A rotary encoder—just a decent, ordinary rotary encoder.

When I ordered a board for a bench power supply, I decided to get an encoder for it too, since the original was soldered to the board and I really didn't want to desolder it.

This isn't really a full review, more a brief opinion of the product and seller—a mini-review, so to speak.

I bought these encoders for the board from this review. At the time, they cost 1.1 for a pair. One was for the board itself, to mount on the front panel without desoldering the original. They connect perfectly well in parallel and don't interfere with each other. The second one was a spare, or for a future project.
I originally planned to include this in my review of the bench power supply, but that review was already very long, so I made this a separate one.
These encoders cost about twice as much in local shops, and since there was no rush, I ordered them from AliExpress. The seller shipped without tracking, which didn't bother me at all at that price. Besides, almost immediately after I placed the order, he sent me a message saying, “Sorry, I shipped it without tracking, but don't worry, everything will be fine.” And it really did arrive in excellent condition, so I gave him 5 stars and left a positive review.


They arrived in a fairly large yellow envelope for such small items. Inside, they were sealed in a bag with an adhesive strip. Everything was neatly packed, with nothing to complain about.


These are the simplest encoders, with no push button. I doubt they come any simpler. But for all kinds of DIY projects, it's often more important that they're cheap and you don't mind if you damage one. Though now I think I should have bought one with a button after all.


The encoder has 24 detents and works smoothly, with no glitches or hiccups.
The shaft is hollow. It's hard to see in the photo, but there's a hole inside, up to the chamfer for fitting a knob.


That hole is what gave me the idea of building a power indicator into the adjustment knob.

But let's get back to our sheep rotary encoders.
Everything was satisfactory: the seller shipped the order promptly instead of dragging it out until the last minute, the postal service delivered it, and the encoders work well and are reasonably priced.

Cons
It won't go out for coffee. No other drawbacks found.

Time will tell how they hold up. While drilling, the bit caught a little as it came out, so I decided to experiment and spun it for about half a minute at 600 rpm. As far as I can tell, this had no effect on them; it works just as it did before.

This review is more of a brief write-up about a decent product and a reliable seller. I hope someone finds it useful.

P.S. I'm really glad that so many people here are interested in electronics.