Its a pretty common practice in China to make counterfeit parts. I wouldn't assume the counterfeits and Real Foteks are both made by the same place based on the fact that UL says "This (the counterfeit SSRs) Solid State Relay has not been evaluated by UL to any Standards for Safety and it is unknown if this product complies with any safety requirements."
Fotek SSR's are not THAT bad...
- Thread starter alphaomega
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augiedoggy
Well-Known Member
Im going by the fact that the manufacturer makes both the type with the stickers that the article you shared claims is real and the stickers that the very same UL warning claims is fake are coming from the same manufacturer... if they really were the same ssr internally why do they have two differently configured labels both claiming to be the same thing? Again... it doesnt add up. I'm going by the photos from the manufacturer on alibaba.. as well as the article you suggested.
brueng78
New Member
Since this post is already full of opinions, I'll just stick to the facts.
I've been using FOTEK brand SSRs for years before finding out that some of them on the market are counterfeit. I've been building and selling brewing controllers that contained FOTEK SSRs for years without any issues until recently, more about that in a minute. I don't know which of the FOTEK SSRs where counterfeit (maybe all; I had purchased on ebay), but about two years ago I decided to tear down one of them just to peak inside.
This was a unit marked as a 40A rated SSR, inside was a BTA24-600A triac (a 25A max rating), which if you're running a 5500W element (~23A) is close to the maximum. After that I decided to move away from FOTEK all together, since I have no sure way to tell which SSR is counterfeit and which isn't.
It's a good thing I did. A few weeks ago a received a controller from a customer who's been using it regularly for about 2 years with a complaint about burned plastic smell. Inside I found one of the last FOTEK SSRs I had used in my controllers before making a switch to AOLE ASH-40VA (these use a potentiometer to control power output). They cost more but are well worth the extra $ (see attached pictures; I think they are self explanatory).
I think the message I'm trying to convey is unless you know and trust the supplier and/or the SSR you're buying there is really no way to tell which ones are counterfeit.
Use caution; spend a few extra $ if that gets you a known good SSR. It's well worth the peace of mind.
I've been using FOTEK brand SSRs for years before finding out that some of them on the market are counterfeit. I've been building and selling brewing controllers that contained FOTEK SSRs for years without any issues until recently, more about that in a minute. I don't know which of the FOTEK SSRs where counterfeit (maybe all; I had purchased on ebay), but about two years ago I decided to tear down one of them just to peak inside.
This was a unit marked as a 40A rated SSR, inside was a BTA24-600A triac (a 25A max rating), which if you're running a 5500W element (~23A) is close to the maximum. After that I decided to move away from FOTEK all together, since I have no sure way to tell which SSR is counterfeit and which isn't.
It's a good thing I did. A few weeks ago a received a controller from a customer who's been using it regularly for about 2 years with a complaint about burned plastic smell. Inside I found one of the last FOTEK SSRs I had used in my controllers before making a switch to AOLE ASH-40VA (these use a potentiometer to control power output). They cost more but are well worth the extra $ (see attached pictures; I think they are self explanatory).
I think the message I'm trying to convey is unless you know and trust the supplier and/or the SSR you're buying there is really no way to tell which ones are counterfeit.
Use caution; spend a few extra $ if that gets you a known good SSR. It's well worth the peace of mind.
