Fake TDA7293 Audio amplifier chip, watch this before buying one .

[@delatronics3257]

I work with audio as an authorised service centre for many makes - fake Chip ICs and transistors are making my life a misery. I had a service centre in the UK fir many years, nowadays I have one in Brazil, and things are terrible here too (all the local component shops buy their stock from Ali Express mainly😢

[@michaeldranfield7140]

Its getting worse every year , I have had fakes so good they fooled a major component distributor , the manufactures' could stop this if they wanted by just selling parts to people who are not authorised service centres.

[@MreViewer]

Thanks for the tip Michael, a very helpful bit of info that I put into use while doing a recent amp repair

[@michaeldranfield7140]

So difficult now trying to find any genuine components , even more so for obsolete parts, most stuff you buy is fake but some fakes harder to spot than others .

[@warplanner8852]

Thank you, Michael, for exposing these frauds. Guess if you get them off eBay and the price makes the deal sound too good to be true then it is. By the way - and certainly not meant as an insult - I keep expecting to hear you chime out, "Tuesday, Gromit, porridge today" as your Yorkshire accent is very reminiscent of the gentleman in the _Wallace and Gromit_ animated features, one of my all time favorites! All the best!

[@michaeldranfield7140]

Component faking is now widespread and its not just limited to e bay , on at least 3 occasions I have had fakes supplied by a major distributor the fakes were so good , its a battle now trying to find anything any good , more so for obsolete items . I'm not too far from Yorkshire ! Derbyshire to be exact .

[@jwdory]

Thanks for getting the word out there.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

Needs to be done, there is so much fake stuff on the market now its getting increasingly difficult buying anything real.

[@bigliftm]

same thing goes for the expensive HF power transistors. the sell dirt cheap on ali express but its a hudge gamble if you get a working transistor or a fake empty housing.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

Anything that has been out of production for many years is a prime target for faking these days , you only have to look on e bay and ali express and see the amount of semiconductors pretending to be new old stock .

[@emptech]

Couple of questions, what kind of digital microscope are you using? I have a binocular Baushe and Loumb inspection microscope but wish I could view the image on a computer screen, ideas? Second, you mentioned these counterfeit chips show up on ebay, how about digikey? Could Digikey have the fake chips? Just wondering. Jim

[@michaeldranfield7140]

its just a cheap Chinese thing I use bought on the internet but since having a new phone Christmas before I find the digital zoom and resolution is far better on my phone . You wouldn't have thought fakes would show up on Digi key but twice now I have been supplied with fakes from a main component distributor that were so good they were virtually un detectable .

[@xplorer3475]

Hi, please, how can i check the health of a real TDA7293 ?

[@martinvierbucher1387]

Thanks for the easy check method! My question is if I have some of these fakes I would assume that they at least work a little bit (e.g. with lower voltage, ...) I myself have some of these and plugged it in a test PCM where I can connect them without soldering. None of them worked, the quiescent current at 12V is doubled to a original TDA and increasing with higher voltage. Do they need another wiring to work? I would assume that these chips are not trash and sending them around the world would make no sense in this case. Would like to hear your experience about this 🙂

[@michaeldranfield7140]

the problem is you don't know what they really are , sometimes fakes are a pin compatible chip but with a lower audio output and other times you may get just any old part in the same case .

[@martinvierbucher1387]

@@michaeldranfield7140 yes that's what I seen, I bought 10 TDA from China all measured values are the same and none of them works. Can you give me an advice for a minmal wiring that should work? I had a talk with bard and it seems that KI is far away to support us here, I would trust on your experiance :-)

[@keijojaanimets819]

So the pin layout is the same as 7293?

[@michaeldranfield7140]

yes, I would imagine there are lots of different chips that share the same pinout .

[@wendellporter4875]

i have seen alot of fake to-3 package transistors too, with all the fake crap being put out can be sometimes hard to get good parts to repair vintage equipment

[@michaeldranfield7140]

That's my biggest problem at the moment, searching for ages trying to find genuine parts and not fake Chinese crap.

[@janosnagy4382]

I can't find the next part.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

it will be difficult to find a genuine part on the internet, try main distributors first

[@MichaelBeeny]

Farnel has these from stock and are all good.@@michaeldranfield7140

[@kevvywevvywoo]

I had some fake, very genuine-looking NEC TO-220 audio transistors for a 5kw touring amplifier from a certain uk supplier, luckily I did a channel-to-channel comparison before switching on and found a short across the 'repaired' channel due to these transistors. Half of the batch tested NPN and the rest PNP. I threw the lot in the bin and crossed referenced them to something else I could get from Farnell. These fakers are pests.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

Certainly looks like the Chinese are upping there game and fakes are getting harder to spot, I have even had voltage regulators with the wrong output, unfortunately this problem isn't going to go away any time soon .

[@michaelwaite6725]

Well spotted Michael was there a slight impression of numbers above the Singapore writing ? ,are these fake chips coming from China ?

[@michaeldranfield7140]

sanding down chips is a fine balance when the original lettering is laser etched in, because if you sand to much off then the ident holes on the chip disappear making it look even more suspicious, however where the lettering is painted on its not necessary to sand as much off the surface to remove the original lettering , I would say most if not all these fakes come from china .Sanding however changes the surface texture of the chip which if you don't have a microscope can easily be seen by comparing the original to the fake .

[@justinking5964]

dude China isn't a scapegoat. Singapore is Not a part of China.

[@MichaelBeeny]

The point is not where they are made, the chip might be fine as something else but it's not a 7293@@justinking5964

[@eliasaguilar5352]

Donde comprar originales

[@MickeyMishra]

It seems even people are getting "Sanded" today. I was on a date the other night..... 😆

[@outerbanks854]

I don't understand why they would got to so much trouble to fake a cheap part.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

usually because the part is in big demand or has been declared obsolete from the manufacture, it may be a cheap part to us in the UK but that small amount of money is a lot of money to the people in China doing this .

[@palrajraj6506]

Where to buy original?

[@michaeldranfield7140]

This is a big problem for everyone , most stuff sold on the internet is fake, the best place to start looking is a main distributor like RS components, Farnell, mouser .

[@palrajraj6506]

Realy.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

@@palrajraj6506 as soon as a part is declared obselete and no longer in production by the manufactures the Chinese will step in and fake them because demand start to rise when parts are no longer available , a typical example is the Sanyo STK series of audio amp IC s , they have been obsolete for 40 years but aliexpress has hundred's of them .

[@palrajraj6506]

I our Indian market only Chinese IC available no one should sale original components because it is very cheap price.

[@palrajraj6506]

Now I bought TDA7294, TDA7293 from digikey electronics and I had some local IC I had compared bouth IC I can find which one is original how to find original and duplicate? Plz reply.

[@ARGON023]

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, thank you for this helpful video. Regards.

[@robtitheridge9708]

glad i am not in the trade any more the only fake chips i bought were STK amp chips.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

I would say most STK chips on the market today are now fakes, after all some of these chips went out of production over 30 years ago yet they spring up in abundance on e bay looking all shinny and factory fresh like they were made yesterday ,the easiest way to spot a fake STK is check its weight on a pair of scales against the old one you take out .

[@garage_tales]

Hello. Great video and thank you for taking the time to put it together. I just bought one of these off ebay for my line 6 amp and I fall i the “most people that are easily fooled” category when it comes to electronics. I believe I already know the answer, but is that resistance check a definitive way of telling I’ve got the right one? What else could I check? (Don’t have a microscope. Is there a reliable seller that sells genuine ones? Thank you!

[@michaeldranfield7140]

Buying anything now is a gamble, I have even had fake parts form a main distributor, you don't need a microscope, a jewlers eyeglass is good enough, when the identity of chips is changed the surface of the chip is sanded down to remove the original numbering, compare the surface of the chip with the old one you take out, usually an orig chip will have a shiny mottled finish and if there is any indent holes on the chip they will be deep, a fake chip will have a shallow hole and the surface will be a dull matt finish and view with a jewlers eyeglass you can see horizontal sanding marks, a good place to look for genuine parts is RS components.

[@garage_tales]

Thank you for your reply. I’m quite sure now I have a fake. If I wouldn’t have seen this video I wouldn’t have questioned it and possibly would have done more damage. Thank you again!

[@michaeldranfield7140]

Some fakes are so bad you don't even need an eyeglass but I have come across much better fakes recently so wonder if the Chinese are upping there game.

[@johnyang799]

@@garage_tales Get genuine from Digikey, Mouser, Arrow.

[@basgib]

They'll sand them deeper now.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

Your probably right, they will if they watch this .

[@seanhoward5562]

Need to buy components from real distributors (if you can) like Digikey, Mouser, Newark, etc.

[@haseebabdul7157]

Thank you for Sharing. These exact fakes are available in local market here in DXB who sells them to original price.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

Think I got these from Ali express , I had 10 , everyone was a fake .

[@haseebabdul7157]

@@michaeldranfield7140 I encountered same with 7 chips. Looks an entire fake batch in existence.

[@ronchinoy]

LOL I just got a pile in from DBX thinking they would be original. Need to test them now. But the ones I got in India are at least making audio.

[@davidroberts2920]

Name and shame the sellers.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

Part of the problem now is the Chinese are getting much better at faking , or shall we say , re marking chips to the point where only a very keen eye can spot a fake and there must be people out there who genuinely do not know they are selling fakes, about a year ago I bought some transistors from ASWO , a major distributor to the TV repair trade and one of them was by far the best fake I have ever seen, after making a complaint I got a refund and they withdrew them from sale .

[@kpadalldotablet1009]

Just don't by this Chinese shit. Contact the manufacturer and ask them who their registered resale vendors are and buy from them only. I did the same thing when purchasing some Klispch speakers from Amazon. I called Klipsch and asked for verified resellers on Amazon.

[@justinking5964]

dude China isn't a scapegoat. Singapore is Not a part of China.

[@stevehead365]

Originally made in Singapore, faked in and sold from China.

[@justinking5964]

@@stevehead365 So we Chinese should not take all the responsibility. Please donot confused other ordinary people to make worse impression about us.

[@mattsan70]

@@justinking5964 too late - the reputation has stuck for good reason i'm afraid.