Where to buy Components

Most people from RVCE and other engineering colleges would have heard of Om Electronics, SP Road, during their 6th semester projects. Om Electronics stocks a wide range of components, project kits from HEP kits, connectors and blank PCBs (veroboard). Among components, nothing special, mostly standard components. The case I used for my Four Hour Timer was bought from here. Prices are reasonable, but one thing to be desired is quality of service. You can end up waiting for hours while they service someone who ordered a large number of components. If you're prepared to wait, go ahead, otherwise give this place the skip, especially if it's crowded. It's located towards the Town Hall side of SP Road, on the left side of the road.

Here's where you can get HC and HCT series logic chips, hard-to-find FETs and transistors, MFRs and other somewhat rare components. Service is prompt, and prices reasonable. It's located centrally, and is easy to find (just ask).

This store sells all sorts of components, but most importantly, you will find a large variety of heatsinks, switches and connectors available. Also a good source for accessories such as solder stands, etc.

Here's where you can get sheet-metal cabinets meant for mounting amplifiers, tape decks, etc. These can, of course, be used for other stuff too. They also sell loudspeaker driver units (both Philips and Bolton make) and complete speaker cabinets. I've tried the amplifier cabinets, and they're of fairly good quality and are quite inexpensive.

Despite the rather odd name, this store has a vast range of components, ranging from MFRs (not all standard values, though), polyester capacitors, LCD panels (HD44780 compatible, in a variety of formats, with or without a backlight), IRLEDs, heatsinks, etc. They also have a wide range of linear ICs, crystals and power transistors. They also stock a large variety of telecom-related products, such as telephone ASICs (controllers, DTMF encoders/decoders), keypads, handsets, etc. Service is very good, when I bought an LCD panel from them, they were kind enough to photocopy the datasheets for me, free of charge.

This is another vendor who caters to hobbyists in particular. They stock components, PCBs (both veroboard and copper-clad) and kits from Vegakit and Gala Electronic Kits. They also sell transformers, inexpensive relays, glues, and other odds and ends. They recently got a stock of Veroboard of very good quality. The board material seems superior, the pads well formed and the holes are drilled very well (in a line, for once!). It costs a bit more than the usual kind, though. They also sell high-intensity LEDs (only red, for the moment, at Rs. 4 each), so bright that you'll be blinded if you look straight into them. They are located on the right side of SP Road, about halfway down the length of the road.

Vishal Electronics is a good place to look for high quality Relimate Connectors (RMCs), Schottky rectifiers, Metal Film Resistors (MFRs, 1% tolerance), moulded inductors, stepper motors, hard-to-find 74xx series chips and transistors. The quality of components sold is very good, and I've never had a transistor bought from here failing on first use. They are one of the few places stocking MFRs of most of the standard values. Quality of service is good, and although they may not be too helpful about components you have no idea about, they will direct you to places where you can find them. They are located across the road from Kwality. NEW: They also stock PCB etchant (Ferric Chloride)

Nice place for transformers, they seem to be very well made, and of adequate rating (unlike most other readymade transformers that are underrated and overpriced). They also make custom-wound transformers, but do not stock Toroidal core transformers as yet. I am unaware of where to get them, if anyone has a clue, drop me a line.

Not to be confused with Ankit Computers, this place is a treasure trove of very rare components. He seems to extract many of these from junked units (I once saw a display board from some HP instrument there). He sells stepper motors extracted from Floppy Disk Drives, among other things like 74F and 74AC logic, FIFO buffers, flash ADCs, Varactor Diodes, etc. They also have Motorola PLLs (MC145xxx series), in particular, the MC145162 at Rs. 100. It's a few shops down from Vishal Electronics.

These guys sell an incredibly wide range of connectors and IC sockets. In fact, Vishal Electronics gets most of their connector stock from here. They stock RMCs, Flat Ribbon Connectors (FRCs), machined IC sockets (with or without gold plating), Berg sticks, Eurocard connectors and PLCC sockets (through-hole and surface mount). The salespeople are quite helpful, even if you're not sure of the exact component name, etc. They have a large signboard on SP road, but they're on the first floor of the building.

This is the only place I know of in Bangalore where you can buy ferrite cores in small quantities. They sell both their own ferrites as well as Philips ferrites. Prices are reasonable, and although you may have to wait for a while, the salespeople are quite helpful. They will sell you a catalog for Rs. 25 of their products, a first for any place in Bangalore! Philips Magnetics also has a PDF file (warning, 5MB download) of their ferrite cores, with dimensions, etc.

This place is located quite far away from SP Road, in a small lane parallel to it (ask around for directions, I've forgotten them now!). They seem to be an industrial electronics place(ie, bulk dealer), but are mentioned here because they're the only place I know of where you can get Ferric Chloride powder (ask for PCB etchant) which you can use to make your own PCBs.

I was directed to this store when looking for plastic instrument cases. They're available, but quite expensive, at Rs. 125 and Rs. 175 for different sizes. However, they do stock one very exciting component: Blue LEDs! At Rs. 28 a pop, they're not exactly cheap, but boy they're good to look at!