DEL MAR ---- Instead of horse races and agricultural shows, circuit boards, capacitors and other electronics took the stage Wednesday and Thursday at the Del Mar Fairgrounds.

Now in its 14th year, the Del Mar Electronics Show brings scores of exhibiting companies and an estimated 4,000 guests to the fairgrounds, said Doug Bodenstab, the show's founder.

Exhibitors and guests come from throughout San Diego County and Southern California, with about 10 percent from Mexico, Bodenstab said. They're there to network, to find new customers and suppliers ---- and to enjoy themselves.

The relaxed seaside atmosphere is a big draw for guests, who like to mix business with pleasure, Bodenstab said.

When the show moved to downtown San Diego one year, guests didn't like it, he said.

"Attendance wasn't very good because it was downtown," Bodenstab said. "Parking was a problem and the people really didn't get into it."

One fan of the current location is exhibitor James Brewer, president of Techmar Enclosures, based in Marina Del Rey.

"The people are friendly, there's a lot of engineers we do business with in San Diego, and I love the ocean," Brewer said. "I always get five or six customers every time I come down to the show." Techmar's enclosures hold and shield the guts of electronics systems such as computer "servers".

Rancho Bernardo-based Computer Modules Inc. sells industrial video cameras, capable of capturing images and digitally processing them at high speeds. The company's exhibit showcased a Toshiba Teli videocam that rapidly read a two-dimensional barcode from medicine bottles rotating past a sensor and decoded the label.

Bottles can be scanned after they're filled at the plant, making it easier to identify them later in case of a problem with a batch, said Rebecca Gray, marketing manager for the Qzeo imaging division of Computer Modules.

This is the company's first appearance at the convention, Gray said.

"We came here because it was local, and it's a good price," Gray said.

Escondido-based RB Design Inc. designs, assembles and manufactures printed circuit boards, the flat framework on which various electronics components are assembled.

The company's boards are used in anything electronic, "from medical devices to consumer electronics," said sales manager Kelly Peoples.

Peoples said RB Design has attended the electronics show for the last five years.

"It provides a way for companies that don't know about us or our services to find out about us," Peoples said.

That face-to-face contact is why the electronics show can continue even when the companies attending routinely do business over the Internet, Bodenstab said. When buyer and seller meet personally, it builds trust.

"You get validity," he said. "You get the personality behind the product. Anyone can throw up a Web site."

The other advantage is that guests see things and make contacts just by happenstance that they wouldn't get in a tightly focused Internet search.

"Also, people are social beings," Bodenstab said. "We offer a good time at no cost."

Bodenstab said electronics trade shows have been hurt by "offshoring," the movement of electronics manufacturing to other, lower-priced companies. There's fewer exhibitors to fill the shows.

"Luckily for us, some of the other shows have died," Bodenstab said. "One of our advantages is we're low-cost and we're fun. People aren't just coming here to pick out parts.

The show continues Thursday at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. More information is on the Web at http://www.vts.com/delmar.

Contact staff writer Bradley J. Fikes at (760) 739-6641 or bfikes@nctimes.com.

Ray Asturias with the QZEO Imaging Division for Computer Modules Inc. shows off the company’s Toshiba Teli machine vision camera, which is reading Advil bottle bar codes at high speed, at the Del Mar Electronics Show at the Del Mar Fairgrounds on Wednesday. (Jamie Scott Lytle / Staff Photographer)

The Del Mar Electronics Show runs through Thursday. (Jamie Scott Lytle / Staff Photographer)