My local Radio Shack was shut down, and the alternative is pretty expensive, so I decided to go to Ebay and buy assorted passive components just so I would have a few things lying around if I needed them. I went to Ebay, and one of the things I chose was an assortment of metal film resistors. They sold me 2600 resistors in various values for $15.

I was not really concerned about getting top-quality resistors. I just looked for a good deal. But the ad claims these are metal film resistors with a 1% tolerance, which is considerably better than I need for screwing around with a bread board.

My question: has anyone else tried deals like this, and do the resistors perform as advertised? I'm sure all of these Ebay deals feature the same Chinese components.

The resistors look a whole lot like the Vishays I've paid something like 15 cents each for.

I also got a pile of ceramic caps, plus polyester film caps.

 

Wow, that's cheap. I bet they're OK. It'd probably cost just about as much to counterfeit a resistor as it does to actually make one.

But I'd be leery of the 1% tolerance until I had tested a bunch of them. Pull out 20 at random and see what you get. I don't recall my sampling theory, but if you same enough and they all meet the spec, you can be fairly confident that the rest are OK too.

You could also crack open a few and see if you can verify the manufacturing type.

 

Agree. It's hard to screw up a resistor, but it's easy to lie about the specs.
Once upon a time, I made a resistor out of a coil of 10 gauge wire.
I have no doubt the value wandered all over the place because temperature, but it was good enough to run the amp meter in a Ford truck.
I could lie about the inductance and the temperature performance, but it's still a resistor.

 

The quality of goods from China off EBay can vary wildly. I have had good results buying circuit assemblies there, but I don't use them for components for the most part.

Resistors? Meh, at worst they took someone's spec fallout so the tollerance will be off, though they just as well can be good surplus to be sold cheap.

Caveat emptor still applies. Ohm them out before use.

 

My local Radio Shack was shut down, and the alternative is pretty expensive, so I decided to go to Ebay and buy assorted passive components just so I would have a few things lying around if I needed them. I went to Ebay, and one of the things I chose was an assortment of metal film resistors. They sold me 2600 resistors in various values for $15.

I was not really concerned about getting top-quality resistors. I just looked for a good deal. But the ad claims these are metal film resistors with a 1% tolerance, which is considerably better than I need for screwing around with a bread board.

My question: has anyone else tried deals like this, and do the resistors perform as advertised? I'm sure all of these Ebay deals feature the same Chinese components.

The resistors look a whole lot like the Vishays I've paid something like 15 cents each for.

I also got a pile of ceramic caps, plus polyester film caps.

Leaded? 1/4 Watt?
Great price.

 

So apparently they are not notorious for blowing up or being way off spec, or someone would have said so.

I am totally thrilled with the buy. If they're even close to what they're supposed to be, they will be extremely handy. I will probably never need a real 1%-tolerance resistor. I was concerned the real figure might be something like 50%; that's why I posted the question.

The item # is 151951060529, if anyone wants to see exactly what I'm talking about.

 

Once upon a time, I made a resistor out of a coil of 10 gauge wire.
I have no doubt the value wandered all over the place because temperature, but it was good enough to run the amp meter in a Ford truck.
I could lie about the inductance and the temperature performance, but it's still a resistor.

I've done that many times to make basic ammeters out of salvaged mV meters.

Accuracy wise they were close enough to tell me if there was a problem or not. If they read zero at no amps and within a few percent at full scale in general operating conditions that was good enough.

 

I just received the 278 polyester capacitors I paid $6.66 for. Hilarious. These components will be so helpful. I hate driving across town and paying a dollar for two caps in a blister pack.

 

They sold me 2600 resistors in various values for $15.

[snip] for [snip] around with a bread board.

Personally, I wouldn't buy resistors on eBay unless it was from someone who was liquidating stock of name brand parts.

I bought a box of bagged resistors (10-15 per bag, multiple values) on eBay that were from some kit. The leads on the resistors are smaller gauge than normal and they're a pain to insert in solderless breadboards.

Most 1/4W resistor leads are stiff enough that they don't bend when being inserted and won't pull out too easily. Standard lead diameter (for Vishay, Dale, and SEI) seems to be #23 (0.023").

 

I buy bulk resistors off e-bay all the time. Haven't had a problem yet. They're all made in Asia, mostly China, so you generally get a better deal cutting out the middle man and buying on e-bay from China.

For inexpensive electronics parts, I also buy a ton of stuff from Tayda Electronics in Thailand. Their prices are fantastic, their shipping is VERY reasonable and surprisingly fast. They have a Facebook page where every few weeks they publish a 15% coupon code (which usually covers the shipping costs). I generally fill up my basket and then wait for the coupon code to come out before I pull the trigger. My last order was 5 days ago (the 12th). The package arrived in the U.S. on the 15th and will be here on Monday, so 1 week shipping. It's taken as long as 2 weeks. Not bad for Thailand, though.

I have no association with Tayda other than being an exceptionally happy customer.

 

I buy stuff in bulk on eBay quite often as well.

I have never came across any serious problems with all the bulk surplus electronics related items I have ever purchased.

 

I've been lucky with my parts bought from China as well. However if I was doing this professionally(not just for myself) I would buy parts from as reputable source as I could find.

But yeah so far so good

 

As long as you are not going into production- buy away!

Sure, some may be old, a bit corroded on the leads, maybe even out of spec, but the consequences of these facts are trivial when viewed in the context of a small home lab.

 

Thanks for heads up, just had a quick look at prices....so much cheaper than local outlets.....I wonder how fast they ship to Australia.

According to their policies page, 7-12 days to Australia (US is 7-16 days)

 

has anyone else tried deals like this, and do the resistors perform as advertised?

the quality will vary from vendor to vendor so it is hard to tell. I have bought metal film resistors off ebay, and quality is generally good - 1k resistors typically measure from 99x to 101x ohm, for example. One thing be aware: those resistors have very very thin leads.

RadioShack resistors are much better from that perspective.

Also, I tend to just buy 1k/10k/100k resistors and use them as much as I could instead of other value resistors.

 

the quality will vary from vendor to vendor so it is hard to tell. I have bought metal film resistors off ebay, and quality is generally good - 1k resistors typically measure from 99x to 101x ohm, for example. One thing be aware: those resistors have very very thin leads.

RadioShack resistors are much better from that perspective.

Also, I tend to just buy 1k/10k/100k resistors and use them as much as I could instead of other value resistors.

I hadn't thought about that. The leads are very thin on the 1/4W resistors. I have not had that experience with the 1W metal films I've purchased, however. They have suitably thick leads (and of course, they're much bigger). I haven't had any issues with the thin leads and actually, for building on veroboard, they come in handy. I use the resistor lead cuttings for making jumpers and if I ever need to get 2 jumpers into the same hole, I can do that with the resistor leads. The 22 gauge hookup wire is too thick.

 

The resistors came, and they do have thin leads.

I grabbed one at random and heated it with a soldering iron while measuring the resistance. It was a 430-ohm. The resistance was exactly 430, and it didn't move with heat, which surprised me.

Good enough for government work!

 

For inexpensive electronics parts, I also buy a ton of stuff from Tayda Electronics in Thailand. Their prices are fantastic, their shipping is VERY reasonable and surprisingly fast. They have a Facebook page where every few weeks they publish a 15% coupon code (which usually covers the shipping costs). I generally fill up my basket and then wait for the coupon code to come out before I pull the trigger. My last order was 5 days ago (the 12th). The package arrived in the U.S. on the 15th and will be here on Monday, so 1 week shipping. It's taken as long as 2 weeks. Not bad for Thailand, though.

I have ordered fromTayda several times. Never had a problem. Shipping speed depends on what you choose. Standard is 7 -16 days, Economic express is 6 - 9 days. UPS express is 2 - 4 days. Shipping price depends on your order total.

Coupon is up on Facebook right now. Valid to Dec. 25th. 15% off. Code is XMAS.

 

Hi,
Please let me know if you dont mind, what is your work ? coz i was interested why you eagerly concerned
of the tolerances and quality of the resistors?. Are you using in it in military devices or medical devices?

 

Hello,

I got some 1 percent resistors from someone who got them from eBay. The tolerance seemed ok, but what surprised me is that the leads are made of steel not copper. They are probably tin plated steel.
This surprised me because all the other resistors i have must have copper leads because the leads are not attracted to a magnet while the ones from eBay are attracted to a magnet.

From what i have read this makes the leads stronger and that is sometimes a concern for 1/4 watt resistors (which they are). 1/2 watt resistors are used for more durability but if the leads are stronger the 1/4 watt ones with steel leads might be more durable.

What i could not find though is any measured data on frequency response. As we all know, steel contains iron and that means it reacts with magnetic fields and also the skin depth is more shallow for magnetically active materials like steel than for metals like copper. There may not be that much difference but because the two metals are not the same there must be some difference for some excitation. Maybe that only affects some higher frequency circuits, or maybe it doesnt, but i dont have any hard data either way.
The only thing certain that i know of is that if we used one of these resistors in a very very high magnetic field it could be pulled very hard by the field. This would be more of a concern in a laboratory where very high magnetic fields were being generated of course as part of some experiment which required high energy magnetic fields.