30 May 2012

Where to purchase electronic components (from Spain)

Once I decided to get my feet wet on electronics, the first problem I faced was where to buy the necessary gear.

All the online electronics websites I know about are located in the US and even though they ship internationally, the shipping costs are just too expensive.

I searched for this kind of sites in Spain but I didn’t find the equivalent to RadioShack, Adafruit, etc. Besides, I specifically wanted to get the Arduino Starter Kit from Adafruit. Fortunately I found a distributor in the United Kingdom with reasonable prices and shipping costs.

To get a multimeter and other tools I finally found a company with delegations in most countries including Spain: RS Electronics. After exploring the site I discovered that they not only have all kinds of tools but also discrete electronic components. You get your order delivered next day and it costs 8 €, which is reasonable.

This is the list of electronic websites where I purchased from.

  • Oomlout (UK) - Adafruit clone
    • Arduino Starter Kit
    • Motion detector
    • 500 resistor kit
  • RS Electronics (Spain and others) - All kind of electronics
    • Multimeter
    • Shear cutter
    • General purpose single timer
    • 10 diodes