SMD marking
12U
Marking codes are not standardised, and the same code is reused by unrelated makers for unrelated parts. Below is every part in our tables printed with it, and any printed with a code that is easy to misread as it, from the manufacturers' own marking tables.
12U on a chip capacitor
12 µF
12 µF capacitor
The u is both the decimal point and the unit: 12 µF.
Check it with a meter
Lift one end and measure it on a capacitance range. A good one reads close to 12 µF. In circuit the meter also sees everything connected across it, so the reading means little until it is out. A failed one usually reads near 0 Ω, or a steady low resistance, on the ohms range, often from a crack. On the board a shorted capacitor shorts its whole rail. A failed reading does not change what to fit: the marking still says 12 µF.
On a transistor or diode body (SOT-23-5), 12U is a part code instead. Those parts are listed below.
The only part printed 12U in our tables
ESDQ12VFD1U
- What it is
- ESD protection diode
- Maker
- JSCJ
- Package
- Not recorded
- Pins
- Not recorded
- Details
- ESD protection diode, VRWM 12 V
- Source
- From the manufacturer's datasheet
Is it dead?
Diode range, from the protected line to ground, part lifted if you can.
Working, it reads
A one-way part reads about 0.6 to 0.8 V forward and open in reverse. A two-way part reads open both ways. Arrays with several lines read as the datasheet's diagram draws them.
Dead, it reads
- From the line to ground, the same reading both ways, near 0 V with a continuous beep: shorted.
- A reading both ways on a one-way part: leaky.
- A one-way part open both ways: failed open.
- On the board:
- On the board, a line reading shorted to ground can be this part or anything else on that line. Lift it: if the short goes with it, it has failed.
- Compare:
- The same part on the next line or connector pin is the healthy reading to compare with.
- Watch for:
- A two-way part reads open both ways when it is good, exactly like one that has failed open. The meter cannot tell them apart; an identical part on the next line can.
A dead part still carries its marking. A short or an open says it has failed, not that it is a different part.
1 more part has a code that begins with 12U
Codes that begin with 12U
For a marking with its end worn or burnt off. Each one shows its full printed code.
TLV70213DBVprinted 12UWSOT-23-5LDO regulator, 5 pins, Texas InstrumentsLDO regulatorSOT-23-55 pinsTexas Instruments
Printed 12UW. Only the start matches what you typed, so this fits only if the rest of the marking is worn off.
- What it is
- LDO regulator
- Maker
- Texas Instruments
- Package
- SOT-23-5
- Pins
- 5
- Details
- 300-mA, Low-IQ, Low-Dropout Regulator
- Source
- From the manufacturer's datasheet
Is it dead?
Voltage, board powered, black probe on ground. Then ohms with the power off.
Working, it reads
Input pin at the supply, output pin at its rated voltage, and the enable pin high if it has one.
Dead, it reads
- Output equal to the input: the pass element has shorted. Everything after it may have taken the full input.
- Input present, enable high, no output: failed open, or holding itself off into a shorted load. Power off and measure output to ground.
- Power off, input to output near 0 Ω: shorted.
- On the board:
- An output at 0 V is often a shorted load with the regulator in current limit. Lift the output pin: if the short stays on the board, the regulator may be fine.
- Compare:
- The same regulator on another rail or another board shows the right voltages and the right resistances.
- Watch for:
- Makers put input, output and ground on different pins in the same package, so take them from this part's datasheet. Diode or ohms readings between its pins say little; check it powered.
A dead part still carries its marking. A short or an open says it has failed, not that it is a different part.
Open this in the search to correct a character or try another package.