No Pornoma though
![Laughing :-DD](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/smiley_laughing.gif)
I am starting to sound like a fanboy.
How cheap can you go for Chinese parts? Are they any good? Check out this video from Dave, it says it all. ![ThumbsUp :-+](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/icon_smile_thumbsup.gif)
I've been doing exactly that as well. And qualifying the parts.
£0.80 a go from TI or .... £0.03 cent no brand Chinese 5V regulator.
That'll be the £0.03 one then! Works perfectly. I can't make it oscillate, lose regulation, blow it up or go out of any specification of the expensive versions...
![](https://i.imgur.com/vRY6rte.png)
Funny one is the 560 ohm resistor there I though "hey LDO's like a big output cap" so I decided to do something funny and stuffed the cap on the end of two bits of wire a foot long. Still stable. Put a resistor on the end of the wires instead of the cap. Still stable.
Did the same with my TI part and it oscillated in the first case.
Edit: also liking this method of SMD prototyping. That took a whole 5 minutes to knock up. Cut board with a metal ruler and X-Acto knife, solder shit on. Job done. That entire board including the substrate and components cost about £0.10.