Any USB/Ethernet controller suggestions?

[m_c]

AM882's are being replaced with EM806's, you try and find an EM806 in China they just don't retail them in the Asian Market. The only difference I can see according to the manual is the EM806 has different firmware relating to the motors. Region specific for the US and EU markets as the motors relate to ones they offer here. Probably the same motor different part number.

EM806's for US and EU and AM882 for Asian markets at least for now seems to be the rule, the AM882 are £60, the EM806 are ~£100

I'll strip one of the AM882's and get pics would be interesting to see what's inside the EM806 and if it really is identical except for firmware.

AM882 and EM806 are solid state tech unless you're unlucky these things will last forever.

How much did you pay for your analog drivers? I paid £200 for 4 AM882's but 2 were 2nd hand it would be £240 for new.

AM's are not CE/UL type approved as standard, whereas EM's are.
I'm guessing the original AM's failed the tests, so they had to redesign the hardware to pass the tests, and is why only one version of the AM was produced. Once they had the hardware able to pass the tests, they scaled it to create the other drives.
The fact AMs are still available, will be likely Leadshine had them designed, in production, and being sold, before final testing for approval.

Within Europe, it's illegal to sell a non-approved drive to an end user (aka consumer), which is why AMs are not sold by any official European seller. They can be sold to a system builder/integrator, as the onus for meeting the required approvals then falls on the system builder.

[Desertboy]

Or they repackaged it as EM806 with minor tweaks and different firmware whacked the price up £30 and sent that for approval.

My guess is they are almost identical and it was in their business interests to spin the EM806 into a different product rather than approve the AM882.

After all they can charge £40 more for the product in EU if they certified the AM882 they couldn't do that because of the Asian market. People would simply import them through other channels. This way they can force higher price for the same product. This was similar to regional lockout Nintendo and Sega used in the 80's and 90's so you can charge different prices in different markets for the same product.

Someone take an EM806 apart and lets get some photo's I'll do an AM882 and then we'll have more of a clue.

[m_c]

Or they repackaged it as EM806 with minor tweaks and different firmware whacked the price up £30 and sent that for approval.

My guess is they are almost identical and it was in their business interests to spin the EM806 into a different product rather than approve the AM882.

After all they can charge £40 more for the product in EU if they certified the AM882 they couldn't do that because of the Asian market. People would simply import them through other channels. This way they can force higher price for the same product. This was similar to regional lockout Nintendo and Sega used in the 80's and 90's so you can charge different prices in different markets for the same product.

Someone take an EM806 apart and lets get some photo's I'll do an AM882 and then we'll have more of a clue.

If that was really the case, then why are there no smaller AM drives?
Leadshine's home market is probably far larger than Europe and America combined, so you would expect them to give priority to their home market, and be where they had the most diverse range.

[Desertboy]

If that was really the case, then why are there no smaller AM drives?
Leadshine's home market is probably far larger than Europe and America combined, so you would expect them to give priority to their home market, and be where they had the most diverse range.

They just miniaturised the tech just like ps2 slim, Acorn Electron, C64s, etc. Same tech, smaller package, Maybe it is new tech but more likely a small revision on a new chip fab. They copy and pasted 80% the manual of the EM806 from the AM882 so if they couldn't justify paying for a new manual lol then how different can they really be.

http://www.leadshine.com/productdeta...EM&model=EM806

http://leadshine.com/productdetail.a...AM&model=AM882

They're appears to be 1 difference in features, password protection of settings which is a non issue for me and a simple firmware change it's hardly ground breaking lol.

They literally put it the manual/description into a (probably pirated lol) copy of word and did a copy and replace lol.

[m_c]

how different can they really be.

Enough to be the difference between passing a noise/electrical emissions test, and not passing the test ;-)

There probably isn't that much difference, it's just you have to recover the costs involved somehow. CE/UL testing is not cheap, and then you have to factor in re-designs.

Plus what you're really paying for is the supply chain. I doubt Leadshine actually make that much more from the sale of an EM drive compared to an AM drive, it'll just be those buying AM drives are probably buying in far larger quantities than most European sellers. I'm sure if you asked Leadshine for a price of a couple thousand of each, you'd be surprised at how little price difference there would be.