We used to make a guitar amplifier for a guitar amp company in town. One time they sent some parts to us to evaluate- they were Chinese imports. One of the parts was an electrolytic capacitor, rated 47uf @ 450Volts.
Now this might be a part you would use in a power supply of an amplifier. It looked a little odd though. Most tubular style filter caps have the negative end made out of metal, with the negative lead welded to that, and the other end will have a black rubber cap and the lead for the plus connection coming out of the middle of that. This part was weird because it had a black rubber plug at *both* ends. It was marked as Nichicon, a well-known manufacturer of electrolytic caps. We decided to take the cap apart.
What we found inside was another, smaller cap with a name that I could not pronounce, marked 22uf @ 400Volts. Can you imagine what would have happened if we had installed this in a power supply? Not only was it under-rated, but there is a good chance that the part we found within would not even spec up to its ratings either!
There is by no means an isolated incident. IMO the biggest issue that you run into with Chinese-built electronics will be the high voltage power supplies.
Now this might be a part you would use in a power supply of an amplifier. It looked a little odd though. Most tubular style filter caps have the negative end made out of metal, with the negative lead welded to that, and the other end will have a black rubber cap and the lead for the plus connection coming out of the middle of that. This part was weird because it had a black rubber plug at *both* ends. It was marked as Nichicon, a well-known manufacturer of electrolytic caps. We decided to take the cap apart.
What we found inside was another, smaller cap with a name that I could not pronounce, marked 22uf @ 400Volts. Can you imagine what would have happened if we had installed this in a power supply? Not only was it under-rated, but there is a good chance that the part we found within would not even spec up to its ratings either!
There is by no means an isolated incident. IMO the biggest issue that you run into with Chinese-built electronics will be the high voltage power supplies.