March 29, 2024

Problems with cheap electronics on Ebay

I have an electric scooter project that has been on and off again for a while now, I get to it when I can when it’s not cooking or freezing in the garage.  The scooter runs on six 12V batteries for a total traction voltage of  60V, the lights/horn/blinkers/etc all run on 12v which requires a 60v to 12v DC/DC converter.  I found a cheap 72v to 12v converter on Ebay from a manufacturing company in China (similar to this one) and figured I would spend the $30 and see how it performed.  Well what I got in the mail wasn’t a DC/DC converter, but a 24v electric bicycle controller for a brushless DC motor.  The interesting thing is the mailing envelope had “Motor controller” on it and not “DC/DC converter”.  Here’s the new rule, you get what you pay for.  Because I’m sure sending a $30 unit back to China is going to be more trouble than it’s worth, I think I am going to keep the controller and maybe make an electric bike some day…if I can figure out the non-documented pin out of the thing!

Cheap electronics, wrong part sent from China

Drew

Admin and creator of Protological.com

View all posts by Drew →

One thought on “Problems with cheap electronics on Ebay

  1. Ditto. I’ve had issues getting electronics on Ebay too. I refuse to go there except for buying books and CD’s anymore.

Leave a Reply to Amy Satori Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *