How is Chipageddon affecting you?

[tom66]

If you are angry with TI, try Bosch Sensortec.

Parts discontinued without prior notice, history of active parts ever existing wiped off from the website overnight. Recommended replacements being again discontinued within months. Whole active product lines being wiped out without notice. "Replacements" are not compatible at all, not even perform the same function (no, you can't replace magnetometer with an accelerometer).

And, no communication - total silence - even to distributors, driving distributors into special "they don't talk to us at all" blacklisting practices never seen before.

Similar experience here.

Oh the stories I could tell but for my employer's confidentiality agreements!  Suffice to say Bosch will not be winning any new designs any time soon.

[BreakingOhmsLaw]

I tried sourcing humble 60° low current LEDs. Prices have gone up tenfold.
Used to be sold in bulk per cubic meter.

[cdev]

Analog Devices is specifying 2-year leadtimes on new orders.  And orders that were made 6 months ago, and promised delivery around now, were also pushed out, probably because they're selling them to their large customers instead.  Insanity.  We're strongly considering abandoning them for this nonsense.

If manufacturers are being overly optimistic with their lead times maybe we should be overly optimistic with our EAU (estimated annual use). 

Normally manufacturers back off after I answer their question about EAU.  One time, my boss wanted prices for extra large quantities for projections.  The manufacturer was very friendly, offering FAEs to help with design and test dev kits for us. That lasted until they had a conversation with my boss and now I think we're back on their DNA (do not answer) list or worse.

That would make sense. My theory is just that Coronavirus is bringing out all the unspoken complaints and issues companies and individuals had in the past but didn't express, now they all have an excuse to act the way they wanted to all along, which often means delivering their deliverable, whatever they are, may take a bit longer if that extra smidgen of incentive is not put there. (As in when they feel they are being taken for granted, for example). It makes us realize just how much the social contract (which is falling apart right now, in many places, IMHO) is worth in terms of its monetary value to society. (Something many are in denial about)

At the same time, as things are falling apart in developed countries, in developing countries, things may be becoming more reliable, pay may be rising towards Western standards, workers finally being appreciated more by long resistant employers. They may even be developing a middle class?

Does anybody have any thoughts on that?

[coppice]

At the same time, as things are falling apart in developed countries, in developing countries, things may be becoming more reliable, pay may be rising towards Western standards, workers finally being appreciated more by long resistant employers. They may even be developing a middle class?

Does anybody have any thoughts on that?

Have you ever been to a country which does not have a comfortable middle class?

[tom66]

Shocked myself today when several jellybean parts were also hard to source:

LM339 - Digi-Key nearly sold out (showed 921,000 in stock which disappeared 48hrs later) - managed to grab some STMicro equivalents (they only had 300 off)
LM358 - A few lines still in stock but many short
LM2594M-ADJ - Couldn't get it anywhere, had to change for 3.3V variant with change to feedback circuit (And I thought I was being smart choosing a generic part made by many vendors, nope!)
xx1117-33 - All the Texas parts were sold out on Digi-Key when I checked

It seems TI is having the worst time here of all the vendors.  I don't know why they'd be so affected.

[Psi]

The issue I'm having is low-RDS P-channel mosfets in the 5-10A range.

There are always some type in stock, of some footprint.
But I've had to change the footprint on my PCB 3 times so far.  Every time I do an order there's non that will fit.

[SilverSolder]

Looks like we need to go back to vacuum tubes -  stuff that can be manufactured by less sophisticated cultures that are suffering from regression from their peak! 

[harerod]

Quote from: SilverSolder on Today at 15:36:51

Looks like we need to go back to vacuum tubes -  stuff that can be manufactured by less sophisticated cultures that are suffering from regression from their peak! 

Sounds about right. Another plus - vacuum tubes are at least as "eco friendly" as nuclear power. And we could save even more energy by heating them with natural gas.

[IDEngineer]

There's always hydraulic logic. You can make most of your own components in a modestly equipped garage.

[TimFox]

Vacuum-tube cathodes run at temperatures between 1000 K and 2500 K, depending on cathode material.  Methane in air or oxygen burns at a temperature of 2230 K or 3080 K, respectively. 
With appropriate (yet expensive) construction techniques, a gas-heated cathode could work.  However, with the industry having shifted to silicon, I don't think that electrical heater materials are in short supply.

[rob77]

There's always hydraulic logic. You can make most of your own components in a modestly equipped garage.

little bit on the slow side, but at least powerful 

[fourfathom]

Remember when "fluidics" was the promising new technology?

[tszaboo]

Shocked myself today when several jellybean parts were also hard to source:

LM339 - Digi-Key nearly sold out (showed 921,000 in stock which disappeared 48hrs later) - managed to grab some STMicro equivalents (they only had 300 off)
LM358 - A few lines still in stock but many short
LM2594M-ADJ - Couldn't get it anywhere, had to change for 3.3V variant with change to feedback circuit (And I thought I was being smart choosing a generic part made by many vendors, nope!)
xx1117-33 - All the Texas parts were sold out on Digi-Key when I checked

It seems TI is having the worst time here of all the vendors.  I don't know why they'd be so affected.

Cause they gave up their relationships with their suppliers. You practically cannot get any TI part from Avnet/Arrow/Future/others.
TI just said, if you need parts, buy it in our webshop or Digikey. And the webshop sells indiscriminately to anyone, which then gets shipped to China for scalpels.

[SilverSolder]

Remember when "fluidics" was the promising new technology?

Suddenly seems promising again....   welcome to the post-electronic era! 

[TimFox]

I do remember an interesting control system at my former employer that employed pneumatic logic (powered by a small air compressor) to activate vanes in ductwork to direct waste heat from a large chiller to the building heat (in winter) or outside (in hot weather).

[schmitt trigger]

Remember when "fluidics" was the promising new technology?

I do remember seeing a nice photo spread article (it may have been published by Life Magazine, they were excellent at "photojournalism"), but for the life of me I can't remember the year. It might have been mid-to-late 1960s.

[IDEngineer]

Remember when "fluidics" was the promising new technology?

That's why I mentioned hydraulic logic! It was actually a "real thing" before this newfangled electronics stuff stole its thunder....

[T3sl4co1l]

What do you think an automatic transmission was?

Maybe still is, but a lot of them are electronically controlled nowadays, I don't know how many exactly, alas.

Tim

[PaulAm]

Getting way off on a tangent, but if you are bored, google Moog Hydrapoint.  Back when CNC was starting to make inroads  and things like motors and encoders were expensive, they built a CNC mill based on hydraulics. Sold a bunch of them but they didn't age well.  The last time I saw one was more than a decade ago.

That was Bill Moog, founder of the aircraft parts company.  Robert Moog of synthesizer fame was his cousin.

[BrokenYugo]

Vacuum-tube cathodes run at temperatures between 1000 K and 2500 K, depending on cathode material.  Methane in air or oxygen burns at a temperature of 2230 K or 3080 K, respectively. 
With appropriate (yet expensive) construction techniques, a gas-heated cathode could work.  However, with the industry having shifted to silicon, I don't think that electrical heater materials are in short supply.

Expensive techniques? Just put the whole thing in/around the fire!

[Kasper]

Can't find a boost smps? No problem, just build a hydraulic ram pump. And then covert the rest of your system.

[gusmk]

Hi all, trying to weather the chipageddon by getting to know the non-digikey, non-mouser distributors.

Is there some kind of list of known non-authorized distributors and resellers.

For example, octopart lists several of them. But, I would really like to hear people's experience and maybe recommendations depending on location.

I am based in Denmark. And, I am currently looking to buy a part from a place called Vyrian https://www.vyrian.com/.
They seem to have "all the certificates" but they kind of popped out of nowhere and I find that suspicious. 

While I tend to be a on the trusting side, and not wanting to jump to any conclusions I would like to be on the cautious side and hopefully I am not the only one having this kind of questions and we can all build up a list of resellers with good service.

Thanks! 

[IDEngineer]

We have purchased from Vyrian multiple times, with good results. I would buy from them again.

Another even better source is Voyager Components in Oregon. Demitri there pulls some amazing rabbits out of his hat. Tell him Richard referred you. One of the best we've ever worked with and that includes DigiKey, Mouser, Allied, etc. My highest recommendation.

[Nortek-Chris]

Hi all, trying to weather the chipageddon by getting to know the non-digikey, non-mouser distributors.

Is there some kind of list of known non-authorized distributors and resellers.

There are loads all over the world, but don't expect to pay Franchised prices. If somebody has stock of a sought after device which is on a 12+ month lead time from the Factory more often than not they won't be giving them away.

I was recently quoted £12 each for AT90CAN128-16AU which is about three times what we paid from the same source about 12 months ago. However, it could be worse - Winsource has them listed for over $100

I've been using a lot of the same component brokers for over 15 years, but it still doesn't win you any favours in the current situation.

I ended up placing with Mouser, nearer the original cost but August for delivery, and this date of course could extend into 2023.

[tom66]

I will give credit to Digi-Key as we placed orders for Zynq FPGA/SoC devices on fairly long lead times and they have not missed a single delivery.