Maxim IC frustration - hard to find components

[Paul Burke]

It is our sincere goal to make the website as user friendly
as possible.

I bet the 'user friendliness' only stretches as far as telling you '26
weeks delivery' or 'minimum order 2500'.

Paul Burke

 

[Winfield Hill]

John Larkin wrote...

I've been personally burned four or five times. At this instant, we
can't ship over a million dollars worth of product because Maxim has
slipped their promised delivery date on MAX5205's. Do you know where
I can score a couple of hundred?

Can you use MAX5201 parts?

 

[Joerg]

It was an issue.

Some magazine... At this point, I'm inclined to think he said he
prefers sole sourced products since they have a higher ASP. I know how
he thinks.

Then the problem seems to be that design engineers do not think the same
way he does. Usually that isn't a good thing. Most of us never design in
a sole-sourced part unless there is no other alternative. Usually there is.

 

[[email protected]]

Some magazine... At this point, I'm inclined to think he said he
prefers sole sourced products since they have a higher ASP. I know how
he thinks.

ASP... "Asking Sales Price"?

Michael

 

[Spehro Pefhany]

ASP... "Asking Sales Price"?

Michael

Average Selling Price.


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

 

[Joerg]

Hello Spehro,

Average Selling Price.

Which somehow pre-supposes that there is enough stuff to sell...

 

[John Woodgate]

Hello Spehro,


Which somehow pre-supposes that there is enough stuff to sell...

Exactly; this is a symptom of unenlightened marketing. These days,
uniqueness is NOT a positive USP (Unique Selling Point; this is more
general than the other 'U' things, because it covers not only the
product specification but the terms on which it is offered). The classic
case is perhaps a lower-noise version of a jelly-bean op-amp at the
normal going price. Most specifiers will opt for that as their first
choice, since it 'costs nothing'. But it doesn't *earn nothing* as a
result.

 

[PeteS]

Hello Spehro,


Which somehow pre-supposes that there is enough stuff to sell...

So they want a high ASP on large orders only (and 26 week lead times so
they are guaranteed to have sold it before they make it) - max ASP,
large volumes only (so they minimise production cost per unit and don't
have it sitting waiting for the guy with a 200 - 1000 order
requirement).
All mfrs run large volumes, of course, to minimise the cost per unit at
production, but they don't wait until they have an order for it, at
least for the area Maxim is in.

No wonder the stock is 'not doing really well' - other mfrs are willing
to keep that stock around for the '200-1000' (or the 500 next month,
10k 2 months later) order, and for that reason are popular amongst
designers.

Standard Maxim technique (in my experience) from the last at least 15
years. I personally wonder how much longer they can survive with this
attitude.

Cheers

PeteS

 

[John Larkin]

So they want a high ASP on large orders only (and 26 week lead times so
they are guaranteed to have sold it before they make it) - max ASP,
large volumes only (so they minimise production cost per unit and don't
have it sitting waiting for the guy with a 200 - 1000 order
requirement).
All mfrs run large volumes, of course, to minimise the cost per unit at
production, but they don't wait until they have an order for it, at
least for the area Maxim is in.

No wonder the stock is 'not doing really well' - other mfrs are willing
to keep that stock around for the '200-1000' (or the 500 next month,
10k 2 months later) order, and for that reason are popular amongst
designers.

Standard Maxim technique (in my experience) from the last at least 15
years. I personally wonder how much longer they can survive with this
attitude.

Cheers

PeteS

They also seem to keep some of their parts out of distribution
entirely. So they make more money at the expense of the reliability of
supply to their customers.

John

 

[John Larkin]

John Larkin wrote...

Can you use MAX5201 parts?

No, I use the external Vref, at a goofy voltage, and it doesn't look
like I can overpower the internal ref. But I could use the 5204, which
just has different reset behavior from the 5205. I guess I'll ask for
some samples of them, too.

If anybody can score some 5204's or 5205's for me, I'll pay for them.

John

 

[Rebecca of Maxim Dallas]

Paul,

I would be happy to personally handle any requirements you have for
Maxim or Dallas parts. Biased as I may be, we do care very much about
our customers and their needs. Please give me a chance to prove you
wrong.

Sincerely,

Rebecca

 

[Joerg]

Hello Rebecca,

I would be happy to personally handle any requirements you have for
Maxim or Dallas parts. Biased as I may be, we do care very much about
our customers and their needs. Please give me a chance to prove you
wrong.

Well, here would be your perfect chance: How about getting John Larkin
(here in this thread) some MAX5205?

 

[[email protected]]

Hello Rebecca,


Well, here would be your perfect chance: How about getting John Larkin
(here in this thread) some MAX5205?

Funny!

John, are you the owner of Highland Technology?
http://www.highlandtechnology.com

Michael

 

[martin griffith]

Hello Rebecca,


Well, here would be your perfect chance: How about getting John Larkin
(here in this thread) some MAX5205?

I'm a bottom of the food chain dude here, no way as qualified as joerg
/john/etc. I doubt if I would use maxim, unless its for a max232,
either, just had too many problems on small quantity.

single source ...furgeddit



martin

 

[John Larkin]

Funny!

John, are you the owner of Highland Technology?
http://www.highlandtechnology.com

Michael

Well, 65% of it.

John

 

[[email protected]]

No, I use the external Vref, at a goofy voltage, and it doesn't look
like I can overpower the internal ref. But I could use the 5204, which
just has different reset behavior from the 5205. I guess I'll ask for
some samples of them, too.

afaict from the datasheets 5205 has an ref voltage of 4 to 5V and 1x
gain, 5201
has fixed internal reference of 2.5V but has a 2x gain, so output is 0
to 5V, so
the output range can't be far that off?
What reference is your reference? can't you just hack the software to
compensate
for the different reference?

If anybody can score some 5204's or 5205's for me, I'll pay for them.

John

-Lasse

 

[[email protected]]

They also seem to keep some of their parts out of distribution
entirely. So they make more money at the expense of the reliability of
supply to their customers.

John

John,

As regards to the MAX5205 availability, I suppose you have
considered parts brokers, or do issues of provenance prohibit this?

A search at www.hkinventory.com showed many flavors/quantities
of the 5205 availiable for bid.

It's not pretty, but we've needed to aquire parts from the
brokers when the distributers were broken...

-Scott

 

[John Larkin]

afaict from the datasheets 5205 has an ref voltage of 4 to 5V and 1x
gain, 5201
has fixed internal reference of 2.5V but has a 2x gain, so output is 0
to 5V, so
the output range can't be far that off?
What reference is your reference? can't you just hack the software to
compensate
for the different reference?

If I got that desperate, I might. We'd have to hack the boards, too,
to disconnect the bussed Vref and maybe also bypass the internal refs.
My current full-scale is something like 3.6 volts. Looks like we can
just enlist an army of friends to get a few samples each; Maxim won't
ship us parts, but they always have lots of samples in stock. Strange
that they value potential customers more than real ones.

John

 

[Clifford Heath]

I would be happy to personally handle any requirements you have for
Maxim or Dallas parts. Biased as I may be, we do care very much about
our customers and their needs. Please give me a chance to prove you
wrong.

Then you should consider supporting normal US post for we international
customers. When I ordered the first bunch of IButtons and SMPS chips
so I could test my application (a scoring system for orienteering), the
order came to about $US200 IIRC. Then I had to pay $50 for you to pick
and pack them(!), $48 for DHL to deliver them, $AU46 for them to put
them through the non-required (but DHL's policy) customs check, and $10
for the privilege of DHL paying the customs check user-pays bill.

Your non-support of any method of international shipment other than DHL
*doubled* my cost, and I won't be coming back any time soon, unless I
can find the parts at Digikey (I couldn't on this occasion).

Clifford Heath.

 

[Spehro Pefhany]

Then you should consider supporting normal US post for we international
customers. When I ordered the first bunch of IButtons and SMPS chips
so I could test my application (a scoring system for orienteering), the
order came to about $US200 IIRC. Then I had to pay $50 for you to pick
and pack them(!), $48 for DHL to deliver them, $AU46 for them to put
them through the non-required (but DHL's policy) customs check, and $10
for the privilege of DHL paying the customs check user-pays bill.

Your non-support of any method of international shipment other than DHL
*doubled* my cost, and I won't be coming back any time soon, unless I
can find the parts at Digikey (I couldn't on this occasion).

Clifford Heath.

USPS Global Priority is a good compromise, as it includes tracking.


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany