SMD code search: identify a part by its marking
3 parts are printed RBF. 1 printed with a similar-looking code.
3 parts are printed RBF
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.
5 pins. What differs:
LN1170B462PRSOT-89-5LDO regulator, Shanghai Natlinear ElectronicsLDO regulatorSOT-89-5Shanghai Natlinear Electronics
- What it is
- LDO regulator
- Maker
- Shanghai Natlinear Electronics
- Package
- SOT-89-5
- Pins
- 5
- Details
- Linear voltage regulator IC: LDO, 4.6V±1%, 800mA, +CE
- Source
- Published code list
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.
RP114N121D5SOT-23-5LDO regulator, RicohLDO regulatorSOT-23-5Ricoh
- What it is
- LDO regulator
- Maker
- Ricoh
- Package
- SOT-23-5
- Pins
- 5
- Details
- Linear voltage regulator IC: LDO, 1.25V±1%, 300mA, +CE, CL
- Source
- Published code list
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.
XC6368F155MRSOT-23-5DC-DC converter, TorexDC-DC converterSOT-23-5Torex
- What it is
- DC-DC converter
- Maker
- Torex
- Package
- SOT-23-5
- Pins
- 5
- Details
- DC/DC voltage converter IC: PWM/PFM st-up, 1.5V±2.5%, 200mA, 500kHz, +CE, soft start
- Source
- Published code list
Is it dead?
Voltage with the board powered; ohms from each pin to ground with it off.
Working, it reads
Supply pin at its voltage and the output doing what the datasheet says. Readings between pins depend on the part.
Dead, it reads
- A pin near 0 Ω to ground or to the supply pin where an identical part does not read that: failed short.
- Supply present, output stuck: failed, or its load has.
- On the board:
- A pin shorted to ground on the board can be anything on that net. Lift the pin to be sure.
- Compare:
- The surest reference is the same IC on a working board, measured pin by pin.
- Watch for:
- Its protection diodes can read like junctions between pins, even like a transistor. That proves nothing either way.
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 is printed with a code easy to misread as RBF
Printed with a code easy to misread
One character differs, and it is one that is easy to confuse under a lamp. The odd one out is marked on each.
S-8211CCF-I6T1printed R8F6 pins, ABLIC6 pinsABLIC
Printed R8F on the part. Easy to misread as RBF. Check that character with a loupe before you order anything.
- What it is
- Not recorded
- Maker
- ABLIC
- Package
- Not recorded
- Pins
- 6
- 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.
Did you find your 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.
Get the app
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