SMD code search: identify a part by its marking
No part printed Y5. is recorded in SOT-23. 2 printed with a similar-looking code.
No part printed Y5. is recorded in SOT-23
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.
1 part has no package on record. Nothing rules it out, so it stays.
BZX584B39Zener diode, Taiwan SemiconductorZener diodeTaiwan Semiconductor
- What it is
- Zener diode
- Maker
- Taiwan Semiconductor
- Package
- Not recorded
- Pins
- Not recorded
- Source
- From the manufacturer's datasheet
Is it dead?
Diode range for the forward check, part lifted, red probe on the anode. A bench supply for the Zener voltage.
Working, it reads
About 0.6 to 0.8 V forward and open in reverse on the diode range. Its Zener voltage shows only on a supply: feed it through a resistor that sets about 5 mA, cathode to positive, read quickly, and it should hold near its rated voltage.
Dead, it reads
- The same reading both ways round, near 0 V with a continuous beep or the same middling value: shorted.
- Open both ways, forward too: failed open.
- Holds well off its rated voltage on the supply test: drifted.
- A soft knee, or a voltage that creeps on the supply test: 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 meter's diode range stops at about 2 to 3 V, so almost every Zener reads open in reverse on it, good or bad; a 3 V meter may just show a 2.4 or 2.7 V part. Above about 3 V the meter cannot tell a Zener from a plain diode.
A dead part still carries its marking. A short or an open says it has failed, not that it is a different part.
Printed with a code easy to misread
These parts are printed with a character that is easy to misread as what you typed. The odd one out is marked on each.
Zener diode, all SOT-23, 3 pins. What differs:
BZX84-C16printed Y5SOT-23NexperiaNexperia
Printed Y5 on the part. Easy to misread as Y5.. Check that character with a loupe before you order anything.
- What it is
- Zener diode
- Maker
- Nexperia
- Package
- SOT-23
- Pins
- 3
- Details
- 16 V approx. ±5% voltage regulator (Zener) diode
- Source
- From the manufacturer's datasheet
Is it dead?
Diode range for the forward check, part lifted, red probe on the anode. A bench supply for the Zener voltage.
Working, it reads
About 0.6 to 0.8 V forward and open in reverse on the diode range. Its Zener voltage shows only on a supply: feed it through a resistor that sets about 5 mA, cathode to positive, read quickly, and it should hold near its rated voltage.
Dead, it reads
- The same reading both ways round, near 0 V with a continuous beep or the same middling value: shorted.
- Open both ways, forward too: failed open.
- Holds well off its rated voltage on the supply test: drifted.
- A soft knee, or a voltage that creeps on the supply test: 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 meter's diode range stops at about 2 to 3 V, so almost every Zener reads open in reverse on it, good or bad; a 3 V meter may just show a 2.4 or 2.7 V part. Above about 3 V the meter cannot tell a Zener from a plain diode.
A dead part still carries its marking. A short or an open says it has failed, not that it is a different part.
BZX84C16printed Y5SOT-23DiotecDiotec
Printed Y5 on the part. Easy to misread as Y5.. Check that character with a loupe before you order anything.
- What it is
- Zener diode
- Maker
- Diotec
- Package
- SOT-23
- Pins
- 3
- Details
- SMD Planar Zener Diodes
- Source
- From the manufacturer's datasheet
Is it dead?
Diode range for the forward check, part lifted, red probe on the anode. A bench supply for the Zener voltage.
Working, it reads
About 0.6 to 0.8 V forward and open in reverse on the diode range. Its Zener voltage shows only on a supply: feed it through a resistor that sets about 5 mA, cathode to positive, read quickly, and it should hold near its rated voltage.
Dead, it reads
- The same reading both ways round, near 0 V with a continuous beep or the same middling value: shorted.
- Open both ways, forward too: failed open.
- Holds well off its rated voltage on the supply test: drifted.
- A soft knee, or a voltage that creeps on the supply test: 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 meter's diode range stops at about 2 to 3 V, so almost every Zener reads open in reverse on it, good or bad; a 3 V meter may just show a 2.4 or 2.7 V part. Above about 3 V the meter cannot tell a Zener from a plain diode.
A dead part still carries its marking. A short or an open says it has failed, not that it is a different part.
One code, several parts
Marking codes are not unique. In the standard code book, 6H on a SOT-23 is an NPN transistor, a varicap, an N-channel JFET, two digital transistors, a 3.6 V voltage detector: six parts from five makers. So a search shows the parts we hold under that code and under codes easily misread as it, with only the columns that tell them apart.
- NPN transistor
- Varicap
- N-channel JFET
- Digital transistor ×2
- 3.6 V voltage detector
When more than one is left
Tap Help me choose. Up to 4 quick answers: whether the part has failed, then what separates the parts left. Those get ranked with the reasoning and a test that settles it. That uses one identification: 2 a month are free without an account, and 3 with a free account.
When you cannot read it
Tap the camera in the field. We read the characters, keep the ones we are unsure of, and search every reading. A photo too soft to read is turned back on your phone first; if it is the only one you can get, you can still send it.