legitimately.

What makes you think that an equivalent TI part even exists? Why should we waste time trying to help if you're too cheap to spend $0.75? What would you do if the part exists but it is more expensive? Surely your time is worth something. Surely the results of building what you are after are worth something.

 

Buy the parts for me and Ill gladly pay you whatever they cost.

Im a kid. I dont have a credit card. Neither Fairchild nor Texas Instruments accept Paypal or have a distributor nearby or I would gladly get a ride down there. Im asking for help. This is a forum to help people. If you dont want to help me, I wont make you, but stay out of my topic.

 

Your parents won't help you out? Guess not, with that attitude...

 

If you're a kid then I'm even more offended at the abuse of the sampling process. It is supposed to result in orders for a product at least some of the time. Why do you think the rest of us should pay higher prices so you can score freebies? BTW I'm free to express my opinion on you're activities if I choose.

Have you considered a pre-paid credit card?

 

I saw pre-paid credit cards once around christmas last year. Ive been looking for them for this exact reason and havent seen them since. Harvey, what makes you think my parents would help me? I got the paypal account in the first place because they were too afraid to let me use their credit card online. Also, theyre 'free samples.' Nowhere does it say that you must go out and purchase chips after sampling them. Its the exact same when they hand out samples in a grocery store. You dont consent to buy anything. If you like them, then you might consider it, but there is no obligation.

 

actually if you read the fine print, they're free samples intended as engineering samples - for commercial design firms and inventors to build prototypes with, most of them say they're not for hobby or educational use.

however, I applaud your interest in the field, and I'm sure the sales department of said companies would agree it's good to encourage the youth to have interest in the field.

What I would do is go into the sales / distributor section of the Fairchild website, and find out the contact information for the rep serving your area. Then just give him/her a call or better yet, write a letter. They shouldn't have a problem sending you a few samples.

One thing to think about; the regulator / controller chip is the easy part of an smps. Selecting the inductor, diode, switch and input/output capacitors is far more expensive and difficult.

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When you request 'free samples', don't ypu have to fill out a questionaire about your company, position, education, area of industry... Obviously if you answered honestly, you most likely wouldn't get the samples. This is what implies that you have the capacity to place an order, if the chips fit your needs.
It's nothing like grocery store hand outs. Don't know about Canada, but here in America, there are tens of thousands of people abusing the public assistance hand outs, with that sort of attitude. Just because something is 'free', doesn't imply you are entitled to it.

Now, why won't your parents help? Cost with shipping is under $5 USD (maybe $9 Canadian...). For a kid, learning a respectable trade, it's well worth it. But. considering your views and attitude, guessing your parents would be upset, if they caught you paying for something that you could have scammed for free.

I can understand not handing a kid your credit card (for any reason), but for a manufacturers website? Don't know why I waste so much time preaching morality here. Ever thought that they don't accept Paypal, to filter out freeloaders?

 

I agree that people should just expect free samples but I think the big semiconductors should be helpful to children/hobbiests because they might be tommorow's engineers. If they don't want to give you a sample then they should at least point you in the direction of a distributer in your area and be willing to provide you with some level of help and advice.

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Few manufactures will actually sell single chips. The free samples are intended for people able to meet minimal order requirements. The time and shipping is an investment in potential production level purchases. True, in some cases investing in a child's future is money well spent, but the lesson this one is learning... Is it right or fair to expect the manufacturer to pass out sample parts to everbody who says 'gimme'? How many hobbyists or university students would acually buy parts? If life were that simple, I could have saved thousands over the years.

Learning electronics is a good thing. Learning work the system, not so much.

 

Just curious... Do you just do this for chips, or do you get other parts for free? Do you get PCBs etched and drill for free too? There are a couple of places that will do a board for you, if they think you are planning a production run...

 

Nope, I just get the chips for free. If I find something online that piques my interest, I head over there and order one or two of the chips and build the board, usually on protoboard. There arent any stores within an hour of me that sell that kind of stuff, so I rely heavily on eBay or free samples.


If I remember correctly, you fill out what theyre going to be used for, and how many you hope to produce. Nothing about your position in the company, etc.


They dont use their credit card for ANYTHING online. They feel that it is unsafe, and although I dont feel the same way, I cant force them to use it, nor would I take their credit card and use it without asking them.


I can find plenty of distributors myself, but they are all at least 100km or farther away from me. Its hard enough getting a ride to school if I miss the bus, never mind being driven an hour away for a $2 part.


Its actually to fix a WRT54G router (I buy broken things like that off eBay and attempt to fix them, simply to learn more about how these things work) so I dont which other part values I would need.

 

Oh well you've only two years to wait until you can have a credit card.

Anyway isn't there anywhere that takes cheques or postal orders?

Maybe if you send them the correct sum of money by post with a polite letter explaining your position they might send you the parts you want.

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They might take money orders. I dont go into town very often, but I could probably get one if I really wanted to. Now dont you see why its a lot easier to order free samples? If I was desparate and they didnt have the chips, worst case scenario, I could try ordering them off eBay.