Cheap Ebay Stuff: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly – Post Your Reviews
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Re: Cheap Ebay Stuff: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly – Post Your Reviews
First of all apologies I am a newbie to the forum (but not electronics...)
Having some 'fun' with the LED backlights on the ill-reputed VESTEL type/s !
There must be a supplier on e-bay of the (individual SMD) LEDs, but there are loads to choose from (most rather indeterminate and no doubt some are bad/ugly..); Any recommendations on suppliers?
As an 'aside' I now also wonder how many folks throw a whole $400 TV away due to one single faulty (and in series) 40c LED....!Comment
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Re: Cheap Ebay Stuff: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly – Post Your Reviews
The Hakko tips reminded me of some I bought from china,didn't transfer heat very well,and with some pliers,snapped one to see what it was made of.Steel!
UTsource is one seller to be wary of,especially for obsolete parts..,but have had some genuine bargains,It's very hit and miss.Biggest giggle I had was some desolder wick that was irresistibly cheap,looked like a stretched out brillo pad!Comment
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Re: Cheap Ebay Stuff: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly – Post Your Reviews
These Cheap ($7.50) Vander LED flashlights are pretty good for the money. The 2200 Lumen rating is a joke, probably about 300 Lumens really and the included Chinese 18650 Li-Ion is junk (claims 3000mah, really only around 1000mah), and lacks the protection circuitry it claims to have. But overall they are hard to beat for $7.50, brighter than a mini-Maglite pro for less than 1/2 the price, and take Li-Ion batteries versus alkalines that get expensive fast (granted a good protected 18650 battery costs nearly as much as the light, but at 300-500 charge cycles life of a typical Li-Ion is much cheaper than alkalines in the long run), and has about a 9hr runtime (on a 3400mah Panasonic 18650).
http://www.ebay.com/itm/252221813180...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
Theses $7 External 2.5" 12.7mm (laptop) SATA optical drive enclosures also aren't too bad for the money, I got one to put the spare Panasonic Blu-ray burner I had laying around in. They have cheap Chinese caps which are probably fine if you only use it occasionally, but I replaced them with Nichicons, overall construction is pretty good and the case is more solid than many OE external drives (at least more solid than the Lenovo external DVD-RW for my work laptop). You don't need the driver disc for any relatively recent OS, and most USB ports will power it with only one cable, but there is a second USB (power-only) cable if needed. Basically the same as what Newegg, etc. sell for $15-20.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/252186281885...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
Last edited by dmill89; 04-02-2016, 07:57 PM.Comment
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Re: Cheap Ebay Stuff: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly – Post Your Reviews
I just got a transistor tester / ESR meter / component tester last week (based on the popular open-source German design). Works great so far. Mostly need it to check ESR on electrolytic caps. The inductance measurement function was a bit disappointing, since it only goes down to 10 uH (or something like that) and won't always pickup the inductance of transformers and certain coils (like toroid inductors from motherboard VRMs). For slightly larger coils (like PSU PFC and output filter), it does seem to be able to measure the inductance, but just barely.
Originally posted by steviewonderThe Hakko tips reminded me of some I bought from china,didn't transfer heat very well,and with some pliers,snapped one to see what it was made of.Steel!
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?p=559411
Because, if the latter, I'm no fan of those tips either. If you want to go pro, go with T12/T15 or a JBC station (but you must have deep pockets for the latter).
Originally posted by dmill89These Cheap ($7.50) Vander LED flashlights are pretty good for the money. The 2200 Lumen rating is a joke, probably about 300 Lumens really and the included Chinese 18650 Li-Ion is junk (claims 3000mah, really only around 1000mah), and lacks the protection circuitry it claims to have..
Seriously, though, those things are a fire hazard at best. At worst, it's a pipe bomb in your hand *when* (not if) that Li-Ion battery fails. I wouldn't recommend anyone to use it as-is out of the box. Take out the original battery and put a good quality protected 18650 in. You can thank me later.
Last edited by momaka; 04-03-2016, 06:30 PM.Comment
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Re: Cheap Ebay Stuff: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly – Post Your Reviews
IMO, it would be an even better deal if they did NOT include those cheap Li-Ion batteries.
Seriously, though, those things are a fire hazard at best. At worst, it's a pipe bomb in your hand *when* (not if) that Li-Ion battery fails. I wouldn't recommend anyone to use it as-is out of the box. Take out the original battery and put a good quality protected 18650 in. You can thank me later.
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Re: Cheap Ebay Stuff: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly – Post Your Reviews
I just got a transistor tester / ESR meter / component tester last week (based on the popular open-source German design). Works great so far. Mostly need it to check ESR on electrolytic caps. The inductance measurement function was a bit disappointing, since it only goes down to 10 uH (or something like that) and won't always pickup the inductance of transformers and certain coils (like toroid inductors from motherboard VRMs). For slightly larger coils (like PSU PFC and output filter), it does seem to be able to measure the inductance, but just barely.
we can also increase the resolution of the cap meter to 0.01pF
what model is it?Comment
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Re: Cheap Ebay Stuff: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly – Post Your Reviews
@ stj:
This one:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/12864-GM328-...MAAOSwyQtV6g1J
I've seen your thread on the rotary encoder (nice work!), so I tried to pick the closest model possible (but did I really?
). Thought I'd do that in case I ever felt like adding all those features you added. Speaking of which, what is that rotary encoder for? - Just to navigate through the secondary menus easier?
Comment
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Re: Cheap Ebay Stuff: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly – Post Your Reviews
that's it, for menu scrolling.
and because - you can.
the biggest single upgrade you can do is swap the crystal for a 16MHz 10ppm one.
that will let you test resonators and crystals upto about 12MHzComment
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Re: Cheap Ebay Stuff: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly – Post Your Reviews
Yup, never buy replacement batteries on eBay. And I mean not just Lithium chemistry. Almost ALL batteries on eBay are cheap junk. You'll probably have better luck with getting a used laptop with original battery than with a new Chinese junk one.
Agreed.
But sometimes it's hard to tell the "good" from the "bad" stuff until you bought one to find out.
I have a BT dongle I bought ages ago. It still works great.
The SCA to SCSI 68-pin HDD adapters are also pretty decent with a simple mod to insulate the power pins from the metal case on the HDD. When the forum attachments are back up again, I'll post some pictures. If you have an old server with SCSI and need cheap HDDs for it, you can find Enterprise-class SCA HDD for cheap on eBay. I got 5 HDDs for $13 shipped - two of them 300 GB Seagate Cheetah's.Comment
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Re: Cheap Ebay Stuff: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly – Post Your Reviews
Bought a 300 piece metal film resistor set for a few hobby projecs, cost around what a 10 piece resistor set would go for at RadioShack. The few I've tested seen to be measuring within tolerance, but the markings are an issue (see the attached image). Thankfully most aren't like this. Not too sure how I would go about remarking something this tiny...Comment
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Re: Cheap Ebay Stuff: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly – Post Your Reviews
Forgot the link for the set, I think it was this one:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-4W-1-Metal...sAAOSwgkRVSIDQComment
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Re: Cheap Ebay Stuff: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly – Post Your Reviews
Bought a 300 piece metal film resistor set for a few hobby projecs, cost around what a 10 piece resistor set would go for at RadioShack. The few I've tested seen to be measuring within tolerance, but the markings are an issue (see the attached image). Thankfully most aren't like this. Not too sure how I would go about remarking something this tiny...
brown,black,black,brown = 100(1x0) / 1000 / 1k
the last brown band = 1% tolerance
the blue colour indicates metal oxide film.Comment
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Re: Cheap Ebay Stuff: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly – Post Your Reviews
You may have received some factory rejects. Rejects in China are not simply thrown away and usually find their way into the "grey" market and wind up for sale on places like ebay. You're lucky to get a partial refund as it's within the seller's right to ask you to return the item before issuing the refund. Here's the rub: the postal system in China is subsidized by the government, which allows sellers to ship small items, using "e-packets", for a very low price. If you had to return that same item back to China using the US Postal system, it's going to cost a small fortune, which makes returning it senseless. Therefore, those 6 months or more warranties offered by sellers are rather useless/worthless.
Well, I am not sure how, but I think eBay has tightened up the situation on that end, because nowadays, many big sellers of cheap junk will issue a refund if you are not happy with the product for any reason. And most will no longer ask you to return it because they know the items they sell are low quality, so they know it is pointless frustrating the buyer with that. They simply want positive feedback so they can continue selling their junk.
Originally posted by ChaosLegionnairehi, i ordered a 90mm fan but the item i got is the 120mm version of the item. the item appears to have been wrongly labelled. there is a sticker pasted on it saying it is 90mm but the packaging says "120". i can take photos and send it to you if required.
i am an overseas customer and used a reshipping service to ship the item. i only got the item today. it appears the 30 day window to return/exchange the item has elapsed. please tell me what to do next.
Originally posted by Amazon.com Customer ServiceHello ChaosLegionnaire,
I'm sorry to hear about the problem you had with the item.
Please understand that we always make every attempt to securely package all the item that we deliver your order in their perfect condition but sometimes these types of error may occur. Rest assured that I'm forwarding your email to our inventory and packing team so this can be checked.
At this point of time, to save you from hassles of returning the item that you've received in the order; You can keep, donate or dispose of the item--whichever option is convenient for you.
To set this right for you, I've created a free replacement order with an upgraded shipping method. The details of this order are as follows:
Order Number:<censored>
Shipping Method: One-Day Shipping
Guaranteed delivery by: Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Here is a direct link to check on the status of your replacement order:
<link censored>
Rest assured, we'll continue working hard to ensure that you receive accurate service, and to minimize the chances of anything like this occurring again.
Your patience and understanding are greatly appreciated. We look forward to seeing you again soon and hope you have a great day.
We'd appreciate your feedback. Please use the links below to tell us about your experience today.
Best regards
btw, it costs US$50 to ship stuff back to the states. so it doesnt make sense to pay 50 bucks to ship back an item that costs less than 10 bucks.
next, in the interest of staying on topic, i wanna talk about how not to treat your hynix vram 9800 pro card on ebay!
yesterday, i came across this listing of a hynix vram 9800 pro on trashbay. look at the pics first and see if u can spot anything wrong with the card. no? well then read on.
if u scroll down to the seller's store description of the item, they note that "The connector to hold the card locked in the AGP slot is broken off. This does not affect the functionality of the card."
so some idiot didnt know how to unlatch the lock on the mobo agp slot holding the video card down and decided to break/cut it. why would you wanna ruin such a fine rare item like that?! and the seller still has the balls to demand over 30 bucks for a carelessly cosmetically dmged item like that. tsk tsk... if it wasnt broken, i would have BINed it immediately...
i really get annoyed when i see rare good ol' stuff get abused like that. i wonder what was used to cut the card's latch connector? i hope whatever drill, saw, chisel etc. which was used to cut didnt warp or vibrate the card so badly that it cracked the solder joints on the card! even though the seller claimed the card is "tested and guaranteed working", i wonder how long the card will actually last...Last edited by ChaosLegionnaire; 04-13-2016, 09:58 AM.Comment
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Re: Cheap Ebay Stuff: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly – Post Your Reviews
I think you meant 5-band?
Indeed
I remember back in the early 2000's, when eBay didn't really have cheap things like this yet.
so i dont need to send pictures and they acknowledged their mistake and sent out the replacement despite it being outside of their 30 day return/exchange window. the point is not about the item being outside of the return window but the fact that they shipped and labelled the wrong item and owned up! this is what i call good service!
You'd go crazy if I told you how many used items I've seen on eBay described like that: "yeah, it looks broken, but I am sure it doesn't matter because it works, so I going to slap an outrageously high price"Comment
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Re: Cheap Ebay Stuff: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly – Post Your Reviews
One resistor has only one band. I would guess that is the problem.
I have a hard drive enclosure and some RAM that came from eBay. The hard drive enclosure is unreliable on Windows 98 (sometimes fails to enumerate), and it also has the usual flaws with cheap 2.5" drive enclosures (USB A connector and low power supply current from some USB ports). The RAM is a pair of 512MB PC133 laptop memory modules. I got the cheap RAM because that type of RAM was expensive. They work, but the laptop I bought them for won't POST on a cold boot with both modules installed. With only one module, it will either not POST (only beep) or fail to load an operating system. If I let it run for a few minutes and restart, it will boot. It will boot reliably if I install one of these cheap modules and one name brand module, so I ended up with 768MB (the original 256MB and one 512MB module).Comment
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Re: Cheap Ebay Stuff: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly – Post Your Reviews
think i may have had my first run in with a bad ebay seller. story goes like this:
on the 17th of april, i won an auction for 8gb of ram and paid up within 5 hours. the item's shipping method is via usps first class package. however, my purchase history doesnt show the item as being shipped for several days. maybe the seller forgot to update his seller dashboard with the tracking info.
so on the 21st of april, i messaged the seller via ebay and asked him if he had shipped the item yet and said maybe he forgot to update the shipping status of the item and upload the tracking info which he did the following day on the 22nd. ebay shows the item as being "shipped" on the 22nd.
however, as of now as i am typing this, i still do not see any signs of the item ever reaching or being at the post office via the tracking info. the tracking status still shows "awaiting for the shipment to reach the carrier". i think i'm going to message the seller one last time, if i still do not see the item being at the post office or in the custody of the carrier by sat, i am going to open a case with ebay/paypal and request for a refund...
first time ever, i'm encountering a seller that takes over a week to even start sending an item! i understand if one may be handicapped and they want to consolidate multiple items they are selling for one trip to the post office. but taking your own sweet time and over a week to even start shipping an item is ridiculous!
btw, is the usps post office open on saturdays? i know they do delivery on saturdays but not sure if the post office opens on saturdays too?Comment
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Re: Cheap Ebay Stuff: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly – Post Your Reviews
My last eBay purchase was a 2GB DDR2 stick, didn't arrive yet.
My previous purchase was a couple of adapter cables to change one sata power connector into 2 molex connectors. I needed one to power the fan controller that came with my case and because i didn't want to add a whole strip of molex connectors to my x-650 psu.
I tried to "mod" one of the adapter cables but it's still kind of half-assed, because the molex connectors are white:
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Re: Cheap Ebay Stuff: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly – Post Your Reviews
Ok I've always wondered what justifies "cheap" electronics from quality ones. I mean components are components correct or?
My understanding is when it comes to cheap electronics it's more about a cheap design rather than parts used. For example, power supply with just bare essentials without feedback/better filtering etc
What's everyone's take? I generally use eBay a lot. Bought myself a hot air station and adjustable dc supply (both knock offs) but they've been working fine for quite some time (knock on wood)Comment
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