PIC MICRO CONTROLLERS FROM EBAY

[neko efecktz]

Gidday all.
Just a quick question that will probably get a thousand answers.
Has Anyone had a bad batch of PICs purchased on ebay?
Bad as in not to speck or failing to live up to expectations.
Where from to avoid.

thankyou.
bill     

[Galenbo]

PIC MICRO CONTROLLERS FROM EBAY

Till now I don't have experiences with Ebay PIC's, but I once had problems with a bad keyboard from Ebay.
The CAPSLOCK was locked, now way to turn it off.

[tszaboo]

You can buy genuine micros from Microchip Direct with a paypal account, they ship anywhere AFAIK, and you dont need to be a company. Why would you ever buy it from ebay?

[batteksystem]

I used to request everything I need from Microchip office (they used to offer free sample), I get free PIC18 and free PIC32 ......

[JPortici]

I don't know. those worth using are usually not found on ebay

[kripton2035]

I generally order some samples from one seller , then I test them
if they are within specs, I order more
if you really need genuine chips, only microchip direct, or mouser or digikey will be safe.

[neko efecktz]

I'm back,
Thankyou for your answers.
One of the chips I'm after is PIC16F877A available locally in Australia for $12 from Jaycar (a local hobby shop, one of the only Electronics hobby shops around now.)
$8.09 from RS Components and a better price from Farnells or Element 14 At $4.16ea.
I was looking at an ad on ebay   5  pieces for $20.00

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/5-pcs-PIC16F877A-I-P-IC-DIP-40-PIN-NEW-16F877A-/140891845948?hash=item20cdcef53c:g:ApkAAOxymHRRw~9l
Probably not worth the risk to save about $1.50 when buying 5 pieces.

once again
Thankyou for your suggestions.

[JPortici]

Nah i used to buy it for the ebay price many years ago

but do you ABSOLUTELY need that one*? there are at least a few pin-to-pin compatible (maybe even code compatible but i wouldn't bet on that) that are with more everything and cost much less.

* this is one not worth buying

[rrinker]

 Unfortunate that you are in Australia, I have a box full of 16F877's and variants that I got as free samples from Microchip, the model railroad interface gadget I WAS going to use used this chip until recently. I figured the one with more memory would work equally well, so I got those - 878's is it?, or so I have if backwards and the 877 is the bigger memory version of an 873 or something? I can look when I get home. Anyway, I certainly have no idea what I will do with over a dozen of a now obsolete PIC micro. Also no idea what it would cost to send a small tube of them down under. Probably cheap by slow boat, but it may take a month.

[JPortici]

There is no 878 AFAIK. The 877 is the bigger memory/larger pinout of the family

The 887 is listed as direct replacement. you can find if for 1.50 or so

[JPortici]

This with the assumption that we are talking about the 877A

[rrinker]

 Can you tell I'm not a huge user of PIC micros, I don't know the numbers. However, I now am looking at my supply and I have the following:

7x 16F873A-I/SP
6x 16F876A-I/SP  (those are the big memory 873's)
6X 16LF873A-I/SP

and a stray MAX233 in the same box

The interface board uses a 16F873 and a MAX233, the I/O boards used the 16F873, I figured the 876 would work as well since other than extra memory it was the same.

Dunno that I will ever end up using these now, so I am willing to share at least some of them.

[neko efecktz]

Thanks guys.
I have been out most of the day.

I'm just a newbie and the only experience with pics is a couple I picked up in a box full of parts from a hobby shop that was closing down
a few years ago along with a couple of 2 x 16 lcd displays.
I built a project up on breadboard a month or so ago, to prove to myself I could do it and to prove the concept of my project.
I needed at least 6 or 7 digital inputs for the project I am building, to get started and then I want to add analog inputs to monitor voltage and temperature via one of those
temperature chips.
thus the PIC16F877A. Probably could have got away with a 28 pin chip.
I bought one from Jaycar at $12.95 and have designed and built a double sided pcb and it works well.
I am going to make another one to use as a development board once I fit the one I have into the power supply it will be monitoring.
I want a few more chips of various types to experiment and learn more.

A bloke needs a hobby and i'm retiring in a couple of years.
Anyway it's getting late and i have a video to watch before bed.
Will check the blog in the morning.

once again
Thank you for you input.
Bill