Slow blow fuse update

Maplin still sell (overpriced) components.

They do, but their shops may or may not stock what you want. Usually not, I've found. And their postal service is much slower than the best. Most Ebay sellers are quicker and cheaper - although you do have to check it's not coming direct from the far east.

In article , Dave Plowman (News) scribeth thus

Why?, isn't that where it comes from anyway?..,

He means *direct* from the far east, which takes ages.

...and even longer than ages around Chinese new year. I'm still waiting a month later for some electronic bits from HK I ordered on ebay.

if its worth that little, why buy a fuse. Its not hard to find a 3A one, or a wire fuse.

NT

Pity that does not apply to CH Boiler electronics

Yes, but the real problem are there are still media types out there that one wants to retain, but no way to repair the units. For example, I have three items I need to get fixed. A DBX cassette deck from Technics,a Tandberg reel to reel deck, and a betamax video from Sony. Brian

I can afford to indulge myself to the tune of £2.75 for the satisfaction of getting something working again. I wouldn't want to run it long term with an incorrect fuse. Yes, I could have stuck a 3A fuse in to test it - didn't consider that at the time. This still wouldn't have proved it wouldn't blow a 1.25A fuse, though.

Rest assured that your money suffered no delay at all in reaching HK.

So that's all right then.

I ordered some components from HK at end of December. They took 6 weeks to arrive. Others ordered on the same day from China arrived in about 3 weeks IIRC.

I had no choice - they were power and driver transistors for a 1978 Technics SU-8080 amp which I couldn't find elsewhere.

Amp now repaired - and I replaced every electrolytic capacitor in it.

Reel to reels are fairly simple to repair. Betamaxes about the opposite, unless its just the belts.

NT

The betamax has two issues. The clutch jams and switches the transport of until the unit has been powered up for an hour, and the other is drying out capacitors in the psu making nasty patterns and stuff on the output. I'm told its a common issue on C9s. The tandberg is a bit hard cos they no longer are in that market, and the Technics needs tape deck parts no longer available. Brian

In general my experience with buying from China has been very good. I think I had to wait a couple of weeks once, but a lot of stuff arrives withing four or five days, IME.

I've no complaints either - especially as many of these Chinese companies do free postage even on modest sales. Compared to the US where postal charges seem to start at 40 quid even for something that could go letter post.

$15 seems to be the starting point for many things I've bought.

$4.95 (where delivery to lower 48 is $3.95) on a number of occasions.

Agreed on that.

Some of the US sellers don't even know what their rates being quoted are until you point out it's extortionate. Several I've asked have happily sent an item USPS 1st Class International for a few dollars instead of UPS for many dollars.

You're lucky you got the choice. Worst was an element for a Pace soldering iron. Not in stock in the UK. The carriage from the US cost almost as much as the element - which wasn't cheap either. It cost more than the point where RS etc do free post in the UK.