electronic componments

[astronymonkey]

Hi all,

I need to buy some rca/phone leads, an aaa battery holder, a few plugs , battery connectors, inline fuses etc and wondered where the best place was to buy these. They are to extend my dew leads and for a few other projects im doing. Online would be good but not ebay and im wanting to avoid maplin prices,

Thanks in advance,

[WbRaDy]

Hi

CPC farnell might be able to help, i get bits from there when needed...free delivery over a fiver if i remember right..

CPC

[StuartJPP]

The problem these days is that it all adds up buying small quantities of components either in a physical shop or online, plus then there is P&P involved or a minimum order. Not many physical shops left I'm afraid other than Maplin...

I have used these online in the past:
http://cpc.farnell.com/
https://www.jprelec.co.uk/ (Rather expensive now as minimum order is £30)
https://www.rapidonline.com/

Or you could try places like these:
https://www.bitsbox.co.uk
http://www.hobbytronics.co.uk/
 

For things like RCA leads, I usually use an old 3.5mm audio to phono cable. Already crimped and secured on the one end. But to be honest I still use Ebay for the one-offs, problem is quality of the bits but if it is really dire I just demand my money back and almost always do get refunded. If you are not in a hurry, you can order the same bits from China but despatch times vary greatly but have always arrived for me.

Maplin at least allows you to (usually) assess quality before you buy but their prices are a bit steep for what you get. But sometimes it is best to just pay £25 and get what you want rather than faffing around for ages...but each to their own...

SGL could do with a swap shop on here (separate to the Wanted Classifieds), as I am sure that many people have got bits that others would require and would be willing to part with them for free or just to cover postage.

[The storm fisherman]

As an ex-Maplin employee back in good old days . Maplins are still good for odd bits and pieces but not as cheap as they use to be. Apart from what stuart has already said above, Amazon is good if you have Prime service  the only other supplier that has impressed recently is LINDY good quality cables and good P and P.

[Davey-T]

I believe Maplin have recently been taken over (again) so fear for their future, I usually go there as my first choice to support them and if something that costs 50p online costs £1.00 I'm not fussed and the convenience of getting it straight away is worth it.

No idea how they make any money given the location, size and staffing level of their shops, doesn't appear to be a sustainable business model.

Dave

[Gina]

For bits and bobs where the quality doesn't matter I use ebay, for better quality and bigger items it's often Amazon but for specialised items I use companies that specialise in these.  eg. FLO for astro kit.

[adder001]

+1 for cpc. Use them all the time. Yep delivery free over a fiver(always need batteries etc)

[symmetal]

I use cpc.farnell for most items and their sister company farnell element 14 for more specialized components along with RS.

Alan