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SMD code 3EW

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.

2 parts are printed 3EW

Not sure which one you have?

Answer up to 4 quick questions and these 2 parts are ranked, with a meter test that settles it. It works on a dead part too.

3 pins. What differs:

  • BC857ASOT-23PNP transistor, NexperiaPNP transistorSOT-23Nexperia
    What it is
    PNP transistor
    Maker
    Nexperia
    Package
    SOT-23
    Pins
    3
    Details
    -50 V PNP small-signal transistor, gain group A
    Source
    An older or alternative marking, from a published code list

    Is it dead? The meter test is below: PNP transistor.

  • BC857AWSOT-323Transistor, NXPTransistorSOT-323NXP
    What it is
    Transistor
    Maker
    NXP
    Package
    SOT-323
    Pins
    3
    Details
    SMD General Purpose PNP Transistors
    Source
    Published code list

    Is it dead? The meter test is below: Bipolar transistor.

Is it dead? One meter test per kind

Parts of the same kind are tested the same way, so each test is here once. Each part above points to its own.

PNP transistor

Diode range, part lifted or its base leg off the pad.

Working, it reads

Black probe on the base reads about 0.6 to 0.75 V to the emitter and to the collector, and open the other way round. Collector to emitter reads open both ways.

Dead, it reads

  • Collector to emitter the same both ways, near 0 V with a continuous beep: shorted. The commonest failure.
  • The base the same both ways to another pin, near 0 V or a middling value: a shorted junction.
  • Only one junction reads, or none: a junction has failed open. It then looks like a diode.
  • A reading the wrong way round, where it should be open: leaky.
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.
Watch for:
A pair of diodes with a common pin reads just like a transistor, and some transistors carry a built-in diode or resistor. The datasheet says which.

A dead part still carries its marking. A short or an open says it has failed, not that it is a different part.

Bipolar transistor

Diode range, part lifted or its base leg off the pad.

Working, it reads

From the base, one probe colour reads about 0.6 to 0.75 V to the emitter and to the collector, and open the other way round. Collector to emitter reads open both ways.

Dead, it reads

  • Collector to emitter the same both ways, near 0 V with a continuous beep: shorted. The commonest failure.
  • The base the same both ways to another pin, near 0 V or a middling value: a shorted junction.
  • Only one junction reads, or none: a junction has failed open. It then looks like a diode.
  • A reading the wrong way round, where it should be open: leaky.
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.
Watch for:
A pair of diodes with a common pin reads just like a transistor, and some transistors carry a built-in diode or resistor. The datasheet says which.

A dead part still carries its marking. A short or an open says it has failed, not that it is a different part.

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