Tayda J201 and 2n5457

[billstein]

Hi all,
I know a while back that there was some questionable J201's from Tayda. Has anybody purchased any lately and have they worked for you?

Also, has anybody had any experience with their 2N5457's?

Thanks in advance

[RobA]

I've tried 2n5457's from them three times. The first was near the beginning of the year and all of them were fake/out-of-spec. I couple of months ago, I bought four of them to see if there was a difference and they were all good. I recently bought a few of the type they have listed as being from Vishay. I haven't tried or tested these yet, but at least the markings do look right (for being from Siliconix). The set of bad 2n5457's I had were obvious fakes and the printing was wrong on them. They looked as if the faces had been sanded off and then reprinted.

[Jean-Rock]

I recently got some 201's and some 5457's from Tayda, and as far as I can tell they work well for me.

Cheers !

[billstein]

Thanks. I think I'll give them another try.

Makes you wonder though, how Mouser says these things are obsolete yet Tayda seems to have a boatload of them. Anybody know how that's happening?

[croquet hoop]

Maybe Mouser treats them as obsolete because no single manufacturer can guarantee a steady supply in the long run while Tayda gets their parts from here and there and doesn't mind switching source often. Just a supposition, though.

[RobA]

Thanks. I think I'll give them another try.

Makes you wonder though, how Mouser says these things are obsolete yet Tayda seems to have a boatload of them. Anybody know how that's happening?

They are obsolete at Mouser because the manufacturer(s) has tagged them as obsolete. In the case of most PTH transistors, the manufacturers have stopped making them altogether at this point. There are still bunches of parts in warehouses though and I'd guess that the majority of those are in Asia.

How many of them are out there though is relative. Mouser is a supplier for electronics manufacturers. So, not being able to get them in the tens of thousands is enough to make them no longer useful for new designs.

[pickdropper]

Thanks. I think I'll give them another try.

Makes you wonder though, how Mouser says these things are obsolete yet Tayda seems to have a boatload of them. Anybody know how that's happening?

They are obsolete at Mouser because the manufacturer(s) has tagged them as obsolete. In the case of most PTH transistors, the manufacturers have stopped making them altogether at this point. There are still bunches of parts in warehouses though and I'd guess that the majority of those are in Asia.

How many of them are out there though is relative. Mouser is a supplier for electronics manufacturers. So, not being able to get them in the tens of thousands is enough to make them no longer useful for new designs.

Exactly this.

[billstein]

Thanks Rob.

Another question. How do you know when one is good? Is it if the hFe is in range?

[juansolo]

As with everything else though, the stuff from the Far East can't be trusted to be legit now...

Two options as far as I'm concerned. Either use SMT (yeah, not a fan of that), or don't use J201s when designing circuits.

[kothoma]

As with everything else though, the stuff from the Far East can't be trusted to be legit now...

Not sure if this statement is universal. Don't western sellers sell exactly the same stuff as most factories are in China anyway?

[juansolo]

None of the ones that I use stock them any more as they're OOP. Tayda however, their J201s are fakes now.

[kothoma]

Tayda however, their J201s are fakes now.

Somewhere I have some from a few months ago but I haven't used or tested any. Fakes? Oh my.

Inspired by chromeshere's and marauder's posts I'd really like to try my hand at SMDs.

Where do you get MMBFJ201s or MMBF5457s in small numbers at reasonable prices?

[muddyfox]

i got a handful (a thimbleful, really) from Paul's (chromesphere) webshop. if they are out of stock contact him directly, I'm sure he'll hook you up.

[pickdropper]

As with everything else though, the stuff from the Far East can't be trusted to be legit now...

Not sure if this statement is universal. Don't western sellers sell exactly the same stuff as most factories are in China anyway?

It is true that much of this stuff is made in China.  Most of the major resellers (in the West or in the East) get parts with known provenance, getting them directly from the manufacturer or from a large distributor.  Of course, this generally limits them to current production parts.  Places like Mouser and Digikey don't bother with EOL parts.

Many eBay sellers (and I suspect Tayda) get them from smaller component dealers in Asia.  These parts can be genuine or not.  If something is discontinued (as is the case with through-hole J201 and 2N5457), the chance of fakes increases as there is now motivation for people to relabel other, cheaper components and pass them off as higher price parts.

Now, there are legit places that deal with hard to find parts.  But with many of them (particularly on eBay and Alibaba) it is really a roll of the dice.  About 6 months ago, I asked one of our consultants to buy some of these two JFets from a dealer in China.  It was a distributor with a storefront, not an electronics flea market.  They were all fake.  I don't know if the distributor knew they were fake or got stuck with them from somebody up the line.

[muddyfox]

Where do you get MMBFJ201s or MMBF5457s in small numbers at reasonable prices?

I got me some J201s from Paul's store. Didn't shop around because I wanted to give him some of my business but the price felt reasonable.