Fake chips on ebay? ESP-12F

[nardev]

Hey guys,

last year i had some sad experience with ACT4088 DC-DC Buck Conv. , 50 chips were simply not functioning. And in another order from another seller, everything was fine. Same board, same circuit.

They have explained me that it was 'fake chips". It was my first experience of that kind.


Yesterday i got 40 ESP-12F modules from ebay, and unfortunately, photo was aithinker module and i got "doit.am" module. However, i even realized that such company exist but they don't have same looking module as those that i have got.

40 modules, "barely work". I can program them, "hello world" firmware works fine, however, my original firmware, which is running on normal ESP-12F module very quickly, only sometimes run. In most cases, 95% at least, any wifi connection to and from module is simply not responding. The device can't give IP always etc.

I'm wondering if others have similar experiences? Also, in case anyone had similar problems with ESP-12F?


Check how that one looks:

https://youtu.be/7s_tGFcwPIQ

[dmills]

And that is why you use a proper distributor, not Ebay when building product (Ebay **might** be ok for one off toys if you don't value your time).

Plenty of fakes (of just about everything) on Ebay, and some of them are actually very good copies (or manufacturers rejects from their QA process).
Even the proper distributors get caught sometimes, but it is rare.
 

[ataradov]

This is fairly common for popular products. There are products that only exists as fakes on eBay and other such platforms. Nordic nrf24l01 is one example.

The good thing about eBay is that you can get your money back.

[iMo]

How to identify a fake? I got several modules too (a couple years back) not using them yet..
ps: mine are - on the shield

ESP8266MOD
AI-THINKER

from the bottom side except the usual pin names

ESP-12-F    Q10 1.4

[ataradov]

The first hint is the fact that picture on the lot does not match what was received in the mail.

And then it depends on the part. Often simple visual inspection (under the can) can tell you a lot.

[JackJones]

Unfortunately it's always a crapshoot when ordering components from ebay/ali. I did in fact buy some ESP-12F modules recently against my better judgement, they are labeled ESP-12F FCC ID: AHMR-ESP-12F and ESP8266MOD Vendor DOIT.AM. They seem to work fine so far.

Like ataradov said, ebay is usually very good about refunds on these cases. Aliexpress isn't, on the last few obvious fakes (very visible sanding marks for example) they're required statement from the manufacturer and a video of each individual component. In practice that means they won't give a refund on fake chips.

Edit: I did take one of the doit.am modules apart when I got them out of curiosity. I'm not sure what it's supposed to look like but there you go. The manufacturer seems to be a real one, at least there is some information about them to be found.

[Ian.M]

What a crappy video.   The most important things it missed was a good closeup shot of the good and bad modules side by side and clearly labelled, with the camera on a stand or similar to eliminate camera shake, and an accurate description of what did and didn't work on the bad modules.

It would also have been nice to sacrifice one bad module and desolder the screening can to see what's under it.

The rogue seller will have other EBAY IDs, so outing one of them scarcely inconveniences them. 

As Dmills and Ataradov point out, EBAY is well known to be full of fakes, so the video does virtually nothing to help us avoid fake ESP-12F modules as playing 'whack-a-mole' with a fake seller's infinitely replaceable  IDs is essentially futile.

[Yansi]

That's the price to pay when even thinking of using one of these chinese (not only) wifi modules for a serious product.

Even the legit ESP modules sometimes almost always now contain bogus FLASH memory chips, that can't stand few writes.

[nardev]

What a crappy video.

It would be "expensive" for me to make proper debugging and video recording. I'm not into YouTubeing and this was easier than to make than some boring photos. Just that.

[Ian.M]

What a crappy video.

It would be "expensive" for me to make proper debugging and video recording. I'm not into YouTubeing and this was easier than to make than some boring photos. Just that.

How expensive is it really to stick  the good and bad modules side by side on a sheet of card, prop it against something and shoot ten seconds of video with the camera stationary on your bench?   You wasted plenty of time shuffling the bad modules around. 

Videos aren't effectively searchable by content so posting still photos to this thread with a text transcription of all markings on the screening can is the most effective way of making the bad modules easily googleable.  If you are 100% confident they are fakes, also consider posting the seller's EBAY ID.

I agree that documenting the bad modules properly could be an expensive waste of time for yourself, but it does have value to the larger community, and also for evidence if you intend to pursue a claim against the seller. 

[nardev]

@Ian.M i agree, i could have done it better. I simply didn't. Thankfully @JackJones amde proper photo. Mine is same. Yet, original modules, there is plenty photos of around.

[edavid]

And that is why you use a proper distributor, not Ebay when building product (Ebay **might** be ok for one off toys if you don't value your time).

Please name a "proper distributor" selling ESP-12F modules.

[Yansi]

Try Octopart to look for these modules. A couple of respectful distributors have these modules, including Mouser for example.

[techman-001]

What a crappy video.   The most important things it missed was a good closeup shot of the good and bad modules side by side and clearly labelled, with the camera on a stand or similar to eliminate camera shake, and an accurate description of what did and didn't work on the bad modules.

That's exactly what I was thinking as I tried to play spot the difference.

It would also have been nice to sacrifice one bad module and desolder the screening can to see what's under it.

The rogue seller will have other EBAY IDs, so outing one of them scarcely inconveniences them. 

As Dmills and Ataradov point out, EBAY is well known to be full of fakes, so the video does virtually nothing to help us avoid fake ESP-12F modules as playing 'whack-a-mole' with a fake seller's infinitely replaceable  IDs is essentially futile.

I couldn't agree more.

The OP said it had bad WiFI which could have been as simple as the antenna not connected properly.

To the OP, I'd try a positioning a suspect unit  as close to a known good WiFi unit and see what the signal strength/connectivity is like, them move it 6 meters away  and see what the difference is . If you have no instrumentation try a IPERF test over the link to get some idea of the link quality

[nardev]

Good news, i just got my money back. The seller also was ok at the end. But i had to go through the bank complain. It took quite some time but i'm happy!

thnx all for the suggestions