I love capitalism. Really

[zKars]

I recently had to purchase an LED dimming controller for my Z. I upgraded the crap lighting in my Vintage Air control panel, which made them too bright. So I needed LED dimming, which is best done with a PWM module. (see recent posts re LED dimming).

I started looking around at the local electronics supplies and other that sell LED lighting. I found two quickly. One at B&E electronics and another at Lee Valley.

http://www.be-electronics.com/product_p/69-dim2.htm

http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=70325&cat=1,43349,70322

Lee Valley was $30 and B&E was $20. Not bad, I bought the one at B&E. Unpackaged it and installed the tiny circuit board and remoted the control knob. Nice dimmable heater panel. Yeah me.

Being the inquisitive type, I checked on EBay for PWM dimmers, and no surprise, found literally thousands in various configurations and power ranges.

The best part was finding the same one as what I bought at B&E. Wait for it, for $2.54 (USD, $3.73 CAN). Pretty much 10% of the retail.

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/PWM-Dimming-Controller-for-LED-Lights-Ribbon-Strip-12-24-Volt-12V-24V-8-Amp-W8-/321826421881?hash=item4aee597c79:g:UAUAAOSwT6pVxNqq

(check out the range of prices for the same thing. Quite remarkable. Another lesson about buying stuff on ebay. Also note the prices from US suppliers of this same part. Magically 5-10 times more.... hmmmm....)

So I had to buy some. Took 21 days to get here, but now when I need to do this to the next Z, I have parts, AND I can sell it to that Z owner for $20!! Capitalism at its best! I love it!

PS. My apologies to Blue for buying stuff from china, but buying it at B&E in Calgary for 1000% markup, when they came from China to start with, well, what's the harm...

Maybe I'll install one of these in my LED trouble light with the WAY TOO FREAKING BRIGHT LED strip.

[wheee!]

, love it!