Counterfeit TL074 op-amps

[budtrictronix.58]

Another day, another frustrating counterfeit!! Ran into a problem with some TL074 op-amps I got at a local store near my brother's place. I needed them for a simple audio mixer build and figured I'd save a few bucks. The price was great, almost too good to be true. The lettering on the top looked a little fuzzy, but I didn't think much of it. But problems began showing up just when I started testing them. The first one had a massive amount of output noise. Swapped it out for another, and that one was dead on one of the channels. I tested a third, and it had a ridiculously low slew rate. Turns out they were all remarked chips, probably some cheap, generic op-amps someone bought in bulk and relabeled. Has anyone else run into a lot of bad chips lately? Are they becoming more common now? It's getting harder to trust anyone. Any suggestions on reliable sources for these kinds of components, even for small hobbyist quantities? Also any tips how to check against counterfeit? Thanks.

 

[par4ken]

I worry about buying op-amps from China. They often offer ridiculously low prices, so are very hard to resist. Without the means to verify the specs the typical hobbyist has no way of knowing if they have the real deal or not.

Noisy or dead units are a sure sign that the parts are perhaps nonfunctional recycled junk.

The TL074 is very common and an old design, not expensive from reputable dealers. I don't know why anyone would bother to counterfeit it. I would go back to the store to complain and get your money back!

 

[mintchip_]

@budtrictronix.58 you know, the best way to avoid fakes is to stick to the big, authorized distributors. like DigiKey, Mouser, or Newark. The price might be a little higher, but you are guaranteed to get a genuine, new part.
For small quantity buys, it's worth the peace of mind. honestly, stores on Amazon or eBay are a huge gamble unless the seller is a well known distributor

 

[Cpt Adama]

I worry about buying op-amps from China. They often offer ridiculously low prices, so are very hard to resist. Without the means to verify the specs the typical hobbyist has no way of knowing if they have the real deal or not.

Noisy or dead units are a sure sign that the parts are perhaps nonfunctional recycled junk.

The TL074 is very common and an old design, not expensive from reputable dealers. I don't know why anyone would bother to counterfeit it. I would go back to the store to complain and get your money back!

I would stick with mintchip's recommendation. Buying from China is an almost guaranteed way to get cheap counterfeit knockoffs. Large companies have representatives IN China who verify quality control. Otherwise the cultural norms in China will apply which means lie, cheat, and steal which is not frowned upon there.

 

[oldgeek]

I haven't run into counterfiets, but i have bought what I would call B stock parts -- the ones that "work" but under perform. I suspect that people working in the fabs can't resist the temptation to grab a handful of the fallout parts and sell them on ebay. I would if I worked for the wages those people are paid.
Anyway, I learned long ago, way before China got into this business, that you test every part you can before you use it. It's so much easier to find the bad parts before you use them.

 

[Alan]

Totally agree. Checking everything beforehand can save you from future problems. Even those cheap parts can cause unexpected issues if you skip testing.

 

[barfle]

I have run across several counterfeit Motorola SQ quad decoder chips. Easy to spot, as the fakes are 14 pin and the real ones are 16 pin.

 

[Alan]

Thanks for calling that out. Posts like these really help people steer clear of fake stuff.