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  • Author Author: shabaz
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Fake and Re-used Electronic Parts and Components

shabaz

I thought it would be good to have a discussion about peoples experiences with fake and recycled components, and share photos so that others can be aware.

 

As an introduction, it should be clear to most that if it a component deal seems too good to be true then it probably is fake : )

I generally avoid using ebay for components, although I have used it for a few parts in the past for hobby projects. One particular area of risk seems to be integrated circuits, especially audio op-amps and RF chips. These can cost a lot, and I once saw a fake Analog Devices part which clearly was a cheaper IC with the markings sanded off and a new marking inscribed on top. A genuine AD part would not have such poor quality finish.

 

LEDs are another area of concern; a while back I picked up a few Cree LEDs, but I also purchased some from Farnell.

The difference is quite interesting, this is a photo of the underside of the LEDs:

image

The one purchased through ebay came in a plastic component carrier tape, just like the genuine parts from Farnell. However, upon opening the tape and examining the underside, it can be seen that the part has been recycled; someone has unsoldered it from a PCB and polished off the solder, revealing the copper underneath the plated exterior that the genuine part should have.

LEDs have a limited life and this one has likely been used in the past, and will have a lower brightness and time to failure compared to a new LED. The LED does light up (I tested with a multimeter), it just won't perform as well as the new part. It may not be the same part either; the genuine LEDs are correctly binned for brightness matching.

 

I don't purchase from ebay often enough to have more examples, but it would be interesting to see and read about other fakes/recycled parts other people have experienced.

Parents

  • Hello,

    I'd like to share my fresh experience with a purchase on eBay.

     

    I wanted to buy a NEO-M8N GPS/GNSS module from u-blox. It is hard to find a ready made module and a distributor to send it for a reasonable price to the Czech Republic.

    So I found quite a lot of modules with a breakout board on eBay and ordered one.

     

    Two weeks later, I got the module, connected it to a PC and used the original u-center software to verify its function. The signal was good, the module seemed to work OK. Then I tried to upgrade the firmware and it failed. I started googling for more information, got to the point how to read some device information data. This part of memory was inaccessible. Hmmm, strange. I googled again to resolve the upgrade problem.

     

    I ended up on an official u-blox forum, finding out that I am not the only one with this problem and I probably bought a fake part. You can see there both original and counterfeit part - I didn't want to copy someone else's photo without a permission. (You may say I was naive, but I bought the module for about a price that it really costs.)

     

    I am attaching the images of my module below and if you scan the QR code (which is also fake), it shows a description to an older module. This means I got a corrupted clone of a cheaper module...

    imageimage

    I contacted the seller, who was "surprised" and said that he will do everything possible, bla bla bla. Nothing happened, so I escalated the case to eBay. They sent me an email stating I mentioned that the part is not genuine, so I should fill in some forms they sent me, destroy the item and provide them some declaration of destruction or confiscation by authorities. Two days later (I didn't do a thing as I was on a holiday for a few days) I got a full refund from the seller, so eBay closed the case automatically saying they don't need anything from me now.

     

    Lessons learned: buy only from official distributors. Sellers in China have an incredibly large warehouses and can ship things for low prices and quite fast, however, most of the things are just some recycled of cloned electronic waste.

    I can't find it now, but there is a famous ca. 50 slides presentation on the internet, full of pictures about how this counterfeit industry works.

  • in reply to shabaz

    I found the presentation: https://www.smta.org/chapters/files/Uppermidwest_VendorExpo_SMTAI-Upper-Midwest-Presentation-06-09-11.pdf

     

    BTW a few years ago, I also ordered sets of some resistors (a hundred of each value from E24 line I think), some capacitors and LEDs. After a few weeks, the components were covered with some black corrosion. Plus the leads were so thin that they were easily broken. I had to get rid of them (threw them into a container for old electronics as I hoped that some parts can be recycled).

     

    I also heard stories about minibikes imported from China that looked perfect, but were actually manufactured with a seized engine. All had to be dismantled and adjusted to work, before assembling them again. However, they were a bargain.

     

    One thing is obvious. People go to buy these things on eBay, because they miss something from reliable distributors (availability, price ...). For me it's often really hard to buy some components in Czech Republic. For example I have still failed at buying NDIR CO2 sensors from the UK. Exchanged tens of emails without a result. Price of the component is the same as price of the shipping (I am talking about 1/2 pcs for sampling). eBay offers a quick buy with 3 clicks, however, the quality from chinese sellers can be very disappointing.

  • in reply to koudelad

    Hi David,

     

    Thanks for finding this document! Quite frightening the extent that fake copies are made. I have heard of other industries where they suffered from not so much fake components, but entire faked products built on cheaper hardware. As an example: people take the hardware and put it in a larger case and sell it as a higher-end model, e.g. a 10-port device is really a cheaper 2-port device in a bigger box. To make the system report that it is an 10-port device, a chip (ATmega or similar) is glued on the board and wired over the JTAG pins inside. It manipulates sufficiently to make the software think it is running on the higher-end hardware. Just that 8 of the ports are actually useless : )

  • in reply to shabaz

    Exactly, one of the famous cases that persists on auction servers are flash drives. Have a look at a computer store you trust for a price of a 1 TB flash drive. Now search on eBay for "1 TB flash drive" and compare the prices.

    Anyone who accidentally buys one gets a flash drive with a much lower capacity, just formatted to report some nonsense capacity. No file is possible to store on it. After reformatting comes the surprise revealing the truth.

  • in reply to koudelad

    I've also heard of Lithium batteries like the 18650 being sold with completely fake capacity ratings. Most people wouldn't be able to test the capacity. I've bought some and they work well in my flashlight, and were cheap, but I wouldn't know if they should be lasting twice as long or what.

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