2 parts are printed SDA. 2 printed with a similar-looking code.
2 parts are printed SDA
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.
LDO regulator, all Texas Instruments. What differs:
TPS70918DBVSOT-23-55 pinsSOT-23-55 pins
- What it is
- LDO regulator
- Maker
- Texas Instruments
- Package
- SOT-23-5
- Pins
- 5
- Details
- 150-mA, 30-V, 1-µA IQ Voltage Regulators With Enable
- 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.
TPS70918DRVWSON6 pinsWSON6 pins
- What it is
- LDO regulator
- Maker
- Texas Instruments
- Package
- WSON
- Pins
- 6
- Details
- 150-mA, 30-V, 1-µA IQ Voltage Regulators With Enable
- 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.
2 more parts are printed with a code easy to misread as SDA
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.
MM1Z4750Aprinted 50ASOD-123FZener diode, 2 pins, DiotecZener diodeSOD-123F2 pinsDiotec
Printed 50A on the part. Easy to misread as SDA. Check that character with a loupe before you order anything.
- What it is
- Zener diode
- Maker
- Diotec
- Package
- SOD-123F
- Pins
- 2
- 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:
- 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.
MMDT2227Aprinted S0ASOT-363Transistor, 6 pins, PanjitTransistorSOT-3636 pinsPanjit
Printed S0A on the part. Easy to misread as SDA. Check that character with a loupe before you order anything.
- What it is
- Transistor
- Maker
- Panjit
- Package
- SOT-363
- Pins
- 6
- Details
- Bipolar transistor
- Source
- From the manufacturer's datasheet
Is it dead?
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:
- 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.
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.