On 8 October 2016 at 02:13, Hal Murray <hmur...@megapathdsl.net> wrote:
> > They get counterfeited a *lot*. > > Is that true for relatively obscure things like the Prologix GPIB > controllers > that aren't high volume? > I would have thought the Prologix GPIB controllers no more obscure than the NI GBPIB-USB controllers, but the NI ones from China have definitely been counterfeited. There was a report here, the HP list or similar where the latest National Instruments software reported the GPIB-USB adapters were counterfeit! The eBay seller said send it back, and the buyer got a refund. (Personally I would have not sent it back, and still got a refund.) There was some even more obscure Analog devices chips that were marked as something else - see the UK microwave list for the details reported by Andy Talbot. There was a design published in the latest RadCom (RSGB publication) of a voltage reference. The sort of thing volt-nuts would make, although not such high quality as the LTZ1000 chips. The author said it was cheaper to buy a complete voltage reference board, than the chip. When I looked on eBay, the board was £2.25 delivered from China. The Analog Devices website shows the chip having a budgetary price of $7 in quantities of 1000 or more. So if the chips are $7 (£5-£6), how can they make a complete board, and pay the postage from China for £2.25? It seems to me highly likely those voltage reference chips are counterfeit. If not counterfeit, they are hardly legal devices. Like Bob Camp said, it is better to pay more money and get a genuine product. Dr. David Kirkby Ph.D CEng MIET Kirkby Microwave Ltd Registered office: Stokes Hall Lodge, Burnham Rd, Althorne, Essex, CM3 6DT, UK. Registered in England and Wales, company number 08914892. http://www.kirkbymicrowave.co.uk/ Tel: 07910 441670 / +44 7910 441670 (0900 to 2100 GMT only please) _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.