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DIY Audio: Counterfeit Parts

tr1ple6

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An interesting project to help fight against counterfeit goods
 

Sal1950

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Looks like that is a common cheat. Check the choke in this power supply:
They just looped the wire in and out of the thing!
And empty inside like the other one:
Amazing that everything else is there but the copper winding wire.
That's incredible, I would have never guessed such a thing existed.
I guess Hi End audio isn't the only electronics industry full of charlatans. :eek:
 

c1ferrari

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Terrible...safety concerns -- Danger Will Robinson, Danger! :eek:
 

NorthSky

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Amir, which brand computer was it the one with that strange transformer?
Is this common practice, normal, regular operation?

Is there any reason to be concerned @ all, can we launch a lawsuit, do you know a good attorney, is he fair about his wages and cut, can we win, do we have a solid case, is there a positive for the population, should we call consumer protection association, are we certain that something is amiss, it looks like it, ...

What brand was this computer? @ least if we don't recourse to action of the laws we can stay away from that brand and tell all their owners what they bought. It looks like an older PC model, which year, and make?

And why didn't you mention it? It's important to know, very.
 
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It is a from a chinese website that only looked at the power supplies, not computer that they went into. Here it is: http://www.pcpop.com/doc/0/294/294565_all.shtml

And the original one is from this thread: http://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/dishonest-chinese-power-supply-'engineering'/?topicseen

The lesson here is to buy from reputable companies (dell, HP, Apple, Microsoft, etc.). Once you go shopping for parts on ebay and such, all bets are off and there are far, far more offenses than these chokes being empty (that just causes the output to be more noisy).
 

DonH56

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NorthSky

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OK, then we just don't buy products made in China.
We stick with USA, Canada, UK, Japan, Germany, Italy, France, and other trustable countries where they treat their workers fairly and humanly.

Simple, and we become happier.

We invest @ home, we invest in ourselves, we treat each other well, with respect, with fair salaries for both men and women, we create our own products in a cleaner climate with human dignity. That's the recice for a healthier people living in a happier big family.
 
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amirm

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China-made is OK if it is under the supervision of western and major Asian companies. By themselves they can still be good but you better know what you are buying.
 

Sal1950

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RayDunzl

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$199.95 in 1955 → $1,826.30 in 2017
 

Sal1950

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$199.95 in 1955 → $1,826.30 in 2017
That's for a 26" screen, considered a monster at the time, the largest then available.
Balance that against today's 75 and up LCD's and it's about right.
Besides the fact that modern video offerings have to be considered a major bargain in light of what your dollar buys today.
 

Wombat

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4440-NXvpJs8DzNMQ.jpg


Voltage and capacity both underrated. I wonder if the Rubycon is a fake?
 

CuteStudio

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Crumbs.
Recycled parts pulled out by poor indians who sit the PCBs on fires I think.

There's some corruption of course in China but some is induced due to lack of understanding: A common western way to drive prices down is to get a prototype made and them bargain hard for a better price from your supplier. It's just the macho way to do business.

In the west this is met by a grudging acceptance that they are being taken and they deliver the goods.
In China that's fine, you'll get what you pay for so they just substitute everything for cheaper parts - like recycled and fake bits.

Catches lots of savvy westerners by surprise but for the Chinese it's just them giving you what you paid for...
 

trl

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restorer-john

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I could post pics of fake semis, fake caps etc for days. There's plenty of internal pics posted of Chinese HiFi gear where the fakes are so obvious, its ridiculous.

Fake metal film 1% resistors are in practically everything made in China. Basically, any obsolete but expensive semis are being faked or anything used in quantity, regardless of how inexpensive it is, they are being faked too.

I source from Mouser or direct from my suppliers in Japan for hard to get semis.
 

Sal1950

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I could post pics of fake semis, fake caps etc for days. There's plenty of internal pics posted of Chinese HiFi gear where the fakes are so obvious, its ridiculous.
As stated before, I never would have imagined such things were going on. o_O Guess it just goes to show how corrupt the entire state controlled business models are. China is cheating/screwing the world in every way they possibly can get away with. Don't want to go all political but how bad does a country have to be attacking the world around them with a non-military assault before the UN or someone takes action? Sad.
 
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RayDunzl

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