OT(ish) - delivery from eBay of small electronic components

[James Wilkinson Sword]

The last time Ebay arranged a return for me, Ebay's system produced a printable returns label that was prepaid. Probably depends on what the seller's signed up for though. I've never had a problem with any seller on Ebay, either they pay for the return, I pay a few quid a the PO and they refund it later, or they tell me to chuck it in the bin. I bought a car tyre pump on Ebay that was damaged in the post, I photographed it and they said just keep it, then gave me my money back. I repaired it and it works fine.

[Roger Hayter]

Actually (decent) gold plating is quite a good idea for signal integrity medium/long term. But *only* if the mating socket is gold plated. Which most of them aren't.

[whisky-dave]

you starting singing prince charming ;-/

Don't you ever, don;t you ever, try to sell me a gold plated connector.....

[tabbypurr]

it's entirely useless unless you're using the lead in a damp location

NT

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I've had problems with oxide on those rather horrid DIN connectors indoors

- in a house which is never damp.

[Fredxx]

Most gold plating is a very thin layer, where the metal below has a habit of migrating through the gold and then leading to an oxide layer. Better than nothing though.

[tabbypurr]

Yes, like 3.5mm jacks, 5 pin DINs are only fit for limited use. Gold doesn't really solve that though. If you use something suitable like phonos or 1/4" jacks there's no real upside to gold unless the environment is corrosive.

NT

[whisky-dave]

Yes it's amazing how cheap gold foil can be having brought some gold foil t hat I'm trying to stick to an electroscope !!!!

[tabbypurr]

that I'm trying to stick to an electroscope !!!!

electroplating is many times thinner

NT

[whisky-dave]

il that I'm trying to stick to an electroscope !!!!

Yes so should be even cheaper, as gold is used to eliminate tarnishing of t he connector a very thin layer is easily scratched so may not be much use l ong term. So a good quality lead should have a reasonable thick gold layer but I;ve no idea how much extar such a lead would cost but I wouldn't have thought more than a couple of quid worth of gold.

[tabbypurr]

foil that I'm trying to stick to an electroscope !!!!

the connector a very thin layer is easily scratched so may not be much use long term. So a good quality lead should have a reasonable thick gold laye r but I;ve no idea how much extar such a lead would cost but I wouldn't hav e thought more than a couple of quid worth of gold.

ie you don't know.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Tuchel do a connector with the same pin size and spacing as DIN - but more usually found on pro gear. And that has a better plating to the contacts and seems to be pretty reliable.

I dunno what they use on the ordinary cheap DIN connectors - but I've seen several heavily corroded. Not something you seem to find often on other types of connector.

[whisky-dave]

d foil that I'm trying to stick to an electroscope !!!!

of the connector a very thin layer is easily scratched so may not be much u se long term. So a good quality lead should have a reasonable thick gold la yer but I;ve no idea how much extar such a lead would cost but I wouldn't h ave thought more than a couple of quid worth of gold.

I know I don't know, that's the advantage in that I wouldn't pay an extar £100 for gold plated leads a couple of quid for me would proabbly be w orth it.

[The Natural Philosopher]

gold has value on low analogue signal pins: it has virtually none on digital signals

[whisky-dave]

d foil that I'm trying to stick to an electroscope !!!!

g of the connector a very thin layer is easily scratched so may not be much use long term. So a good quality lead should have a reasonable thick gold layer but I;ve no idea how much extar such a lead would cost but I wouldn't have thought more than a couple of quid worth of gold.

ar £100 for gold plated leads a couple of quid for me would proabbly b e worth it.

but I brought gold plated HDMI cable it's was about 50p more than one that wasn't.

[The Natural Philosopher]

More fool you

[whisky-dave]

old foil that I'm trying to stick to an electroscope !!!!

ing of the connector a very thin layer is easily scratched so may not be mu ch use long term. So a good quality lead should have a reasonable thick gol d layer but I;ve no idea how much extar such a lead would cost but I wouldn 't have thought more than a couple of quid worth of gold.

xtar £100 for gold plated leads a couple of quid for me would proabbly be worth it.

why the gold plated versions seemd better and not just the plating but over all.

I'll always aviod getting the absolute cheapest of anything anyway and I'm not stopping at cables.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

You think a digital signal can't break up due to a poor connection?

[tabbypurr]

quite, the problem is something other than lack of gold. They're junk grade stuff.

3.5mm is simply too small to be robust enough to last normal use. Again gold is not the solution.

NT

[Steve Walker]

No, gold connectors avoid tarnishing where others would, even in quite benign conditions and that is useful with low level signals. Much of industry only purchases industrial relays with gold contacts for control systems (even inside indoor control panels) - silver are fine for higher voltages and currents.

SteveW