Best/cheapest place to buy chips and components?

ebay

>>1039967
Ebay or aliexpress but be prepared to wait a month for your stuff if you're buying chink parts.

So far I haven't gotten a single faulty component which is surprising. Resistors, LEDs, ICs, LCDs. Everything well within specs.
Unlike the local suppliers which are 10-20x as expensive and ironically less reliable.

>>1040072
Good to know thx.
Yes I'm not unknown on importing components, did it for years but I only had 1 supplier but it went bankrupt.
Haha Lcd's have (atleast for me) almost always been a bad investment. One time I had 3 PSPv3 screens broken in package, but to be fair they compensated me quite well but still. Another time I was sent the screen sheets... Not with the chips inside or anything just the sheets.

>>1040105
I only ordered small LCDs and they all worked perfectly.
The kind of rare orange 1602 is beautiful. Still saving it for the perfect project.

File: 1466555919614.jpg (37KB, 480x516px) Image search: [Google]

37KB, 480x516px

>>1040131
I assume it's the older version? Yes they are really pretty and last for ages if proper built.

>>1039967
Tell us where you live, OP. That matters if you ask for supplier recommendation.

>>1040072
That's true, especially if you want to lay your hands on popular items.
Also, look for modules with the item you want – e.g., on aliexpress often popular boards with chips/components are less expensive than the chip/component itself (e.g. a single enc28j60 module is less expensive than a single enc28j60 chip on aliexpress, 128x64px 0.96in oled is less expensive with a nice board than alone...)

>>1040145
Well I'm used to directly import from China so I don't know how much that matter, but I live in Sweden.

>>1040145
There's often no shipment costs when you buy in bulks.

>>1040072
>So far I haven't gotten a single faulty component which is surprising. Resistors, LEDs, ICs, LCDs. Everything well within specs.
If you bought any blue "1% metal film" resistors from any China sellers, you probably got [somewhat] ripped off.
These resistors (from ANY China seller!) are usually not 1% metal film, but are carbon-film (5%) or carbon composition (10% or worse).

There is at least one China factory making carbon resistors and painting them light blue instead of brown, to look like metal-films.... And then selling them as metal-films, which they are not.
This has been going on for at least seven years now; it's not an Engrish typo somewhere and it's not just one eBay or aliexpress seller.

https://www.google.com/search?q=chinese+1%25+metal+film+resistors+are+fake&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

To test a metal film resistor: check the value at room temperature, then heat it for 3 seconds with a cigarette lighter flame and check it again.
A metal film resistor will show a very slight <5% increase in resistance when hot.
A carbon film resistor will show a significant drop >20% when hot.

You can still use these resistors, so it's not a total loss--and it's still a cheap and easy way to get a variety pack of resistors--but they don't hold the 1% accuracy claimed.

I get a lot of electronics parts off aliexpress too. These resistors is the only ones that I'm aware of that have not been as advertised.

Also just in case you did not know:

Chinese junk is mainly cheap for US buyers, because of the ePacket shipping agreement-
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/storyline/wp/2014/09/12/the-postal-service-is-losing-millions-a-year-to-help-you-buy-cheap-stuff-from-china/

In short, China and Hong Kong have most-favored-nation trading status with the US--and this means that people sending small packages from China or Hong Kong to the US get a roughly 90% discount in the normal US mail postage fee.

Also many other countries charge taxes to allow individuals to ship goods into their own countries; in some countries this can double the buyer's total cost.
The size and weight limits of ePacket shipping are pretty small, but the US doesn't tax imported goods sent through it. So Us buyers don't have to pay any kind of customs fee or tax on anything they buy that is shipped through it.

Also now due to the sheer bulk of ePacket shipments, customs inspections on them have become rather lax. There's a lot of name-brand fakes coming through, as well as other things not legal (for one example, Traser {tritium vial} keychains are not legal to ship or sell in the US--but lots of US people have gotten them from China/ePacket sellers).

>>1040149
>I live in Sweden.
Then check farnell – I think they're the most popular in Europe. They're not cheap, but tend to have a decent range of products.