@@frankbuss Whoops just checked the source, turns out I paid 1.30 from arrow.com. I bought em a while back so my memory was a bit off. I think I was recalling seeing all the ebay ads
@@NeverTalkToCops1 well I bought some ETH about 18 months ago, but I missed my chance to sell them I guess cause I still have them! Think of how many voltage regulators one ETH would have gotten me last January!
Ed19601 Grandpa, we found these HUGE antique voltage regulators in your closet! Tell us about the olden days when components cost a penny and were visible to the naked eye...
@26:36 - Oh, no! It's no longer in the original sealed packaging. That instantly dropped its collectables value by 99.9%. Had it been kept unopened, in 20-30 years, those babies might have been worth 15 cents each!
Dave, these videos are super helpful. When I'm designing a ton of stuff all of the time I generally get stuck or hooked on specific products just because they are easy to use/know they work. I'm definitely not always getting the best bang for the buck. Keep these cheap parts videos coming. I want to make something with them.
Google translate does a terrible job with PDFs. It strips out all of the images and makes a mess of the tables. I have had much better luck with onlinedoctranslator.com It's still not perfect, but most datasheets come out usable.
@@rocketman221projects Yeah, GTranslate occasionally (often) messes up the formatting. There's also a size limit, something like 5000 characters I think. I've used what you linked and can highly recommend it but due note however that it still uses GTranslate for the actual translation. It also allows you to bypass the GTranslate size limit as it translates the document in smaller chunks.
@@Okabim In that case, lower our ambitions to $5. And, as a special option to help some inexperienced Wun Hung Lo designers, exclude shipping costs; Use JLCPCB prototype with a quantity of 5, under 10x10cm (Unit price per PCB $0.40)
@@RobertEly87 Absolutely. Its one thing to find the cheap parts with nearly useless datasheets, another to find a more popular part with an excellent data sheet as well as 3rd party information.
I use voltage regulators for 12v on/off inputs to a 3.3v microprocessor. Instead of resistor dividers or optocouplers, they are simple one-part solution, which like said, it reduces 'part count and bom inventory'. So one for 2 cents is not expensive compared to other options.
TDL should always exceed output load but in a good case for any active device, Dissipated Power should be much less than actual power output. So no, Dave Jones didn’t have much reason to break out the pyrometer.
1.3 watts is how much power the load was sinking. The regulator was dissipating 0.3 watts which is still a lot for a part that size but not mind-bending.
In my old power supply designing and testing days, one thing I learned is to always doubt your equipment, particularly when loaded with active devices such as this. You really should connect a scope probe to Vin to ensure that your fancy power supply isn't oscillating rather than to blame the IC. I've seen very expensive Keithley supplies barf under certain load conditions. Lead inductance between the power supply and the Vin leads of your DUT will definitely affect things. It was a given that you ALWAYS wanted to put a big honkin' capacitor on Vin to negate the effects of this inductance!
1.3 billion people in China using electronics every day, so cents matter for sure. :-) About 80% of the components I used in the past few years only cost several US cents, and I've got quite a few cheap but working options. Btw, I can help translate those datasheets, in case you need. And thanks for the videos. :-)
Shenzen is the manufacturer(?). no need to decap them. they are so cheap (quantity of 20 for $0.48) that it does not make sense to question the quality unless you are making 10,000 units of something and using one of these in it.
Agree. Electronupdate is the man for decaping and analysis. He does _excellent_ decaping work. Can you send a couple to Electronupdate Dave? ru-vid.com/show-UCqp2_p4YjtaTKiHuNZv0mAQ
@@johnconrad5487 and "Dallas" is the manufacturer of Texas Instrument components? as emphasized Shenzhen is a Chinese city, though a behemoth for CN tech..
Because if you need to reduce costs you should *always start with the power supply!* That's why I never pay more than 2 cents for the 100uF Lelon electrolytic caps in the PS! Paying more is just throwing money out the window!
Spontaneously? That might be hard but over time with varying loads including inductive loads is where I would expect to see problems that might cause fires. Now if the PS is poorly assembled also all bets are off and it does happen.
I know you are joking when you say to save money on capacitors. For people who are new to electronics, faulty electrolytic capacitors cause most electronic and computer malfunctions. Tantalum caps often fail too. Lelon electros might be fine for audio and hi-fi. But they wouldn't be first choice for Switch Mode Power Supplies, computer equipment, TV's and communications gear. Also they mightn't be used for hot, vibration or electrically noisy environments.
@@snarkylive hmmmm! Those regulator ics are yummy!!! Tastes like epoxy and metal alloy mmmmm yummy. But anyway how are you enjoying those regulator ics for breakfast I bet you put them in your cereal
Dave, please don't break LCSC :P All these videos about them, I'm going to start having difficulty finding stock on parts. I've used LCSC for almost a year now - GREAT company and friendly staff. I'm really happy for them, they are growing quickly. Some back story, I don't believe they are a new company. Before LCSC.com, they were SZLCSC.COM which is the Chinese Mouser for China. They just decided to start offering some of their catalog internationally, and it seems to be catching on. Again, I wish them well. Sadly, as the secret gets out, I hope my prices don't start creeping up. LCSC - Love Components Save Cost! as they were originally branded. Actually, LCSC is for the Chinese name of the company Lichuang (LC). Not sure what the SC stands for, I think it was also a Chinese name. But it could also be LiChuang Shenzhen, China or Corp. I don't recall, the SZLCSC site isn't working at the moment (maybe they moved everything to LCSC.com). If anyone is able to find the original Chinese words that LCSC is named for let me know. Also, check out their sister companies. EasyEDA (which is how I first found out about them) and JLCPCB. If you order PCBs from JLCPCB and order your parts from LCSC, they will ship the components with your PCBs for free (under 1kg). EasyEDA is also relatively new. I came across them one day while looking for a browser based schematic editor. The company owner reached out to me to ask how I liked the site and I provided him some feedback. He actually responded and was very receptive. Strange Parts did a factory tour of LCSC. The lady who escorted him through the factory is quite a hard worker - early on, she was the primary point of contact for the companies - JLCPCB and LCSC. Very pleasant and helpful. I can't say enough good things about these companies and their employees. If you have feedback for them, they will listen. The feature which allows sorting parts by in-stock qty was a feature request I had made. As these are mostly parts that we in the West don't normally deal with, it's difficult to know which parts are reputable and which might be difficult to work with. I found that parts which were highly stocked usually are widely used. At times I would be browsing the site and watching Quantities of parts suddenly go down by 300k at one time. So, they move a lot of parts. For all my serious designs, I source parts from LCSC and make my designs around these parts. I order my PCBs from JLCPCB, then put in my order for components to ship with my JLCPCB order. "Winner winner chicken dinner!"
I live in Thailand and use LCSC when I need a part quickly. Good service and quality and they stock some of the oddball MoSFETS found in computers. Recommend
Lived in Shenzhen and know about this manufacturer. Fuman, Fine Mad, Fine Made and Superchip (hilariously) are all valid names... Fuman is in Mandarine. Fine Mad is direct translation from Cantonese pronunciation, and some HK dealer definitely thought it was such a crazy translation and altered it to Fine Made. After the IPO this company finally adopted Superchip as official English name. It is a quite qualified manufacturer featuring many power ICs. Their TC4056 (equivalent of TP4056 made by another Chinese plant in Nanjing) is 20% of the market in low power Li-ion batt charger. Super cheap and good quality.
I worked for Lucent when they had a TAD division (telephone answering device) . I was an app's e engineer. We might win or lose a sale, based on if the BOM varies by a penny for the entire device built with our chipset, which was only a fraction of the overall cost.
Skyworks Solutions is common in RF type components, they acquired Advanced Analogic Technologies so they now produce regulators and other power components too.
Hi Dave, you could do a serie of qualifying a chip like this from start to finish. This would like you said take weeks, but it will teach young engineers the amount of work you have to put in making a reliable product.
I see no harm using them. Is you need 10k of them, then even spending few hours to test it good, would still be a cost saving. The performance without any output capacitance is quite impressive too. And these are pin compatible with gazillion other fixed regulators, so you are not locked anyhow during design or later. I am sure these are very popular in China and you can probably have a lot of them in various products around, and you do not even know. I wouldn't be surprised if they produce a billion of these regulators per year, with almost no faults.
@@PlasmaHH if you are in China, that is probably a lot of engineering hours. And very likely you are familiar with these chips already anyway. Few hours of quick checks with any chip would be usually enough.
The thing you have to think about is that these obscure Chinesium semiconductor suppliers seem to have some level of dated wafer fab capabilities. There seems to be a plethora of small wafer facilities across the country.
This kind of chips have a good overvolt/overheat system denominated: MagicSmoke™ which it's cool because warns you if you're damaging the chip with a visual and smell warning, even if you exceeded it too much, it can shine bright!
There are only 4 possible modes, depending on whether or not the input is current- limited. 1) The output shorts to Vcc, 2)Vcc shorts to ground, or 3)Vcc goes open, and 4) output pulls to ground during physical destruction. Determining whether Vcc was shorted to output through a commonalized-ground would require microscopic forensics.
I giggled a bit in the banner of LCSC they are touting "many manufacturers such as AUTHORIZED brands of Changjiang Electronics Tech (CJ), Shenzhen Funan Elec..." but they are eating our lunch anyway. Good stuff and like to see interesting components from diverse suppliers.
lcsc actively monitors search request for parts, i once looked at a lm675 power opamp which they didnt even had listed, 2 days later i looked again and they were on "available for order" ..which they still are
You are doing a great job to introduce Chinese parts to the west (south in your case) . The markup of the supply chain is just crazy and the mainstream manufacturers like TI, MCHP etc supports that by setting price to allow that . This kills many viable products just because it is to expensive to buy at retail and reselling to retail. In China this is not the case and part of why the electronics industry is taking over the world even with crappy products.
Great video. The only issue with buying from China is the return shipping if it comes up. It's super cheap to have stuff sent from China, but sending back to China is much more expensive, to the point where you'd actually lose money by sending an item back. Be sure to check the return policy, and if it's not good, make sure you're willing to take the risk.
He called the bag that the reel came in a “hermetically sealed” thing to keep moisture out, but it sure looked more like an anti-static bag to me. And maybe really necessary because if the reason you gave in your comment.
I wonder what the performance, reliability and endurance is like compared to similar part from a known manufacturer, like ST or Texas Instruments etc etc.
The regulator use, and see everywhere is the ubiquitous AMS1117-3.3 ... and they cost very little as well. No way their dropout is 18mV though. Sadly, I have several other kinds of LDO regulators, and never measured a dropout even approaching the datasheet claims. Got to try out some of these SC662Ks!
Most Chinese products work great when they're new, but how long will they last? Remember the cheap Chinese electrolytics? I think the real question isn't "How much can I save by using these," but rather "How much could I lose if they fail prematurely."
Today the useful life of a device is not only limited by the durability of the components, but also by things like "how long is the service it uses being offered", "how long is the software supported with security updates" and "how fast is the technology developing" (rendering the device obsolete because newer more efficient solutions are developed). 25 years ago a TV was essentially a static device that you could repair when it is broken and then continue to enjoy the same entertainment it offered before. Today, a TV is a computer terminal that includes today's receiving and demodulation tech, todays internet connectivity and apps, and todays display technology and efficency. 5 years later it essentially is obsolete because transmitters have moved on to new more efficient technology, the software in it is insecure and no longer supported, the apps no longer work with todays services, newer sets have better picture quality at lower energy consumption, etc. By the time it breaks, it had passed its end of useful life anyway. This makes long enduring parts less of an issue. More focus should be on recycling the materials used so a new device can be manufactured from it. Of course all of it comes at the cost of the jobs of the TV Repair men.
@@EEVblog Noooo, It looked super interesting and the the guys in the forum made it much easier. Its not about the effort, its about the learning experience, and reverse engineering techniques in general ! hope you reconsider that !! :( .
@@ibrahimabukharmeh489 If you want that experience, the PICkit programmer and protocol is well documented and you can build your own with no restrictions. Google it.
It delivers one watt, but dissipates internally much less than that or else it would overheat and fry itself quickly (unless a heat sink is somehow attached to the chip).
"Fine Mad" also have a 2,6cent 1117 (1.2V) chip. Just ordered 100 of those. As well as some 3cent 34063, LiOn-Charging Chips and tiny Boost Converters. Crazy how cheap that website is. Interestingly, Chips from Texas, ST or Atmel/Microchip are sometimes almost twice as expensive than Mouser or Digikey.
In reality the difference between the name brand and chinesium parts is the name. That's it. It would be nice to see how you can parallel them to get bigger current from them. 4 dollars for a beefy 3a or 10c for 10 of these
Dave needs to try doing high current by putting a bunch of these in parallel. Heck, put them in series and do high voltage. All for just for the shiggles.
@eevblog Interesting that SC662K marking "662K" is identical to IC from mouser - XC6206P331MR-G from Torex Semiconductor. "Original" part also works fine, but obviously more expensive. SC662K seems more like non-legit copy rather than chinese r&d product
You gotta do one about how the big boys use parts that are on the sacle that they buy a reel of parts like that 3,000 reel of regulators at rates that make them 10 a penny. Basically, an iPhone for $20 is IMHO what you get in parts.
Here's me finding and paying 1.35$ per FREAKING LDO (In bulk too). My god stuff is so expensive. I payed almost 3x as much for my latest project in components from digikey than I normally would have.
Never heard of Skyworks? This is a company that is far more familiar to RF Engineers, as skyworks designs rf frontends for modern wireless technologies like NB-IoT. But they seem to sell many frontends only in China, as I find crazy partnumbers on chips in modules which lead to mysterious chinese pages, where I could buy a datasheet for 3 coins. I am not even sure about which coins they want :D. Greetings from Germany
I will buy 10 cent part from TI rather than this, it is well documented and tested. Who can guarantee performance of these parts over temp range and variable inputs. And if face any issue then I can contact TI if using there part, but in this case with whom I have to make contact?
Antoine Roquentin potential failure modes might prompt isolation if the connected devices are meaningful but choosing to produce discrete VRs when there are designs specifically made of multiple cheaper parts specifically to get around a need for one, means the need for having a VR in the first place is partly because of space considerations- and no space always means having hot neighbors nearby. I’m sure you can connect the dots from here.
