Post by thread:[EE] Need good vendors in England

www.rapidelectronics.co.uk/ would have to be my main recommendation, but there's also http://uk.farnell.com/ and http://www.maplin.co.uk -- farnell tend to be quite expensive however, and maplin don't seem to stock much nowadays. I'm not sure where to source some of the rarer components though, but you can always try e-mailing rapid if they don't have a part in stock, they may try to stock it for you. -Jamie On 31/05/05, Hasan A. Khan <spam_OUThasanTakeThisOuTkhansden.com> wrote: {Quote hidden}> Hi, > I need some good reliable vendors in England that I > can use to order components online. I don't order > large quantities of components; just in quantities of > ten or less. I usually need to order semiconductors > like, transistors, microcontrollers, and other ICs. > > I have a good list of vendors in the US (digikey, > mouser, jameco etc.) but having hard time finding > similar ones in England. Googling a component usually > lists a lot of US vendors but not UK. > > Thanks for your help. > > -Hasan > -

Rs www.rshttp://www.com Rapid http://www.rapidelectronics.co.uk Farnell http://www.farnell.co.uk Wayne -----Original Message----- From: .....piclist-bouncesKILLspam@spam@mit.edu [piclist-bouncesKILLspammit.edu] On Behalf Of Hasan A. Khan Sent: 31 May 2005 17:59 To: .....piclistKILLspam.....mit.edu Subject: [EE] Need good vendors in England Hi, I need some good reliable vendors in England that I can use to order components online. I don't order large quantities of components; just in quantities of ten or less. I usually need to order semiconductors like, transistors, microcontrollers, and other ICs. I have a good list of vendors in the US (digikey, mouser, jameco etc.) but having hard time finding similar ones in England. Googling a component usually lists a lot of US vendors but not UK. Thanks for your help. -Hasan

In message <105401c5667f$f44d17e0$EraseMEe7bdf682spam_OUTTakeThisOuTspace.rl.ac.uk> "Alan B. Pearce" <A.B.Pearcespam_OUTrl.ac.uk> wrote: > Maplin http://www.maplin.co.uk/ "Craplin". Pay more, get less. Farnell are cheaper. 2p each for 0.25W metal film resistors (but you've got to buy them in 50s), vs. 7p at Maplin. Similar thing with transistors - 20-odd pence at Farnell, 50-odd at Craplin, if they've actually got what you want in stock. ISTR Farnell have a £20 minimum for mail order, but they throw in free UPS next-working-day delivery (or they did last time I ordered from them - they used to use SecuricorOmega though). > Crownhill http://www.crownhill.co.uk/ (seem to be the cheapest UK source of > PICs) And EPROM programmers. I've got an Elnec Preprom-02aLV that I got through Crownhill - top notch service from Crownhill and Elnec. > Arrow UK http://www.arrowne.com/ (based in the Netherlands I think, but > serving all Europe) I never managed to get them to respond to any of the enquiries I sent them. > and then there is our own list member Wouter, operating out of the > Netherlands http://www.voti.nl/shop/ I agree. My Wisp628 is a great little tool. Another name worth adding to the list is ASP Infotec (now Trident Infotec). Their website is pure crap (the old one was tons better), but they're the UK sales agent for Seiko Instruments - the Seiko thermal printers are very nice. Very easy to interface with - the old MTP mechanisms give you a timing pulse every time a dot position comes up. Wait for home position signal, wait for TG pulse, fire head for 1.2mS, wait, fire... The new printers (IIRC) have a driver built into the head. You clock in the data, then fire the DRIVE line for 1.2mS or so and it prints an entire line of image data onto the paper at once. I've never tried them (but I want to), but the datasheets are well-written and the specs are impressive. I'd dig out the exact specs, but I can't find the datasheet... I've also used the Epson impact printer mechanisms - those things are pretty dire as far as print quality goes. Minute differences in paper position equate to huge differences in print quality. They tend to miss dots IME. I suspect that might be more down to my drive circuit (a ULN2803) but... Later. -- Phil. | Acorn Risc PC600 Mk3, SA202, 64MB, 6GB, @spam@philpemKILLspamphilpem.me.uk | ViewFinder, 10BaseT Ethernet, 2-slice, http://www.philpem.me.uk/ | 48xCD, ARCINv6c IDE, SCSI ... When everything is relative, even relativity loses meaning

On Wed, 01 Jun 2005 10:42:37 +0100, you wrote: >In message <105401c5667f$f44d17e0$KILLspame7bdf682KILLspamspace.rl.ac.uk> > "Alan B. Pearce" <RemoveMEA.B.PearceTakeThisOuTrl.ac.uk> wrote: > >> Maplin http://www.maplin.co.uk/ > >"Craplin". Pay more, get less. Farnell are cheaper. 2p each for 0.25W metal >film resistors (but you've got to buy them in 50s), vs. 7p at Maplin. >Similar thing with transistors - 20-odd pence at Farnell, 50-odd at Craplin, >if they've actually got what you want in stock. ISTR Farnell have a £20 >minimum for mail order, but they throw in free UPS next-working-day delivery >(or they did last time I ordered from them - they used to use SecuricorOmega >though). Not guaranteed next day delivery, although it does arrive next day most of the time.

>> Maplin http://www.maplin.co.uk/ > >"Craplin". Pay more, get less. Farnell are cheaper. 2p each for 0.25W metal <VBG> yeah, they are a bit "Radio Shack" these days I believe. Farnell are not the best for price either. I was pricing some items through them for a club I belong to, and found that even with the 14% academic discount I could get through their Onecall system, Rapid were still cheaper on a number of items and the others were so close it made no difference, so it made sense to order the lot from Rapid.

My choices in order of preference are : 1. Rapid Electronics - excellent to deal with, good prices and excellent customer services. 2. Crownhill - actually joint first to be honest with you. Best prices for PICs and A1 customer services. 3. RS Components - the Corby branch is fairly close to me (25 min drive) so useful for emergencies. Prices a bit more than above but usually in stock and easy to deal with. 4. Maplin - sometimes they will surprise you with cheaper parts than the above (quite rare though) and good customer services. Open a business account with them and they are prepared to haggle to get your business. 5. Farnell - every time I've tried to order they seem to be out of stock of one item which usually leads me going to RS or Rapid. Not bad prices. I've ordered a lot of stuff from Rapid and apart from a dodgy photo PCB which they replaced after a bit of humming and ahrring any problems have been quickly resolved. I'd say I've also had a 99.5%+ accuracy on the picking and packing which is also reassuring. Dom {Original Message removed}

Hassan, On Tue, 31 May 2005 09:59:00 -0700 (PDT), Hasan A. Khan wrote: {Quote hidden}> Hi, > I need some good reliable vendors in England that I > can use to order components online. I don't order > large quantities of components; just in quantities of > ten or less. I usually need to order semiconductors > like, transistors, microcontrollers, and other ICs. > > I have a good list of vendors in the US (digikey, > mouser, jameco etc.) but having hard time finding > similar ones in England. Googling a component usually > lists a lot of US vendors but not UK. As others have said, Maplin, Rapid Electronics, Farnell, CPC, but also Cricklewood Electronics: http://www.cricklewoodelectronics.com have a good range of harder-to-get stuff, but their web site is *dreadful* when trying to find things! For PICs and such it's worth checking Crownhill http://www.crownhill.co.uk, although I usually order from Wouter (http://www.voti.nl/e_index.html) or Glitchbuster (http://www.glitchbuster.com) because although they're abroad, they are fast to ship and have a good range of stuff, some of which is hard to find here. Cheers, Howard Winter St.Albans, England

Phil, On Wed, 01 Jun 2005 10:42:37 +0100, Philip Pemberton wrote: > ISTR Farnell have a £20 minimum for mail order, but they throw in free UPS next-working-day delivery > (or they did last time I ordered from them They still did yesterday! :-) > they used to use SecuricorOmega though I didn't notice who delivered it, but it had to be signed for. Less than 24 hours from order to delivery - one of the advantages of living on an island that's smaller than California! Cheers, Howard Winter St.Albans, England

Peter, On Wed, 01 Jun 2005 11:39:37 +0100, Peter Onion wrote: > Just to add 2p's worth... > > I find Rapid are very good, I can email an order during the day and pick > it up om my way home in the afternoon ! (Being local to them helps of > course!) Go on, rub it in! :-) Someone nobody has mentioned: FastComponents: http://www.fastcomponents.co.uk They only do "packs" of components, so no good if you're buying for a particular project, but they are excellent if you're building up a stock of standard parts (less than a penny each for 1% metal film resistors in a pack of over 1000 over 75 values, for example). They do SMD packs of mixed values of resistors and capacitors, which I haven't seen elsewhere (mind you, I haven't looked :-) Cheers,