Good "Cheap" Electronic Parts From Amazon - And What To Expect!
Added 2025-04-04 00:39:38 +0000 UTCOver quite some time, I have been putting together a collection of "good" cheap components to help get your parts assortment started. Even if you just need to top up on some parts, this collection is great. You will see some of these parts in my future rebuilds and restorations. Enjoy!
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Comments
Curious if you have tried kits of Capacitors and Resistors from JustRadios.com?
Brian Fox
2026-01-04 19:15:10 +0000 UTCWhich source and series of non-electrolytics capacitors do you use to restore tube radios ( the yellow ones). Me and my father preferred Sprage orange drop caps, back in the day when most shop repairs were tube type equipment. Thanks.
Bryan R Rouse
2025-08-18 22:36:16 +0000 UTCThe blue and green are brighter because the human eye picks up those light frequencies much easier, with green being most visible to the eye.
TheSenator
2025-07-13 23:43:13 +0000 UTCI bought a box of the 3 watt Allecin resistors from Amazon. The price was very affordable and the quality is ok for experimenting, but I wouldn't use them in a commercial product. The O.D of the leads is approximately 0.005" less than an equivalent Ohmite 3 W resistor. Like many Chinese parts the leads are tinned steel instead of copper. I measured the resistance of 5 resistors with a calibrated precision ohmmeter. Only one was within the the 1% specification. The others were within 2%.
Paul Rawlings
2025-06-25 02:11:04 +0000 UTCThanks! Yes, I just wondering of how to measure the wavelengths (using a specific test equipment)? And yes, if you buy cheap Chinese LEDs then all bets are off!
Jim Donaldson
2025-04-17 15:12:14 +0000 UTCJim if you bought your LED's from DigiKey or Mouser you can look in the data sheet for your info on that part number . If you buy from Amazon or AliExpress you won't get a data sheet . Most people don't worry about the Wavelength on their drones or Halloween lights ..... I don't but I still buy from DigiKey ..... Hope this helps .
Boo LuQuette
2025-04-17 05:26:04 +0000 UTCOn a tangent note: Is there a device to measure the wavelength of LEDs? e.g. how do I know a certain red LED is actually 620nm ?
Jim Donaldson
2025-04-16 16:51:24 +0000 UTCLOL already some of these kits are out of stock on Amazon like the 1w ARCELI resistors.
John E Barron III
2025-04-16 13:17:17 +0000 UTCI'm not great at organizing part inventories. Maybe you could have an episode just on that - lol.
David Kuhn
2025-04-11 17:37:16 +0000 UTCI actually got one of those a couple years ago and never inventoried it. The problem is that there are too many resistors to search through for the value needed and those colored striped start to blur easily after a few minutes of searching. I will need to order several drawer cabinets (~$50 each on Amazon) and spent a Saturday sorting them all out. And then with the shear number of wattages, put all the wattages of the same value in the same drawer?
David Kuhn
2025-04-11 17:36:07 +0000 UTCHi Dave, Those are 1/4 Watt. Most kits have all the values in that Wattage range, the values diminish as the Wattage increases. (or so it seems)
Mr Carlson's Lab
2025-04-11 00:03:52 +0000 UTCNo design error in all my unit's. If you plug your LED's into an area of the test socket that supplies too much current, this will damage any LED.
Mr Carlson's Lab
2025-04-10 22:46:05 +0000 UTCHi Mr. C, I was able to burn an entire box of led (or may be they were all defective) while I was trying to test them using that LED tester. I discovered on a Youtube video that there is a design fault, that if leds are inserted in a certain way it applies wrong voltage to the led, and then the led is gone...😫 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOv_vV1y0HE
Roberto Coli
2025-04-10 17:16:45 +0000 UTCI have found that many of those cheap resistors all have the same fault, that the lead diameter is almost half of what any quality resistor is. Such that a 1/4w or 1/2w Veshay resistor has a lead diameter of .5mm or .6mm where all those cheap resistors are only .3mm. Or is that not a critical issue?
John E Barron III
2025-04-10 13:35:34 +0000 UTCMr. C, you said these kits are always missing values. Check this kit out: https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256803089878312.html?spm=a2g0o.order_detail.order_detail_item.3.12aff19ctXWPmY&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa
David Kuhn
2025-04-09 22:37:36 +0000 UTCI'm curious what the wattage rating of the variable resistors are?
Brad Shugart
2025-04-09 17:38:11 +0000 UTCchanzon
Mike
2025-04-09 02:41:39 +0000 UTCJust tried to find the resistors on Amazon, and no luck- they are Sold Out....Nore eta given on when or if more will be available:( Just the ARCELI.
Drew Baird
2025-04-07 20:49:17 +0000 UTCIt's good to see some of the brands I've purchased in the past in this video. I've often bought stuff on Amazon and just prayed that what I got wasn't going to be junk. I've definitely gotten stuff from Bojack and definitely-not-Hitachi before and, at least for my hobbyist-level projects, it's all been fine. I didn't know I shouldn't buy no-name capacitor assortments. I'll have to see if I can find assortments from one of the big names.
Circuitmike
2025-04-06 19:44:06 +0000 UTCMr. Carlson. I have always wondered what my grandpa's job at Motorola was like, as far as component buffets go. Like, did they just have massive arrays of labeled trays the engineers can just pluck what they want like walking through a garden of delicious fruits and veggies LOL. I don't think I ever got to ask him that before he passed. Could you please do a video about storage and tracking of components?
Matt Miller
2025-04-06 15:15:08 +0000 UTCMost trouble includes: 1) keeping my wallet from getting empty. 2) storing and keeping track of components ahahahahhh
Matt Miller
2025-04-06 15:06:24 +0000 UTCFunny how close that is to "Hitachi". Likely not by mistake.
Chris Blair
2025-04-06 01:38:49 +0000 UTCExcellent recommendations! Thanks so much for sharing with us. As expected, no-name capacitors NOT recommended! It would be amusing for you to make a video of the worst of the worst you received, and why they are so bad.
Chris Blair
2025-04-06 01:37:42 +0000 UTCMr. C. can you list all the bad kits and part so we know not to buy them or so if we already have them we know not to use them?
John E Barron III
2025-04-05 13:44:47 +0000 UTCmessage him and let him know what you want and he will email it to you.
John E Barron III
2025-04-05 13:42:41 +0000 UTCI had similar problem and what I did was build a frame for the multi box system. And attached them on both sides and the frame was on wheels so I could push it into a corner and if I wanted something on the other side I just spun it around and got to it. As it was on wheels it was pushed into any space when not wanted. I hope you get the idea.
Barry Mayson
2025-04-05 05:26:24 +0000 UTCI’m clueless about how to get plans (attachments) for his projects. Specifically videos 192 the power antenna. I’m a patreon member $2 a month.
John Peet
2025-04-05 03:32:37 +0000 UTCBojack does have some film capacitor assortment but all have short leads and are similar to the orange drop capacitors.
Reid Braswell
2025-04-05 01:16:15 +0000 UTCThanks for taking the time to share your findings Mr C. As a hobbyist any help in finding reasonably priced and easily accessible components is always very much appreciated
Lee Goodair
2025-04-04 22:24:29 +0000 UTCThis was a feel good video for me. I had come to almost identical conclusions and have used the Bojack resistors allot. With the exception of the Hilitchi semiconductors (Which I hadn't tried). Thanks for doing the work. Much appreciated.
Leonard Peters
2025-04-04 19:48:53 +0000 UTCThe hard part of stocking all the parts neatly in a manor where we can get at them when needed is that we all don't have a 1000 square foot room, like you do for just inventory - lol We can dream though.....
David Kuhn
2025-04-04 18:30:39 +0000 UTCI have gotten a bunch of kits similar from Aliexpress in the past so I am pretty well stock up, but I did order some more kits from Amazon, by you recommendation. I database, in an Access Database, all my parts inventory (it is very hard to keep up). I like these kits, because I can assign them a location (i.e., INDKIT#1), and then log them all the values in the kit in to the database in minutes. Like you showed in the beginning parts drawers are a pain, but a necessity. I use my brother PC9500 label printers to make the labeling. As far as the cap kits, the ceramic ones seem fine to me. Having a Aliexpress electrolytic cap kit can get you out of a bind quickly if I do not have stock of Panasonic, Nichicon, Rubicon caps. Expect to have to change them again in a year - lol.
David Kuhn
2025-04-04 18:29:06 +0000 UTCI don't know how much of the change in LED brightness in different colours is down to our eyes. I think our eyes are naturally tuned more toward green and blue sensitivity.
Matt Tracker
2025-04-04 18:16:01 +0000 UTCThanks for sharing the LED tester I didn’t know they made something like that!
Kenny Fidler
2025-04-04 17:45:05 +0000 UTCLooks like not all Amazons are the same. Canada and USA Amazons do not carry the same parts at time. I have hope you had the item number listed, but now seeing that would not work for all the parts. Now it would be fun to see project to put these parts to use. I do like the LED tester you said you was going to talk about, but I have two of them coming from Amazon. Thank you for the video.
Larry { N7LUF }
2025-04-04 17:33:47 +0000 UTCFound all but i think the cardboard boxed resistors and bags of resistors, which are now available in bojack and elegoo variants with proper containers. Some kits maybe weren't yet available by Bojack, Allecin, Elegoo, etc. so you might have gone with the more generic suppliers? Who knows who actually makes all of this stuff since it's all coming from China. I think back when you purchased, at least some of these products, the market was a little bit different. I have a feeling that here in the USA peeling off this proverbial tariff Band-Aid is going to hurt in the short term (and maybe even longer for Hi-Tech and electronic components). So, doesn't hurt to bite this little bill just in case. It's nice having someone who knows what they're doing guide the purchase! Grabbing the entire suggested array and a few more things. Good video, Mr. Carlson!
Matt Miller
2025-04-04 15:54:39 +0000 UTCA very useful video. Thank you.
Peter S DeLuca
2025-04-04 15:32:22 +0000 UTCThanks for the tips. I'm always looking for bargains. I do have trouble with the "blue" resistors. I can not read the color code, the colors seem to blend into the blue body color. The other problem I have with the new resistors is that they are smaller. In the past you could spot a 1/2 watt resistor a mile away. I could tell what wattage a resistor was by just seeing how large it is. I like your comments on storage. I to have a boat load of bins with parts in them. Organization and standardized bin sizes are a problem. I have drawers, button boxes, home made boxes, card board boxes, boxes that were meant for bolts etal. Seems keeping track of what I have is a challenge.
Mike
2025-04-04 13:53:12 +0000 UTCI bought a bunch of these various kits from a couple places.
Billy Sharp
2025-04-04 11:59:51 +0000 UTCIf my eyes are correct I see a lot of Bojack resistors there. If that's correct I've had very good luck with them. Specifically their metal film
Marshall Lewis
2025-04-04 11:53:50 +0000 UTCOn the resistors… is the voltage rating a concern? Many metal films are only rated for 350V. I always thought the voltage rating was meaningless and the wattage was the main concern but after doing some digging the internal structure may not like the voltage present in some tube circuits?
Ben Hase
2025-04-04 11:12:32 +0000 UTCThese multi-turn one with little brass knob are fine, the problem is with the single turn blue with the white knob. Grtz
Bjorn V
2025-04-04 10:27:04 +0000 UTCI have used many of these multi-turn VR's from multiple kits, (all the same kit numbers) and have had no issues at all. I will keep an eye out for that though.
Mr Carlson's Lab
2025-04-04 09:21:51 +0000 UTC26:21 I have the same kit RM065 from Ali, and these variable resistors are not good. On some, on the bottom, the metal rotating part of the wiper shorts out against the other 2 leads. I was using them on a breadboard with a LM3914 circuit and got really strange results, i first though it was the LM3914 ic, but after digging arround and found the culprit was this variable resistor. The square blue ones, with white screw (3362P), or the square blue ones with blue knob attached (3386P or 3386F) are much better. I have not found a kit with these blue knobs, but these work much better. A specially on breadboards.
Bjorn V
2025-04-04 09:13:18 +0000 UTCThanks for that. I've just bought Velleman branded capacitor packs from Rapid Electronics in the UK. K/CAP1 and K/CAP2 part numbers. Plenty of values in ceramic and radial electrolytics. I wouldn't use them for anything critical but they seem great for breadboarding. I've got thousands of unused electrolytic caps from when I was a kid, I don't trust any of them to be any good as they are at least 40 years old, such a shame.
Alan Wood
2025-04-04 09:03:56 +0000 UTCThanks, sorry I missed that, I see it right on the box now, I did order what they had as it was the only one offering multiple values. Thanks again for all your great videos.
Paul
2025-04-04 09:00:21 +0000 UTCHi Tom. Check out video #147 if you would like to see the tweezers I use.
Mr Carlson's Lab
2025-04-04 08:35:49 +0000 UTCThe grey resistors shown are 5% 3W metal oxide types. All the blue resistors are 1%.
Mr Carlson's Lab
2025-04-04 08:32:22 +0000 UTCLeads on these are ok. Some brands are very thin though.
Mr Carlson's Lab
2025-04-04 08:22:37 +0000 UTCThe metal oxide resistor kits no longer exist on Amazon, couldn't find them on eBay either, just individual values and all of them a 5% not 1% tolerance. I did find 1 kit on Amazon 30 values at 5% 5Watt 1k to 820K. but that's it. That same seller Qianhai has .1 to 750 5 watt 5%.
Paul
2025-04-04 07:37:30 +0000 UTCYou are right about suppliers running out of items you post.Nebraska Sales, I've ordered the turret standoffs,2 types, No Stock. Also I learned long ago that the China audio output "bricks" that were used in the 1970-80 era are basically a chunk of black epoxy with leads hanging out. No Good. One item you may want to check out is the ZOYI ZT-MD1 circuit test tweezers. A retired engineer friend turned me on to them.Very handy.
Tom Harris
2025-04-04 04:59:29 +0000 UTCI just viewed the video, and found a couple things that I will add to my Amazon product list. I also have one to share. It's another set of 3mm LED's, and only has 750 in the assortment. Like the ones you spoke about in the video, different colors have very different brightnesses, and lead length looks about the same as what you have. The name on the package is HARAQI, and the Amazon title is "750 Pcs 3mm LED Light Emitting Diode Assortment Kit,Low Voltage Diffused Diode for DIY PCB Circuit,Indicator Lights ", and cost $9.99 US. They also have 500 count 5mmLED's for the same price. Another item that I found extremely useful for 3mm LED's is "DaierTek 20pcs 3MM Diode LED Light Holder Chrome Brass Prominent Bezel 6mm Dia. Screw Panel Mount". They look very nice on a panel, but have a very minor, beasily fixable issue. The plastic insert fits the barrel loosely, so I used a coax crimp to slightly crush the barrel, and the LED's stay in very well.
Tom Thornton
2025-04-04 04:41:53 +0000 UTCWatch out for components with steel or iron leads (not tin plated copper used on good stuff). Many times it is not a concern, but this is one area they cut cost. You can use a magnet to check them.
Steven Wilson
2025-04-04 04:27:35 +0000 UTCIt's always nice to have someone unselfishly guide you to the good stuff. Especially if the good stuff is mixed in with a giant pile of crap. Everything I've bought from BoJack, has been decent quality. Of course I immediately went to Amazon and ordered that nifty little LED tester. Thanks Mr. C. Another great, informative video.
James Roberts
2025-04-04 03:52:57 +0000 UTCOnly thing that I didn’t like is the lead wires on the resistors are pretty flimsy, would that effect performance or longevity in high voltage situations like amplifiers?
Scot Forester
2025-04-04 03:39:04 +0000 UTCThese are the same kits as you get on Ebay. The 3 watt resistors have gaps in value as in 4 watt. Once you get to 5 watt you are going to cement resistors anyway.
Phil d 3801
2025-04-04 03:24:15 +0000 UTCive but a lot of kits of of amazone including capacitors i very happy with couple bad parts other then that i really had no problems
Larry Merrill
2025-04-04 02:34:44 +0000 UTCThis is the way to go in almost every case except, as covered, the capacitors and a few specialty items. High power comes to mind as a sensitive area where you want to go for top of the line makers like the aforementioned TI. On the other hand, the unbranded kits by the likes of Bojack, Elegoo and even some of the more wholesome "Large Electronics Kits" that you can find on Amazon for under $100 CAD that come with an assortment of parts are a much, much better value than a lot of other "official" kits sold by vendors to accompany some kits or products. If you're following some course or DIY project recipe and they list out parts needed, chances are they'll sell you the exact parts you'd get on Amazon but at a massive markup. Don't buy it, buy in bulk instead. This also goes for wire - you don't need the expensive AlphaWire or Belden for most projects, nor do you need things by AMP or Molex. You can get a lot of wire for next to nothing, and it will work just fine. Anything Amazon doesn't have, eBay will. And failing that, you can always go with AliExpress.
JS
2025-04-04 02:24:19 +0000 UTCThe curve tracer has saved me several times when grading non brand name semiconductors.
RS Electron
2025-04-04 01:23:19 +0000 UTCWell this is going to be useful. Off to Amazon I go. Thanks Mr. Carlson!
Jason Winsett
2025-04-04 01:12:35 +0000 UTC
