Where do you get your electronic components from?

macphisto

Hi,

Where do all of you currently get your electronic components from? I am planning on getting back in to electronics after a long time away from it and I read this thread from 2015.

Earlier today, I was looking at RS, Farnell and CPC Ireland... is there any major difference between Farnell and CPC Ireland?

Are there other suppliers I should be considering? e.g. do any of you use sellers on Ebay?

I'd be keen to avoid delivery charges if i can as I will likely be just getting small bits and pieces every so often.

Thanks,
Macphisto

Chet T16

I use Farnell almost exclusively for components, free next day delivery and no minimum order. Ebay and aliexpress for modules etc.

See this thread too
https://touch.boards.ie/thread/2056811481/

witnessmenow

Aliexpress almost exclusively, I mostly do stuff with Arduinos and i think they have the best prices and I find it much easier than ebay to keep track on orders etc.

I search for what i want and then sort by number of orders, so far it has worked out well for me!

macphisto

Thanks for your replies,

Chet, do you need a trade account for free delivery and order quantity? I wouldn't like to have to open a trade account if at all possible.

Witnessmenow, how long do deliveries normally take with ali express?

witnessmenow

macphisto wrote: »

Thanks for your replies,

Chet, do you need a trade account for free delivery and order quantity? I wouldn't like to have to open a trade account if at all possible.

Witnessmenow, how long do deliveries normally take with ali express?

It really varies, but I really wouldnt count on anything being here within 4 weeks. This time of the year is very slow too.

Normally 2-4 weeks is about right

ozmo

Done forget you can get free components by asking nicely of the manufacturers
Some have dedicated web pages with bits you can select samples from...

http://www.instructables.com/id/Free_Electronic_Samples/

macphisto

Thanks Ozmo, I never thought of getting free samples!

ozmo

macphisto wrote: »

Thanks Ozmo, I never thought of getting free samples!

Ive gotten a couple chips from Microchip - a great local company that produce some really interesting stuff - you just need an email address that is not gmail/hotmail for them.

https://www.microchip.com/samples/

I heart Radionics

Keplar240B

Any good ebay shops in Ireland or UK?

Keplar240B

Are Farnell good for next day delivery?

ozmo

Adverts.ie has actually been useful to me for components sometimes...

Clicky

knightfly

I'm also getting back in to small electronic projects after a few years away. Traditionally I'd have bought bits from Maplin because I could just walk into their shops to get what I wanted when I needed it. Now that they've closed down I'm stumped.

Q: Do Farnell have a minimum number purchase level? The little project I'm working on only needs about €30 worth of parts, but a will require a decent number of different ICs (one static memory, a couple of dozen 4 bit registers, a couple of XOR gates etc). I don't want to have to buy a few hundred of each component to meet their minimum order levels!

Keplar240B

knightfly wrote: »

I'm also getting back in to small electronic projects after a few years away. Traditionally I'd have bought bits from Maplin because I could just walk into their shops to get what I wanted when I needed it. Now that they've closed down I'm stumped.

Q: Do Farnell have a minimum number purchase level? The little project I'm working on only needs about €30 worth of parts, but a will require a decent number of different ICs (one static memory, a couple of dozen 4 bit registers, a couple of XOR gates etc). I don't want to have to buy a few hundred of each component to meet their minimum order levels!

It depends on component , Some components you can order 1 of , others you must buy multiples of varying degrees. you should be OK for most things.

Usually the more you buy the cheaper it gets. Its usually only real small cheap things where they make you buy a big multiple like caps.


I brought stuff off them(Farnell) recently , very fast professional delivery.

Keplar240B

I brought some stuff from Irish electronics recently
Some stuff is a bit pricier than e-bay or Farnell. it seems
Selection would not be great obviously as Farnell or radionics
free next day delivery if you spend more than 30 bucks.
There are in cork so you could drop into them if you down there and pick it up.
they are the Authorised Irish Distributors for Velleman and Kitronik products so they have all that stuff

http://irishelectronics.ie/

Capt'n Midnight

These guys have been doing mail order forever.

https://www.donberg.ie/

Keplar240B

Chet T16 wrote: »

I use Farnell almost exclusively for components, free next day delivery and no minimum order. Ebay and aliexpress for modules etc.

See this thread too
https://touch.boards.ie/thread/2056811481/

They have free shipping but they have a "handling charge" if order is under 20 euros i just discovered.



The DHL delivery system they use is fast and excellent in my limited experience.

knightfly

I was looking for a few bits last week I was surprised to see €20 had been added - this would probably have been why.

In the end I found the few bits I needed on Amazon! I think they are being shipped from China or Hong Kong, so they
are going to take a few weeks to arrive. :-(

ShauntaMetzel

I usually prefer to buy from Farnell because of a variety of stuff there. Recently ordered Tri-rated cable from there and yes, service was good. On the other hand, yes, Adverts is also entering into good electronic products. If your question is about eBay then as compared to eBay, I shipped some PCB prototypes from AliExpress and now, I am also willing to get some SMT equipment from here neodenusa.com. Yes, for PCB I usually order from China and the US. A few days ago, someone also suggested ecscircuits (a store in Ireland) but I am not much aware of their service and quality of products. Have any of you used it?