SMD code 204C
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 and published code lists.
204C on a chip capacitor
200 nF, 16 V
200 nF, 16 V tantalum capacitor
A moulded tantalum capacitor: 204 is the capacitance in picofarads (200 nF) and C is the rated-voltage code (16 V).
Check it with a meter
Lift one end and measure it on a capacitance range. A good one reads close to 200 nF. In circuit the meter also sees everything connected across it, so the reading means little until it is out. It is polarised: the band on the body marks the positive end, and a tantalum fitted backwards fails short, sometimes with a flame. A failed tantalum usually reads near 0 Ω both ways, often with a burnt or cracked body. A failed reading does not change what to fit: the marking still says 200 nF, 16 V. Fit the same capacitance at the same or a higher voltage.
On a transistor or diode body (SOIC-8, SOT-23-6, SOT-363), 204C is a part code instead. Those parts are listed below.
Not sure which one you have?
Answer up to 4 quick questions and these 3 parts are ranked, with a meter test that settles it. It works on a dead part too.
The only part printed 204C in our tables
LS204CDT
- What it is
- Not recorded
- Maker
- STMicroelectronics
- Package
- SOIC-8
- Pins
- 8
- Source
- Published code list
Is it dead?
Diode range and ohms range, part lifted.
Working, it reads
Depends on what it is. The datasheet, or an identical part, says.
Dead, it reads
- Between two pins, the same reading both ways, near 0 V with a continuous beep: shorted.
- Open between every pair of pins: failed open, or a part that reads open when working.
- On the board
- this is a first look only: the meter reads every path between those pins, and a short can be a neighbour. Lift one leg before you condemn it.
- Compare:
- If an identical part sits elsewhere on the board, measure it the same way: that is what this one should read.
A dead part still carries its marking. A short or an open says it has failed, not that it is a different part.
Was it this one?
Printed with a code easy to misread as 204C
One character differs, and it is one that is easy to confuse under a lamp. Each code has a page of its own.
Did you find your part?
Open this in the search to correct a character or try another package.