Simple question for people that use the MAX7219 in the uk. Where is the cheapest place that you all have found for them? Farnells is £10 for 1 and that is very expensive.
They are about $12 at Digikey in the US too. eBay vendors sell them for a dollar or less also, with shipping included, for 20 or so or more. I have wondered how these foreign vendors get such inexpensive stock. I bought a bunch from Tayda and every one of them has worked for me and even when I refresh them using direct port commands. So they do work, as fast as an ATMega328 is going to be able to use them.
The stupid thing about Farnells UK is that when your looking at the items it shows you items in the USA for next to nothing. But if you look at the same item in stock in the UK the price is 8 times more lol. In the UK a MAX7456 is £20 from Farnells.
UK ebay seller gas775 has some for £2.25 + £1.40 p&p. I had a couple off him a little while back with no problems.
Don't take them all though - I may need some more.
This is very silly. Tayda - 1 x MAX7219 with 7 - 16 day delivery($0.99) to the UK $2.24.
petethegeek:
UK ebay seller gas775 has some for £2.25 + £1.40 p&p. I had a couple off him a little while back with no problems.Don't take them all though - I may need some more.
There seem to be a whole lot of these available. There are sellers selling 50 or 100 chip lots for well less than $1 each. See item 50PCS IC MAX7219CNG MAX7219 DIP-24 DRIVER LED DISPLAY 8DGT NEW GOOD QUALITY Item # 290742169991.
In general i would like to buy from the UK but looking at this i may start buying from overseas.
Pavilion1984:
Simple question for people that use the MAX7219 in the uk. Where is the cheapest place that you all have found for them? Farnells is £10 for 1 and that is very expensive.
You can easily get 10 of them for £10 on eBay.
I suspect the price is simply due to lack or otherwise of stockpiles, supply and demand - suspect they are only stocked in small numbers as replacement parts these days, few new designs would use such a chip when backlit TFT touchscreens are cheaper than a bunch of 7-seg displays and far more flexible!
Farnell UK and USA are effectively separate companies that support cross-ordering AFAICT. The prices and availability are not harmonized in any way that I can see...
If you can wait, eBay is your salvation. They might be cloned parts though.
(Alas this is going to become increasingly true for all through-hole components - only surface mount will benefit from economies of scale)
MarkT:
If you can wait, eBay is your salvation. They might be cloned parts though.
I head about cloned chips on the 'net, apparently there's some out there. Supposedly they don't reset properly when you power them on but apart from that they work fine.
Last time I bought some I paid $12 for 10 chips (shipping included) and they took about a week to arrive. They came in Maxim-branded tubes and powered on just fine.
Another time I paid $11 for 20 (shipping included). They took a month to arrive and didn't come in Maxim tubes but the chips seem OK. I was expecting the slow shipment because of the comments other people left (make sure you read them!)
MarkT:
(Alas this is going to become increasingly true for all through-hole components - only surface mount will benefit from economies of scale)
Time to start stockpiling?
fungus:
MarkT:
(Alas this is going to become increasingly true for all through-hole components - only surface mount will benefit from economies of scale)Time to start stockpiling?
A lot of the fun is in the newest components.
mmcp42:
try rs http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/led-display-drivers/6229493/ £7 (+VAT)
free delivery
10 is cheaper than 1? :~
nb. that that's the surface mount version...probably not what most people here would want.
£7 (+VAT)
At that price, it probably makes sense to program some AVR chips to emulate max7219.
I am in no way affiliated with this seller.
I bought a tube of ten from this seller http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10pcs-MAX7219-MAX7219CNG-8-Digit-LED-Display-Driver-DIP-/140439183565?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20b2d3e0cd a few months back. I tested them on a breadboard when they arrived an all worked without problem. The ones I have since used continue to work fine in clocks running 24/7
dhenry:
£7 (+VAT)
At that price, it probably makes sense to program some AVR chips to emulate max7219.
They could do the multiplexing but it's quite hard to emulate current control.
It already has a spi module. Make it into a slave. Once the spi received a byte, decide if it is the MSB, or LSB. If it is LSB, send the MSB+LSB to a local buffer (8x8), which will be processed by the display module automatically.
When I get some time, I will see if I can do it.