[time-nuts] Anybody want a Thunderbolt power supply?

[Bob Stewart]

Charles,
said: "So the answer is to bring crap to market because nobody will pay for something that actually does the job?"
I don't mean to cause offense, but is everything you don't like crap?  The reality is that whatever the market will bear is what determines what comes to market.  If you can find high quality goods on ebay that can be modified to fit your needs, then you win.  There is a substantial market that either cannot do those mods or would rather spend their time elsewhere.  So, what they're willing to pay is going to determine what's available for sale.

As an example, my cost for the Hammond box I use with my GPSDO, with finished end panels, is just under $60.  From that viewpoint, I shouldn't bother to make it, because a surplus unit can always be found for a cheaper price, as long as I'm willing to accept whatever unknown baggage (no schematics, unobtainium parts, no software, etc) comes with that surplus unit.
Bob
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GFS GPSDO list:
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      From: Charles Steinmetz <csteinmetz at yandex.com>
 To: time-nuts at febo.com 
 Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2016 5:02 PM
 Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Anybody want a Thunderbolt power supply?
   
Bob wrote:

> OTOH, how many time-nuts have any interest in paying for a power supply that's up to time-nuts standards?  It's really not easy to bring a small product to market at a small price.  Even if you completely discount the personal effort of design, construction, and marketing, there's the issue of packaging.  Without a package, it's just an amateur effort not worth considering.  With a package, such as a Hammond box, the price moves into new territory and nobody's interested.

So the answer is to bring crap to market because nobody will pay for 
something that actually does the job?

IMO, the answer is to accept that the small, "little gizmo" providers 
simply cannot fulfill this need efficiently.  I provided one solution, 
using a surplus device from a large supplier and fifteen minutes of 
soldering-iron time.  Even if you buy a box for it, it won't cost much 
more than the $25 the OP proposed (and maybe not as much -- the ones 
I've made have cost less than $25 each).  (And note that the OP did not 
propose a complete, mains-to-Tbolt solution.  The proposed solution 
assumed an existing mains-to-12v supply.)

That is part (the essential part, IMO) of the "little gizmo" provider's 
business model -- find niche markets where things made at that scale 
provide *better* performance than the alternatives.  There are lots of 
areas where this can be done, but also very many more where it cannot. 
The "little gizmo" provider is well-advised to learn how to tell the one 
from the other.

Best regards,

Charles


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