Dummy IC's

[transistor495]

Can you believe you'll get dummy IC's in the market(the one which physically resembles the original IC but vacuum inside!!). Recently I bought two parts DP704C and A6351, both are SMPS replacements and didn't work at all. Actually we could not trace what else could be the problem, replaced again with three of them and same happened. The terminals just shows the open circuit voltages. Next time got the original one and it worked well.

Sometimes I would think the fake ones beats the originals in look and feel. I'm totally confused because this will lead to wrong assumptions on what we're doing and time waste.

 

[colin55]

Anything can happen in India.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

There are many crooks in China and India manufacturing and selling fake parts that don't work, always buy from a reputable source.

 

[Hero999]

It's probably a good way of protecting a design from theft - use a couple of fake ICs along with the real ones.

 

[transistor495]

There are many crooks in China and India manufacturing and selling fake parts that don't work, always buy from a reputable source.

I see, I never go online orders, always get almost of them nearby stores. This vacuum parts are new info for me. Also I think they make it for the most wanted/selling parts. Simply make the plastic case with glued terminals and mark it. That's all. The build quality of the fakes are indeed excellent. Smooth finish in other ways.

They totally screwed me up!

Anything can happen in India.

Maybe because >50% of the talkingelectronics reader dudes are from India only?

 

[HarveyH42]

I see, I never go online orders, always get almost of them nearby stores. This vacuum parts are new info for me. Also I think they make it for the most wanted/selling parts. Simply make the plastic case with glued terminals and mark it. That's all. The build quality of the fakes are indeed excellent. Smooth finish in other ways.

They totally screwed me up!
Maybe because >50% of the talkingelectronics reader dudes are from India only?

Have you mentioned it to the shop you bought the parts from? Maybe they got a 'great deal', and passed the savings onto you, or didn't know they got some bogus parts off Ebay. Small shops don't get everything factory direct, not always the lowest price, and might not want to order the minimal quantities. They get their parts, pretty much the same way the rest of us do.

 

[transistor495]

Have you mentioned it to the shop you bought the parts from? Maybe they got a 'great deal', and passed the savings onto you, or didn't know they got some bogus parts off Ebay. Small shops don't get everything factory direct, not always the lowest price, and might not want to order the minimal quantities. They get their parts, pretty much the same way the rest of us do.

Yes, and I mentioned it to the shop, next time he gave me little different one that worked fine! Actually they also don't know which is fake and originals. They know it happens for some parts. I don't know how they're getting the parts. Surely not directly from manufactures. They might have got fooled first.

The shop I bought is actually a good reputed one from there I usually get all the hard to get components.

 

[Mickster]

Can't remember where I originally saw it, but Sparkfun got caught out with a boatload (ok, a bit of an exaggeration) of dodgy Atmel quad packages from a previously untested source. It appears they sampled a couple of the devices in their engineering department and looked into it further when the circuit did not behave as expected...

Following this revelation, they offered limited numbers of the devices up at a discount for soldering practice, but withdrew the offer shortly after for fear of letting them re-enter the market as genuine items.

Just found the link.... ( "sparkfun+fake+atmel" - first result )

SparkFun Electronics

Regards.

EDIT:
The original article:
https://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/news.php?id=350

 

[HarveyH42]

Soldering practice, or Ebay resales...

 

[Hero999]

They should've filed the part numbers off or even drilled a hold through the middle, if they were going to sell them for soldering practise.