[GLLUG] Spot the cheap Chinese fake

[Christopher Hunter]

On 09/04/14 15:42, Michael Peel wrote:
> Is it not better to just stick to a respected company when buying parts
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
Sadly, no.  I bought some power supplies from a very well known (and 
rather over-priced) supplier in Corby.  The things that turned up were, 
frankly, dangerous.  I returned them for a refund, and pointed out that 
these were very poorly made and liable to cause fires.  The supplier 
still advertises them.

My new policy is to buy a sample, strip it down, examine it for build 
quality, and return a kit of parts to the supplier and demand my money 
back if the item doesn't meet the BS Safety Criteria.  This has 
persuaded at least one supplier to drop a line of supposedly "high 
quality" SMPSUs, but takes a lot of my time.  I now have my staff 
examine the PSUs we buy in....

I've got very fed up with the nasty leakage through SMPSUs - even if 
they're "safe" they can have significant leakage to the "low voltage" 
side of the device.  I can't count the number of painful shocks I've had 
from laptops and many peripherals when connecting them to desktop 
machines.  I now use "linear" supplies for most of my gear, with proper 
earthing!

C.