June 16th
Caveat Emptor! - Let the buyer beware!
Since I have a Nokia 5110 LCD panel working successfully I wanted some more.
Unfortunately element14 does not stock this item so I had to source them from elsewhere.
After looking all over the Internet, eBay seemed to be the place with lots of sellers having them.
So I took a punt and ordered a set of five.
Some two weeks or so later they arrived whilst I was away on vacation.
A brief inspection confirmed that the PCBs were new and the LCD panels all had protective plastic covers.
The assumption that they were all new and operational.
WRONG!
After testing the lot, not a single one worked.
On closer inspection, two had physical damage.
One had scratches on the Glass under its protective cover (I assume it was used) and another had a LCD splotch.
Since I trusted nothing at this point, I dissembled one.
The PCB is indeed new and appeared to be laid out and annotated correctly.
Whilst holding my breath, I took my authentic Nokia 5110 LCD module and clipped it on the PCB and fired it up.
It worked absolutely perfectly. Here it is removed from its original PCB and onto the new one.
What a waste of a day! It's amazing what can unexpectedly go wrong.
This is why I always use a reliable and certified supply chain such as element14.
