Where do you get your parts?

Other Hardware General Electronics
1

I am in the process of taking several online Arduino courses. Each section requires that I have several electronic parts for my Arduino.

I like to read ahead to see what parts I will need to complete the assignments. I then go on Amazon and order all that I need. Most of the time, the parts arrive in a few days. But, there is always a certain part that is being shipped from overseas and will take 6-8 weeks to arrive. I just recently received 2 parts from overseas where one of the parts was the wrong model and the other did not work. It's very frustrating and it prevents me from moving along in my course.

I am looking for recommendations on where are the best places to order parts from? I am looking for places that are located in the USA.

2

hm, like modules and breakout boards? that's amazon/ebay - often on amazon or ebay you can find a US seller of the same chinese made modules, at a markup (they just buy em in bulk, and then sell them from here).

I usually just get that kind of thing from china and accept the delay. I browse ebay and when I see somewhat interesting things, I buy them to have in the future in case I ever want them. They're so cheap, I mean, why not? (and I generally buy at least 3 of anything, assuming it's cheap).

For bare components, you can't beat digikey. the biggest problem with digikey for a beginner is that they have a huge selection of parts, and without experience it can be hard to figure out which one is right, even with their filtering tools.

A few bare components - usually stuff made in china by a chinese company, you often need to go to to aliexpress or sometimes ebay for the parts (ex, AMC7135, my preferred 350mA constant current driver chip, or the CH340G for rolling your own serial adapter or integrating it into a design) - digikey doesn't seem to stock things like that.

If you want packs of common passives in a variety of values, or commonly used hobby ICs or transistors, you can get really cheap ones on ebay - search for the type of part and the word pack. On ebay, this gets you stuff targeted at hobbyists, for dirt cheap. Definitely recommend getting a resistor and capacitor pack, at minimum. sometimes they even include an organizer case.

3

I have two suggestions:

  1. I usually get my USA parts from Digikey. They have a huge selection and their shipping isn't too expensive.

  2. For parts to have on hand:

I have purchased a Resistor Kit from eBay that has an assortment of resistors. Not too expensive and good to have on hand. Something like this: Resistor Kit

You probably don't need a capacitor kit as the values you will likely use are limited. I would suggest you have on hand:

Ceramic (non polar):
0.01 µF 25 to 50V (usually 50V is a standard)
0.1 µF 25 to 50V (usually 50V is a standard)

Aluminum Electrolytic (Polarized)
Voltage should be at least 25V, allowing you to use them on a 12 supply.
Note on voltage: Your capacitor should be 2x the actual voltage you are using. You can get by on 1.5x the usage voltage but you would not want to use a 16V capacitor on a 12V supply.

I suggest these values:
10 µF
47 to 50 µF
100 µF

4

DrAzzy:
For bare components, you can't beat digikey. the biggest problem with digikey for a beginner is that they have a huge selection of parts, and without experience it can be hard to figure out which one is right, even with their filtering tools.

+1

Just for variety, besides Digi-key, there are; Mouser, Allied, Newark and Jameco. Some have annoyingly long screen update times (maybe it's my PC). I've come across many other lesser known shops traveling the webs.

For free parts with no shipping costs there's:

1280×720 245 KB

These are almost guaranteed to have some tactile switches, an I2C EEPROM and at least an IR sensor within.

5

I used to get the Mouser and Digikey catalogs and they were at least 2"-3" thick. Allelectronics and Jameco have fewer items, but easier to navigate. I check ebay first to see what is available. If I want it fast, then I'll use a US supplier, otherwise most comes from china. If the price is reasonable, get an assortment of the common parts and you will be good for a while.

6

Another option similar to Digikey and Mouser is Arrow Electronics. They have comparable prices (good to check all of them if you are buying something expensive, but they are usually all in the same range), selection, and awesome parametric search functionality. The difference is Arrow occasionally has some nice sales and promotions, which I have not encountered with those other two.

For good quality modules and shields with fast shipping, I would go to SparkFun, Adafruit, there's even a selection of non-Arduino products in the Arduino Store now.

I'll admit that I have done a lot of the style of shopping DrAzzy describes on eBay and Aliexpress (though I have sworn to avoid shopping on Aliexpress from now on if possible after too many bad experiences), buying a few interesting looking dirt ludicrously cheap modules here and there in anticipation of needing them for some future project or experiment. The shipping is very unpredictable, but I haven't been burned too often on the quality. I would be very nervous about buying anything expensive or mission critical from the Chinese eBay/Aliexpress sellers though. I'm willing to gamble a few bucks, but not much more than that.

Although I do buy some things on Amazon, I have never been impressed by their electronics parts. It's mostly the same Chinese stuff you find on eBay, sold by the same sorts of sellers, but at higher prices. I think the reason is that Amazon has way higher seller fees than eBay. The only electronic components I've gotten on Amazon were from a seller who thought they could convince me to leave them positive reviews by giving me free stuff. I told them up front I wasn't going to give them reviews, but they sent me the stuff anyway. It's funny because even after that they keep regularly sending me emails trying to give me more stuff. So don't go putting too much faith into those Amazon reviews.

7

Yeah - amazon just sometimes has US sellers when you can't find a US seller of the item in question on ebay. It is usually a worse deal

8

I buy all my stuff from Ali Express - arduino boards, LEDs, resistors. ICs, wires etc.

I bought my first LED in the 1970's (does not remember the exact time - still have it!) from a show in Norway. The price was high and the LED did not produce much light. Today I can buy 100 LEDs from Ali Express for less than I paid for one in the 1970's and the light from the LEDs are much much higher :slight_smile:

9

DrAzzy:
I browse eBay and when I see somewhat interesting things, I buy them to have in the future in case I ever want them. They're so cheap, I mean, why not? (and I generally buy at least 3 of anything, assuming it's cheap).

Exactly. You don't buy just one, and then fuss about when you want to work on another project, but not quit the first one.

DrAzzy:
If you want packs of common passives in a variety of values, or commonly used hobby ICs or transistors, you can get really cheap ones on ebay - search for the type of part and the word pack. On ebay, this gets you stuff targeted at hobbyists, for dirt cheap. Definitely recommend getting a resistor and capacitor pack, at minimum. sometimes they even include an organizer case.

The resistor pack is useful. And a LED pack. As JR mentions,

JohnRob:
You probably don't need a capacitor kit as the values you will likely use are limited. I would suggest you have on hand:

Ceramic (non polar):
0.01 µF 25 to 50V (usually 50V is a standard)
0.1 µF 25 to 50V (usually 50V is a standard)

Aluminum Electrolytic (Polarized)
10 µF
47 to 50µF
100 µF

And actually, a few 1 to 2.2 mF (1000, 2200 µF).

dougp:
For free parts with no shipping costs there's:

1280×720 245 KB

These are almost guaranteed to have some tactile switches, an I2C EEPROM and at least an IR sensor within.

Haven't seen any of those for a few years, thankfully. And the problem is, it's not shipping costs, it's disposal costs, unless you manage to de-construct it on-site. :astonished:

"Op-shops" can be good for power supplies and USB fittings. Even better, "Garage Sales" though there is an expenditure in time. This morning was unprofitable, it's getting thin on the ground around here.

thehardwareman:
I bought my first LED in the 1970's (does not remember the exact time - still have it!) from a show in Norway. The price was high and the LED did not produce much light. Today I can buy 100 LEDs from Ali Express for less than I paid for one in the 1970's and the light from the LEDs are much much higher :slight_smile:

Maybe more like 200 compared to the early '70s. :grinning: Although the 7-segment displays and address register indicators in my first SC/MP micro in 1978 weren't all that bad.

Hopefully the marketing hype with "high brightness" and "ultra-high brightness" is now dying out and we can accept that what is produced now is simply efficient and the original devices were essentially, developmental. There is probably not much more to be gained now in efficiency - though further gains in photovoltaics are apparently achievable, which will be very valuable.

10

These ship from the USA

I use the UK equivalent of them and always have found them good.

11

I have had good luck using Ebay, but limiting the search to sellers in the US. Prices are higher than Chinese sources, but shipping is usually free, and pretty fast.

I've also had relatively good luck with Banggood on shipping times. It's usually 2-3 weeks. They offer "faster" shipping at additional cost, but I've found that delivery is not always faster. I've had particularly bad luck with parts from their US warehouse. I paid double for the item, but it still took 2-3 weeks. Maybe just my luck.

I've experienced the longest shipping times with AliExpress. I rarely buy anything there. The exception is if you need a genuine Lolin/Wemos part, they have a store on AliExpress.

I don't have Amazon Prime, so rarely shop there.

Among the "majors", I usually pick Digikey, particularly if I need to be sure I'm getting a genuine part. Their current USPS shipping is $4, and of course is fast. Packaging with all the majors seems to be insane.

12

I use mostly Sparkfun & Adafruit then a bit on Digikey. There is a Frye's Electronics store about 12 miles away and I have bought things from them also - last time I needed some assorted resistors - so I figured out about the correct value and went down and bought packs of 100 of about 15 different values

I don't buy enough stuff to justify messing around on Flea Bay or trying to go overseas - the cost I would save is not worth it to me.

13

Always fun to look here:

https://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/

14

I use Digikey and Mouser almost exclusively.
Fast, consistent, reliable. No fakes, no questionable parts from failed lots of parts.
Occasionally Avnet, Arrow, occasionally others, such CMLSupply for Kester EP256 solder paste.

Banggood for some parts, like MAX3219, I know they are fakes, but they seem to work and are $3 vs $11.

15

I appreciate all the great answers. I will check them all out. I have bought many parts already and I always buy several just in case.

It's just these random parts that show up in my course which I missed that frustrate me. I usually don't mind waiting when I know I won't need the part for a few weeks.

I just love receiving several packages a week and looking forward to building something cool with it.

Best hobby ever!

16

ShermanP:
I have had good luck using Ebay, but limiting the search to sellers in the US. Prices are higher than Chinese sources, but shipping is usually free, and pretty fast.

Just have to watch for those few sellers that have a large delivery window (usually 15 to 30 days). They take your order and then relay it to their contacts in China. I just went through it last month. I didn't pay attention to the delivery time because the ad stated it was being shipped from Massachusetts. When I got a bogus USPS tracking number, I contacted the seller for the correct tracking number. They responded with a canned message to be patient as they relied on international shipping methods. I contacted eBay by phone about it after my package arrived. They shut the seller down while I was still on the phone after I had the gal look at the sellers reviews at all the complaints about things being shipped from China.