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LED's from ebay.

B

Bullwinkle Jones

Jan 1, 1970
0
There seems to always be a great deal on LEDs by EBay sellers. Has anybody in
ABSE or SEB had any experience with any LED's purchased in this manner?

I found on auction the other day (too lazy to look up now) that had 100 white
LED's for $4.99.. Too good to be true?
 
N

Neil

Jan 1, 1970
0
I just received my 100 bright white LEDs from Ebay on Friday, and I paid
$2.00 for them ( but I think I paid 8.00 US for postage). All that I can say
so far, by testing them with a button cell, is that they seem exactly as
described, and seem really nice. They arrived on Friday in a small padded
envelope from Hong Kong (with some really cool stamps on the envelope, I may
add). I find it amazing that I can buy items from someone close by that
takes weeks to get here, but it takes less than a week for a guy in Hong
Kong to get me my leds. I have to say that I was a little worried about
buying from someone in the orient (which I didn't realise until AFTER the
sale was over), but so far, I am happily surprised. I've paid just as much
for 100 LED surprise pacs from US suppliers, and paid considerably more for
shipping, and gotten a lot less for my money.
Kim
 
F

Frank Bemelman

Jan 1, 1970
0
Neil said:
I just received my 100 bright white LEDs from Ebay on Friday, and I paid
$2.00 for them ( but I think I paid 8.00 US for postage). All that I can say
so far, by testing them with a button cell, is that they seem exactly as
described, and seem really nice. They arrived on Friday in a small padded
envelope from Hong Kong (with some really cool stamps on the envelope, I may
add). I find it amazing that I can buy items from someone close by that
takes weeks to get here, but it takes less than a week for a guy in Hong
Kong to get me my leds. I have to say that I was a little worried about
buying from someone in the orient (which I didn't realise until AFTER the
sale was over), but so far, I am happily surprised. I've paid just as much
for 100 LED surprise pacs from US suppliers, and paid considerably more for
shipping, and gotten a lot less for my money.
Kim

100 leds for $10, not bad. Which seller?
 
N

Neil

Jan 1, 1970
0
The guy that I bought form-his ID is hkemart, and he always has lots of
different types of leds for sale, but there are hundreds of guys selling
bulk LEDS at really good prices.
Ive bought many things on ebay, and this was the furthest mailed. Im
currently waiting on a antique painting from New Zealand that is several
feet wide and tall, as well as a statue from Tibet, so we'll see how they
fare.
Kim
 
J

Jean-Yves

Jan 1, 1970
0
Le Sun, 25 Apr 2004 9:50:57 +0200, Neil écrivait dans le message
I just received my 100 bright white LEDs from Ebay on Friday, and I paid
$2.00 for them ( but I think I paid 8.00 US for postage). All that I can say
so far, by testing them with a button cell, is that they seem exactly as
described, and seem really nice. They arrived on Friday in a small padded
envelope from Hong Kong (with some really cool stamps on the envelope, I may
add). I find it amazing that I can buy items from someone close by that
takes weeks to get here, but it takes less than a week for a guy in Hong
Kong to get me my leds. I have to say that I was a little worried about
buying from someone in the orient (which I didn't realise until AFTER the
sale was over), but so far, I am happily surprised. I've paid just as much
for 100 LED surprise pacs from US suppliers, and paid considerably more for
shipping, and gotten a lot less for my money.
Kim


Bullwinkle Jones said:
There seems to always be a great deal on LEDs by EBay sellers. Has anybody in
ABSE or SEB had any experience with any LED's purchased in this manner?

I found on auction the other day (too lazy to look up now) that had 100 white
LED's for $4.99.. Too good to be true?

you will perhaps get a custom bill also... but for a $2 value it shouldn't be
too much !!!
 
W

Walter Harley

Jan 1, 1970
0
Neil said:
I have to say that I was a little worried about
buying from someone in the orient (which I didn't realise until AFTER the
sale was over), but so far, I am happily surprised.

Hey, practically everything you buy comes from "the orient", right? They
can't be all bad :)
 
N

Neil

Jan 1, 1970
0
Yah...maybe I will get a customs bill, but I calculate it to be (based on
current duties, and the item being $2.00) around .23 cents. I doubt that
they will bother.
Kim
 
F

Frank Bemelman

Jan 1, 1970
0
Neil said:
Yah...maybe I will get a customs bill, but I calculate it to be (based on
current duties, and the item being $2.00) around .23 cents. I doubt that
they will bother.

I would expect they calculate duties on the shipping costs plus
the item costs. And assume they ignore everything below a total
of $35-$50.
 
S

Spehro Pefhany

Jan 1, 1970
0
I would expect they calculate duties on the shipping costs plus
the item costs. And assume they ignore everything below a total
of $35-$50.

Taxes and duty (if any) are not calculated on the shipping cost
(vastly oversimplified version, but good enough for this context). You
should not include shipping cost in the value of stuff you ship
overseas. They let stuff through below a a certain amount, depending
on country, but a box worth $40-$50 US will usually attract sales
taxes, duty (if any) and a Post Office service fee in Canada.

BTW, some have reported 5-10% bad units in LEDs from eBay suppliers.
Our China factory has two quality levels, with very significant price
difference. The high price is for Europe and North American buyers and
all the parts meet the data sheet specifications. The low price is for
Pakistan, India etc. and the parts contain many fallouts and other
floor-sweepings. The third-world buyers don't mind sorting through
them to save a bit of money. Maybe they are like some hobbyists! ;-)

Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
 
F

Frank Bemelman

Jan 1, 1970
0
Spehro Pefhany said:
Taxes and duty (if any) are not calculated on the shipping cost
(vastly oversimplified version, but good enough for this context). You
should not include shipping cost in the value of stuff you ship
overseas. They let stuff through below a a certain amount, depending
on country, but a box worth $40-$50 US will usually attract sales
taxes, duty (if any) and a Post Office service fee in Canada.

When I have something shipped to the Netherlands, I have to pay
duties depending on the kind of goods, and 19% salestax, and some fees,
but the salestax portion is calculated over both the shipping costs *and*
the costs of the goods. I don't exactly why and when they decide to let
it slip through. Cheap 'internet' cigarettes never escape their attention.
They even catch empty PC cases, which hold about ~15 cartons of cigarettes.
That's 150 packs...
BTW, some have reported 5-10% bad units in LEDs from eBay suppliers.
Our China factory has two quality levels, with very significant price
difference. The high price is for Europe and North American buyers and
all the parts meet the data sheet specifications. The low price is for
Pakistan, India etc. and the parts contain many fallouts and other
floor-sweepings. The third-world buyers don't mind sorting through
them to save a bit of money. Maybe they are like some hobbyists! ;-)

Floor-sweepings! Imagine that, from the end of the month, all kinds of
different colors and diameters ;)
 
W

Watson A.Name - \Watt Sun, the Dark Remover\

Jan 1, 1970
0
Bullwinkle Jones said:
There seems to always be a great deal on LEDs by EBay sellers. Has anybody in
ABSE or SEB had any experience with any LED's purchased in this manner?

I found on auction the other day (too lazy to look up now) that had 100 white
LED's for $4.99.. Too good to be true?

Exactly, they're junk. I bought 200 on Ebay from a hong kong vendor,
and they have dimmed to nearly nothing in the last 6 months I've had
them on as a night light. My advice is to avoid them and buy decent
quality LEDs from reputable companies. I just bought another 50 from
http://www.whitelightled.com for a dollar each, and $2 shipping. He
accepts paypal. Just a satisfied customer.


 
W

Watson A.Name - \Watt Sun, the Dark Remover\

Jan 1, 1970
0
Spehro Pefhany said:
Taxes and duty (if any) are not calculated on the shipping cost
(vastly oversimplified version, but good enough for this context). You
should not include shipping cost in the value of stuff you ship
overseas. They let stuff through below a a certain amount, depending
on country, but a box worth $40-$50 US will usually attract sales
taxes, duty (if any) and a Post Office service fee in Canada.

BTW, some have reported 5-10% bad units in LEDs from eBay suppliers.
Our China factory has two quality levels, with very significant price
difference. The high price is for Europe and North American buyers and
all the parts meet the data sheet specifications. The low price is for
Pakistan, India etc. and the parts contain many fallouts and other
floor-sweepings. The third-world buyers don't mind sorting through
them to save a bit of money. Maybe they are like some hobbyists! ;-)

In the late '70s when red LEDs first became available, the stores sold
floor sweepings for premium prices. You could look into the LED when it
was on (hey, it was dim enough to look into!) and see maybe half a chip
in there. Yeah, really! And that was for a buck apiece! Later maybe a
quarter apiece.

Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
http://www.speff.com
 
F

Frank Bemelman

Jan 1, 1970
0
Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun said:
Exactly, they're junk. I bought 200 on Ebay from a hong kong vendor,
and they have dimmed to nearly nothing in the last 6 months I've had
them on as a night light. My advice is to avoid them and buy decent
quality LEDs from reputable companies. I just bought another 50 from
http://www.whitelightled.com for a dollar each, and $2 shipping. He
accepts paypal. Just a satisfied customer.

Were you running them at 50mA ? ;-) How do the new ones behave?
 
B

Bullwinkle Jones

Jan 1, 1970
0
Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun said:
Exactly, they're junk. I bought 200 on Ebay from a hong kong vendor,
and they have dimmed to nearly nothing in the last 6 months I've had
them on as a night light. My advice is to avoid them and buy decent
quality LEDs from reputable companies. I just bought another 50 from
http://www.whitelightled.com for a dollar each, and $2 shipping. He
accepts paypal. Just a satisfied customer.

I don't have a serious purpose for them, and re: white LED's they were just an
example. I was actually just trying to get a feel for the quality of basically
all the 'steal of a deal' LEDs on EBay. I'm thinking about buying a bunch, and
even if 50% are bad, it's still a good deal for my purpose of experimenting.
I'm actuallying thinking about multiplexing a bunch for an LED sign, computer
controlled of course.
 
S

Spehro Pefhany

Jan 1, 1970
0
I don't have a serious purpose for them, and re: white LED's they were just an
example. I was actually just trying to get a feel for the quality of basically
all the 'steal of a deal' LEDs on EBay. I'm thinking about buying a bunch, and
even if 50% are bad, it's still a good deal for my purpose of experimenting.
I'm actuallying thinking about multiplexing a bunch for an LED sign, computer
controlled of course.

Watch the shipping charges too, sometimes they add $10 or even $20 US
for something that costs $2 to airmail, which means that the real cost
is much higher. They do this partly to catch your eye and partly to
deprive eBay of their fees, which are based on cost before shipping is
added. I see one that has $20 for first and $18 for each additional
lot..

I also have some argument with listing the "maximum" brightness (and
"typical") rather than the "minimum". ;-)

IOW, they guarantee the brightness will worse than some figure, but
not better than anything..

Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
 
J

John Miller

Jan 1, 1970
0
Spehro said:
The low price is for
Pakistan, India etc. and the parts contain many fallouts and other
floor-sweepings. The third-world buyers don't mind sorting through
them to save a bit of money. Maybe they are like some hobbyists! ;-)

Lots of us who are slingin' solder in retirement don't mind it a bit, either
(now that the company is no longer buying the parts).

What's today's closest equivalent to Poly-Packs?

--
John Miller
Email address: domain, n4vu.com; username, jsm

How many retired bricklayers from FLORIDA are out purchasing PENCIL
SHARPENERS right NOW??
-Zippy
 
N

Neil

Jan 1, 1970
0
To tell you the truth, I've been looking for a replacement for Poly Pacs
since Poly Pacs went out of business. Until I started buying components from
EBay, the closest thing that I could find was Electronics Goldmine. ALL of
their bulk packs are great, and inexpensive as well. Now, I buy all my
hobbyist items from EBay, weather it is 1000 NPN transistors for a Buck, or
as I wrote in a prior thread, 100 Leds for $2.00. OK, maybe they are
possibly sweepings, or not first quality product (although so far what I've
gotten seems factory fresh)...but so far the price has been great, as well
as the product. After all, I am just a hobbyist, and if 1 transistor out of
100 is bad.....oh well. And yes, you do have to watch shipping charges,
because they can nip you in the but, but like everything else in life, you
have to read the details carefully, and ask questions.
Kim
 
W

Watson A.Name - \Watt Sun, the Dark Remover\

Jan 1, 1970
0
Frank Bemelman said:
Were you running them at 50mA ? ;-) How do the new ones behave?

I used a 6VDC unregulated wall wart to powwer them, and I calculated the
resistors to give a current to be about 30 mA each, but that depends on
the AC line voltage.

The new ones behave just like the old ones. They're Nichia NSPW510BS 50
degree 1800 mCd white area illuminating LEDs. The old ones I bought
were Nichia NSPW500BS 20 degree white spot LEDs.

I'm gonna sub these in place of the dim H.K. LEDs and see how they work.
I'll let you know in several months. ;-)

I have a strange feeling that some of the cheap LEDs use a phosphor that
is some organic type of compound. I suspect that the cheap LED dies
have a tendency to get contaminated by the phosphor as they're
operating, and that causes the dimming. I also notice that the LED's
voltage rises as time goes by. The LED may start out at 3.2V, and as it
dims it may go to above 4VDC.

 
D

Dave VanHorn

Jan 1, 1970
0
What's today's closest equivalent to Poly-Packs?


I remember Poly-Packs! High school days.
I bought leds from them that you could sort of tell were in fact on, in a
dark room. :)

That was when semiconductor lasers went in for 40A 50nS pulses, and were
$$$$.
 
W

Watson A.Name - \Watt Sun, the Dark Remover\

Jan 1, 1970
0
Bullwinkle Jones said:
message
I don't have a serious purpose for them, and re: white LED's they were just an
example. I was actually just trying to get a feel for the quality of basically
all the 'steal of a deal' LEDs on EBay. I'm thinking about buying a bunch, and
even if 50% are bad, it's still a good deal for my purpose of experimenting.
I'm actuallying thinking about multiplexing a bunch for an LED sign, computer
controlled of course.

Bad thing about this is that it's a real bitch to have to replace bad
LEDs after you have hundreds of them stuffed on the display board.
Especially if a lot of them start to go bad... :-(
 
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