Plenty 😅 ...Though not much spoken about JFETs these days. Brilliant for following high-Z crystal mics/pick-ups, self-biasing with a 10M to Gnd on the gate and a 1k on source. Still used in condenser mics for such reasons.
@@ferrumignis I don't know if it's true, but I've read that semiconductor suppliers today just make one part, and label it as "1N914" or "1N4148" depending on market demand. Demand persists for "1N914" because manufacturers would have to qualify a "different" part if they changed the BOM designation to "1N4148."
BC550 input, BC847 next, BD139 buffer, 2SC5200 an output, and IRFP240. These are the first idea comes to my mind. Of course MPSA18, 2n7002, 2n2222, 2n5551, 2n5486, and J111
BCxxxl rules, 2Nxxxx mehhh Electronically speaking i agree no significant difference. But the naming is just so much easier : B-> silicon (would be A for germanium) C-> low current class (D for medium, ...) 8-> sot23 (1 for to18, 5 for to92, ...) 4-> npn (5 for pnp) 7-> gellybean (6 for high voltage, 9 for low noise, ...) c-> curent gain range (called beta not Hfe here) So if i get something i don't know out of a scrapbag of component i know what to expect from it without needing any database Who know what a 2N4570 is ?? I mean without using internet or the old school equivalent "RCA catalogue" ? Of course with the advent of modern day two character criptic micro stufs that is no more an argument. But hey maybe i'm still a bit old school ;)
I was thinking that, but they were used mostly in the energy saving fluorescent light bulbs or tube ballasts, and since those lights have now been 'banned' in large areas, the transistors may fade away too now.
Mine are BC547, 550 (for low noise applications), 847 (for SMT), 2N7000, IRF540 (for MOOSEFETs) and MPSA44 (for HV driving applications). Back in the '90s when I learned electronics, I mainly tinkered with BC107. They were around, salvaged from old electronics. Of course I played with 2N3055 too! Happened to build a transistor amp or two. First to watch... it's not 1080p yet!
Yes, those 2N types mentioned in the video were not popular here, we had the BC range with indeed types like BC107/8/9 BC237/8/9 BC547/8/9. For small MOSFETs the BS170. Being in Europe, we had most visibility of the European types.
@@Rob2 oh yes. Same for vacuum tubes... it's ECC83 here, none of that 12AX7 rubbish! Also worth noting is that the European diode and transistor marking system directly evolved from the Philips-Mullard vacuum tube marking system - it's just that the letters gained new meaning in the semiconductor context, the first letter was no longer heater voltage/current but semiconductor type (silicon, germanium, GaAs etc.). Some type markings have roughly close meanings, like A for detection diodes both tube and semiconductor, C for low power triodes and transistors, D for power triodes/transistors, F for pentodes and HF transistors, L for power pentodes and HF power transistors, Y for rectifier diodes...
_"And you could scrape the paint off..."_ Until they replaced the clear filler putty with blue and then sold the clear putty version as the OCP71 for 5 times the price! I still have half a dozen unused OC71s and one day I will find out if they have suffered from the dreaded whiskers that short them out internally.
Oh yeah! Reading Practical Electronics in the 60s-70s always had a couple of OC71 projects, or if you needed POWER then the OC81 🙂 with the little aluminum bracket
That's because those are examples of the coding standards used in each continent, and therefore represented parts most easily available. Parts starting with a letter such as AF114 or BC108 use the European EEAC standard, the first letter indicates the semiconductor material (A=germanium, B=silicon), second letter indicates intended use (switching, audio amp, RF amp etc). 2N2222 is an example of the American JEDEC standard, first digit is the number of pins minus one (hence three pin transistors start with 2).
That's actually a thing I'm noticing too. 2N2222 seems to be one of the most popular transistors in american hobbyists projects and general purpose stuff whereas here in the EU (germany to be specific) nearly everyone uses BC546...550 and BC556...560. Almost every electronics hobbyist here starts out with these BCs it seems.
@@BavarianscienceBack in the 1960's Philips in the EU made the BC107-8-9 family which became the European jellybean transistor family (the newer 547-8-9 are similar with plastic packages en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BC108_family ) ... In the US Fairchild and Motorola made the 2N types which became the US jellybeans... and of course the Japanese have theirs too lol
Yep, and I still have many, many BCxxx flying around - and BDxxx. Perhaps they never made it to down under. 2N... all this yankee stuff. And a BD249C can take 25A@100V Yes, I can still buy them (here) in numbers, but well, they are not available in Asia I guess.
Remember Elektor had always in the parts list the jellybean shown as TUN or TUP, and generally around once a year they had a few pages of what would work in either, a pretty long list of transistor types.
@@EEVblog Yes I wore a few of those out, and they came in very useful as well, especially with some of the more obscure devices. Think I still have a few badly dog eared copies around, plus some motorola data books, and others, that showed exactly what each die was used for, and that the differences between many were all due to sorting in manufacture, and the package used.
I first heard of TUP TUN DUG DUS in a Big Clive video about his Joule Thief. I love the concept of "if the datasheet says 'general purpose,' just whack it in there."
@@echelonrank3927 do they need to? It's a pretty large transistor, afaik radiation is a problem for digital electronics where the transistors are nano scale and billions of transistors are on a few mm of silicon
I like to use the tip41 & tip42 as fairly high power complementary pairs all the time and they are fairly common even at my local electronics component stores.
But that's because we're ancient North American guys, I'm presuming? That SS8050 looks like a 2222 killer, and the 2222 has needed killing for a long time.
Fun, and always appreciate the speed, energy and enthusiasm! And when you sort of made that Mmmmmm, delicious, sound, that really reminded me of the way I feel when I go through a spec enjoying every little characteristic that a part has. Thank you Dave!
Ordered a batch of boards turnkey from PCBWay. Customer in big hurry and cheapskate. Next day PCBWay emails list of short/long-lead parts. Among those MMBT3904 in SOT23. Back and forth, no way to pass the message that it is a jelly-bean part and it is impossible that they don't have 3904 available. I had to change to BC845
Hey, I'm just thrilled you mentioned my nostalgic BC547's 🙂! I was wondering if they were truly jellybean, or just randomly thrown in the Dick Smith Electronic Kits back in the day (from which I still have this irrational feeling that the BC547 is the one true NPN transistor)
Glad to see another BC817 enjoyer in the wild - at this point I don't even bother using anything else unless I need more than half an amp of continuous current.
I still remember picking up bags of 2N3904’s and 2N2222’s from RadioShack and Allied when they had actual stores you could go in. The higher gain variants of the BC547 and 557 I’ve used as drivers and voltage threshold detectors in audio amps for relay sequencing.
I've always defaulted to 3904/3906s when using jellybean BJTs. I think it's because I like how well matched they are. I couldn't even speculate as to what the PNP equivalent of a 2222 is. That, and when I started off a few years ago, I bought like 500 3904s, not knowing what I was doing. Which is a bit much when you're only using breadboards at the time lol. I just like buying parts for the sake of having them. I don't even use half of the chips I've bought. They're there "just in case". I mean, you never know.
35 years ago, the world was divided into four major regions. Some examples for small signal BJTs: Europe: BC107/177 , later BC547/557 USA: 2N3904/3906 Japan: 2SC945, A733 USSR: KT315/361 Today this division is not as relevant due to globalization (and there are only 3 regions left), but some people's preferences in the comments show where they started their hobby/profession.
2N3904/3906, 2N2222 and 2N3055, absolutely. Never worked with the others. I would have added TIP31C and its complementary friends, they were handy TO-220 packages for anything from small audio amps to little DC motor speed controllers.
Supporting Dave's judgement, there is one big way in which the 2N3904 is more "jellybean" than the 2N2222, or at least so it seems to this complete amateur. The 3904 is well suited for both switching and linear applications, whereas the 2222 is really only suitable as a switch. According to the datasheet gain specs, both have similar max hfe of 100-300, but the 3904 reaches that peak at 10 ma Ic, whereas the 2222 doesn't reach it until 150 ma. If you run the 2N2222 in a linear amplifier with 150 ma of idle current, you would hit the package dissipation limit of 600 mw at only 4 volts Vce. Maybe there is some odd low-voltage, high-current (but not too high!) application where it would be the optimal choice--but I have trouble thinking of one. Of course you can run the 2N2222 as a linear amplifier at a lower idle current, but you would probably be better off using the 2N3904, and getting a higher hfe (at least according to the datasheet). Worth mentioning (maybe?) is the 2N2219, which I gather is the same silicon as the 2N2222, but in a larger TO-39 case, capable of handling up to 3 watts with heat sinking. I have a 1970s vintage HP 20 MHz function generator that uses these as 50-ohm output drivers--so they can definitely handle linear applications. Not exactly "jellybean," though, since they cost about $3 each on digikey.
I do it like the manufacturers, but vice versa. They put the marking on their silicone that (within specs) gives the biggest margin and I by out of the different flavors of numbering silicone, the one that gives me the best margin. 😂
i was poorer than that, so had to salvage transistors like 2sc2021 etc. out of discarded jap gear. then i tried some BC series. didnt end up using them, the gains were consistently low. talking to people who spent decades working with the crap revealed that the west never bothered to fully develop transistor tech like japan did.
When you learn electronics in Europe, the BC54x NPN and BC55x PNP transistors are your "standard" ones. It doesn't matter what type you use, as long it gets the job done aka without turning into a light emitting transistor ;) .
Same in the old Dick Smith Funway into Electronics 1 and 2 books (and kits they came with) I remember from the late 80's / early 90's (except with a different prefix than BC).
Having seen pictures of different dies with the same markings on, i would assume the manufacturers put on whatever marking meets the specs of the silicone and gives the highest margin. And I can’t see a problem with that. Would have been nice to concentrate on the real difference between US and European universal small power transistors, which could be the pinout, because that ruins diy experience.
@@fromgermany271 Yep, BC547 can be replaced with a 2N3904 (can handle double the collector current), but has a different pinout. Another trap is, that there are three sub variants of the BC547(A/B/C) which are binned based on the gain. The BC547C has higher gain than the 2N3904.
Yep, totally agree.. I have used BC547 for 20+ years now for hobby projects and BC337/338 as well. For the slightly higher powers i have always used BD137 and for the really high currents (above 1 amp) I have always used 2N3055, those things are almost indestructible (as long as you remember the heat sink and the 10mOhm emitter resistor if you hook them up in parallel that is - Yes I have let out the magic smoke that way)
Hello Dave, this series is outstanding, please keep going! I think it is useful both for the hobbyist which just wants a part name to put over a function, and for the design engineer which has multi-sourcing constraints from their customer. I happen to be both, depending on the topic, so I would press like twice if it wasn't overflowing to zero. Thanks! (By the way, if I could suggest a next one... I believe optocouplers and maybe just diodes too would be appreciated)
The BC327, BC337, BC546, BC556, BD139, BD140 ,Tip31 ,Tip32 , 2n3055 , 2n2955 are some of the more common i remember using in Australia through the 70's, 80's and 90's
I was hoping to see some discussion on Darlington transistors in this video, or perhaps it could be a topic for the next top 5. Currently, I'm on the lookout for a Darlington transistor similar to the BD679 but available in an easy-to-solder surface-mount package for switching inductive loads with a µc I've been using the TSM2308CX MOSFET, but I've unfortunately destroyed a few of them. As Dave mentioned, BJTs can often withstand a bit more torture in certain applications.
A few days ago I asked chat gpt about surface mount replacement for the tip122, it gave me a completely wrong answer every time, pointed towards a TO92 package instead
For lower frequency RF, 3904/3906 and the 2222 are good enough. Anything above 10-14 Mhz will be useless but then you're really dealing with those weirder RF BJTs that are too sensitive imo for amateur electronics work unless you really know your stuff. Like the 2sc5551 is out of production and it was one that you could tame with little effort but it's just becoming harder to find anything in the RF BJT lines that won't just turn into an oscillator.
I like 2n2222 But also have a lot of s9013 s9015 For medium power, i like them japanese 2sc2655 2sd882 2sb772, typically used to drive the bases of bigger power transistors For big power, tip41c tip42c For big big power, 3055 and 2955
Whoa! What are these obscure parts you're trying to pass off as jellybean? Where are the ever popular OC44/45 and OC71s (or even the AF115 should you fancy a four legged beast)? You can even upgrade the OC71 to an OCP71 photodiode by centrifuging the opaque filler in the glass package away from the junction - two types from a single stock item - try that with your fancy pants suggestions! And they only cost a week or two's pocket money apiece. Nurse, nurse - my head's starting to hurt again!
2n3055 was allrounder king in to3 can days but havent seen them in to247 til this video and the BD brothers 140 and 139, for every small project. 2SC5200 and 2SA1943.. every power amp i worked on that used TO3P BJT's and had >100W/ch either used or work with these flawlessly just got a bunch of them now and grouped them for hFE gain to find the best matched pairs
I track parts for our company purchasing decisions and lots of discrete and logic IC parts have been eliminated from distributors inventories. Not that we can’t get them but selection and quantities are way way down and prices are way up.
Metal case will give you better thermal margin at the same power dissipation and ambient temperature due to its lower thermal resistance (junction to ambient) this might be important for high reliability applications.
The 2N3055 came in vastly different trade-offs of hfe vsv ft and SOA. Ranged from ft of 800;KHz to 2 MHz. But the 800 KHz SOA was almost the full 115 Watts at its Vcb. The ft 2 MHz variant SOA started to have Second Breakdown dropoff at Vce of only 40 Volts. RCA introduced and JEDEC registered it before SOA was a regular item.
BC547 was hard to come by in the US during COVID. I wound up buying a bunch of 2N4401s and 2N4403s instead. Last time I needed medium current for a one-off, I needed about half an amp, and fished a 2N3053 out of my parts box, along with a little clip-on heat sink. I have absolutely no idea how old that thing was. I don't work with the higher voltages much, so I'll have to remember the 458/558 if I happen to need such a thing. Jellybean RF transistor would have to be the '5179, I think! The SOT-23 version is dirt cheap, 2 GHz transition frequency, other specs stink but maybe you don't need 'em. Lots of DIY ham gear uses it.
Fun fact about 2N4403s: They have surprisingly low rbb' especially for a jellybean part, making them useful for low-impedance low-noise audio applications like the inputs of (dynamic) microphone preamps or MC prepres. In that sense they are the polar opposite of the other "low noise" school of transistors (BC550 and the like), which is high-beta types that keep working well to very low Ic.
BC548 and BD139 for reasons that are lost from 40 years ago now. Probably voltage. But yeah. Then 1N4148 for signals and 1N4001 for power. I miss the simple old days.
It was oc07, ac 108, bc 107, bc 237 and then the re-harmonised it again and the 237 became the 548....and then we got these -16, -24...markings....and then the bc8xx and reassigned bf entirely.... Look at old (pre 80s) databooks... All different to the ones you are familiar with.... 😉 😊
Another one, I've always used the D44H series for higher power - D44H8 and D44H11 are 60/80V NPN, D45H8 and D45H11 are the complementary 60/80V PNP respectively. Might be starting to dry up though.
Jellybean means a very wide variety of applications. So not only new product design but also repair and modifications. And the latter category includes field work. For that reason, in my opinion is a requirement for jellybean that a through hole version must be available.
An interesting video would be jellybean parts from "the old days" that are unobtanium but still in some demand. But i'm just a regular dude watching this for fun :)
Never heard of 3904. When you say jellybean, I say BC547/8/..., BC557/8/..., or BC850, BC860 for SMD. From Japanese products, I mainly salvaged C945, which I assume is jellybean.
fun fact: the old school (mainly Ge) BJTs are valued items on ebay. Whatever makes them seen as junk by most of electronics professionnals is seeked by the fuzz pedal makers. Same thing for some discontinued JFETs. Their non-linearities and oddities are needed in some preamps, overdrive and distortion pedals. That and also some kind of weird cult :-)
2N3055 was manufactured by many various production plants around the world. I had ones from Tungsram (hungary, commie times), american RCA, Czechoslovakian Tesla and some other ones. Hungarian 2N3055 are prone to have low beta, around 30-50 at Ib=10mA, RCA ones were around 100, while Czechoslovakian ones (Motorola license), well above 100. I did an engineer's thesis by building a digital curve tracer and measuring static characteristics of various things I had available. And when I think low power, BC547/2N3904 in the signal amplifier use, 2N2222/BC337 as the low power switch, BD139 as the actual medium power amplifier/switch (12.5W, 1.5A) and then BD911/2N3055 for high power, non jellybean wise, 2SC5200 is a better choice, with some vintage Tesla KD502 (motorola licensed 2N3772) being very nice as well.
I recall using the BFY51 on several occasions when additional current was needed beyond what the 2N2222 could provide. Not sure if it was Jellybean but was always readily available.
I've just unsoldered a 2N3904 lol... and the BC548 is the ultimate , best transistor ever :) BC337 is you want a bit more juice. and 2N3055 if you wanna start really cooking. TIP31/32 was also popular..
One thing that nearly made me fall off my chair is that there is now a company that has restarted the BC108. That used to be a jellybean part 40 years ago.
Over here bc 237/337 then bc 550/560 BD 139/140...and for sure the 3055..the 2955 was way later they instead did 'pseudo' complementary using 3055 at both sides and a PNP driver in front for the neg. Side I recently build a classic 3055 amp using ± 22 volt rails and four 3055. Dif pair input no current mirror, no current source but only a single resistor and a class A driver (bc 161-16) drivers (for that pseudo PP) and symmetrical supply to omit that ugly output cap... Nice one Dave, thanx 👍😊
Thanks for the List 👍 It's helpful to have some Chicken Food trannies in your collection. Actually We used the FZT4 recently to switch mains voltages for a low power application
BC547,BC557, 2n2222,2n2907,2n3904,2n3906. For FETs I use the J201, LND150, and 2n5457-9. I do mostly audio stuff so I use these the most. (Edit: I forgot about the KSA1381 and KSC3503 for medium power stuff).
Used to be BC171/BC251, BD136/BD137, 2N3055. If it couldn't be done with one of these then it was radio frequency tier, which is just saying arcane magick. Or, if you wanna wind the dial even further back a bit: AC180/AC181, P401 etc...
Bad souvenir about the 2222 (Plastic TO-92): Only having 2222's available for a project, i carefully built it with them to finally find it behaved bizzarely. Pretty low gain and significant leakage. After around 30 minutes of troubleshooting, i found the unimaginable: The BJT's Emitter and Collector leads were inverted !! In an JEDEC TO-92 device (base in center) ! I was so frustrated by such an amount of stupidity that i threw them in garbage without noting the brand, but i was 99% sure they were made out of Mandarium. Since then, i carefully check the datasheet before buying 2222's and yes, i prefer 3904's over them.
Also, about the 2222's. The metal can TO-18 2N2222 device uses bond wires in mid-air to connect the BJT's leads to silicon. Its counterpart TO-92 PN2222 is completely encapsulated in epoxy resin which includes the bond wires. Result: The TO-18 midair wires will act as fuses and will melt open in a mild overcurrent situation. In 99% of cases, the emitter will open. On their side, the TO-92 bond wires, covered in epoxy, will require a MUCH higher overcurrent to melt. In fact, Plastic devices will burn short, the silicon die shorting way before the bond wires open. In fact, a Plastic device will explode in case of extreme overcurrent situation.
When I was a kid I happened to tear down a lot of dumpster dive derived consumer audio and RC toy stuff and they happened to be japanese (I was living far away from there) jellybean oriented. Those were mostly the 2SC945 and 2SC1815. I could see JIS stuff having a real "kanban" on their lettering and black/green color on high power stuff to denote PNP or NPN type junction. The town electronics store didn't really sell the low power 2N stuff for some reason (apart from 1N diodes) just the BC, BD, TIP, but especially the BC212. The guy might have grown up on the Philips stuff. I thought that BC212 is a jellybean part, but later I started speculating that the onwer might have just stocked up on too much of a single component. 🙃
Thanks for all the good stuff you put out! I just watched all jellybean videos. knew most of them but discovered some good ones. thanks! I'd really like something on DC/DC controllers. Does not sound like something you would do a JB video about. however we often need them and always end up with single source devices which is terrible. Don't know if there are aother devices like 34063, hopefully a bit better 🙂 MOS would also be nice.
The BC547 is just the 2N3904 of Europe. I'm VERY sure that it's one and the same chip in all those types nowadays. I mean they are all Ucemax=60V or so, hfe=100..500 according to class, 100mA Icmax and 300MHz fT or so. The classical "TUN" ;)
That was fun! Looking forward to your picking out jellybean components in other categories. Some of these are already in my libraries but I need to add the smaller packages and complementary parts in some cases. I'm going to go back through my libraries and review adds and updates for future projects. Thanks again.
the intervals between resistors in the E12 series were originally set by the tolerances, back when tolerances were typically much wider, 10% eg, the top end of the acceptable values for a nominal 39 ohm resistor would meet, or just overlap, the bottom end of the acceptable values for a 47 ohm one, then to top end of values for a 47 ohm resistor meet the bottom end of a 56
Back in the ooold days we (in Germany) had that 10, 30, 50, 80, 100.... When they harmonized it it was E6/E12/E24/E48 and yes the pricey 6ring E96....Conrad was the first prosumer electronics component seller which printed the whole E96 series from 10R to 10Meg in their Master Catalog (around 700 pages A4) only to show off I thing and also for the page count.... 😉
See the Preferred Numbers: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preferred_number Basically, every value is a fixed multiple of the previous one. For the E12 series, the multiplier is about 1.2. It gives you a wider, and reasonably uniform, range of values when you start putting resistors in series or parallel. If I want 5 I'll put two 10s in parallel. Removing one item from the BOM and keeping one less part in inventory is usually more valuable than getting a value like 5 with a single resistor. If I need 4 it's 2.2+1.8.. though I'd want to see a reason why 3.9 (within 2.5%) isn't good enough. Few resistor values are critical to more than, "enh.. it's the right order of magnitude." On the rare occasions when you truly -need- a specific value, you hock a kidney and pay Vishay for resistors of that exact value.
@@mikestone-w1q I thought, because some logarithmic or square root rule in parallel series connection at AC operation. Resistors I understand, but the caps too? Coils too? Even zener diodes too?
You need to go down the FET rabbit hole; I enjoy these jellybean videos.
2N7002, is there another?
Plenty 😅
...Though not much spoken about JFETs these days. Brilliant for following high-Z crystal mics/pick-ups, self-biasing with a 10M to Gnd on the gate and a 1k on source. Still used in condenser mics for such reasons.
@@StudioComposer Same for PIR Sensors but those JFET are integrated and not suited for appreciable frequencies.
@@0MoTheG I'm always on the lookout for something that is a better switch at 3.3V.
Yess I love this series, please continue
BC546-560, 2N2222-2907, MPSA42-92 are all jellybean. If Jellybean diodes are covered then the 1N4007 and 1N4148 have to be the top two surely.
1N914 used to be very common and is a mostly exact equivalent to 1N4148.
@@ferrumignis I don't know if it's true, but I've read that semiconductor suppliers today just make one part, and label it as "1N914" or "1N4148" depending on market demand. Demand persists for "1N914" because manufacturers would have to qualify a "different" part if they changed the BOM designation to "1N4148."
@@danmenes3143 I can easily believe it, hardly makes sense to make two parts that are pretty much identical.
@@danmenes3143 I think they do the same with the 1n400x parts.
BC550 input, BC847 next, BD139 buffer, 2SC5200 an output, and IRFP240. These are the first idea comes to my mind. Of course MPSA18, 2n7002, 2n2222, 2n5551, 2n5486, and J111
BCxxxl rules, 2Nxxxx mehhh
Electronically speaking i agree no significant difference. But the naming is just so much easier :
B-> silicon (would be A for germanium)
C-> low current class (D for medium, ...)
8-> sot23 (1 for to18, 5 for to92, ...)
4-> npn (5 for pnp)
7-> gellybean (6 for high voltage, 9 for low noise, ...)
c-> curent gain range (called beta not Hfe here)
So if i get something i don't know out of a scrapbag of component i know what to expect from it without needing any database
Who know what a 2N4570 is ?? I mean without using internet or the old school equivalent "RCA catalogue" ?
Of course with the advent of modern day two character criptic micro stufs that is no more an argument. But hey maybe i'm still a bit old school ;)
MJE13001 - 13009. Nice HV BJT series.
I was thinking that, but they were used mostly in the energy saving fluorescent light bulbs or tube ballasts, and since those lights have now been 'banned' in large areas, the transistors may fade away too now.
High(ish) voltage - 2n5550! Used them 100 k+ pcs plasma display drivers. Robust, easy to use.
Anyone with a chart that interchangeable or similar.
Another definition of a Jellybean Component: A part that does not get more expensive after EEVblog was reporting about it 🙃
Mine are BC547, 550 (for low noise applications), 847 (for SMT), 2N7000, IRF540 (for MOOSEFETs) and MPSA44 (for HV driving applications).
Back in the '90s when I learned electronics, I mainly tinkered with BC107. They were around, salvaged from old electronics. Of course I played with 2N3055 too! Happened to build a transistor amp or two.
First to watch... it's not 1080p yet!
Yes, those 2N types mentioned in the video were not popular here, we had the BC range with indeed types like BC107/8/9 BC237/8/9 BC547/8/9.
For small MOSFETs the BS170.
Being in Europe, we had most visibility of the European types.
Lucky 1080 guys.... I'm rural and 480 is the fastest I can stream 😂
@@Rob2 oh yes. Same for vacuum tubes... it's ECC83 here, none of that 12AX7 rubbish! Also worth noting is that the European diode and transistor marking system directly evolved from the Philips-Mullard vacuum tube marking system - it's just that the letters gained new meaning in the semiconductor context, the first letter was no longer heater voltage/current but semiconductor type (silicon, germanium, GaAs etc.). Some type markings have roughly close meanings, like A for detection diodes both tube and semiconductor, C for low power triodes and transistors, D for power triodes/transistors, F for pentodes and HF transistors, L for power pentodes and HF power transistors, Y for rectifier diodes...
MPSA44 are wide-base parts, quite linear. Good for all kinds of discrete analogue wizardry. Make for great current mirrors, differential pairs, etc.
BC107 was even in my electronics (kids) training kit in 1970.
Well you young people: In my hobby days it was Germanium OC71, OC81 OC44 (rf). And you could scrape the paint off an OC71 to make a phototransistor !
Fun fact: you could reset older model raspberry pis with a camera flash
_"And you could scrape the paint off..."_ Until they replaced the clear filler putty with blue and then sold the clear putty version as the OCP71 for 5 times the price! I still have half a dozen unused OC71s and one day I will find out if they have suffered from the dreaded whiskers that short them out internally.
Oh yeah! Reading Practical Electronics in the 60s-70s always had a couple of OC71 projects, or if you needed POWER then the OC81 🙂 with the little aluminum bracket
Oh what memories !
Those were the days.. And I remember the old Greenweld shop on Milbrook Rd that had all the Vero offcuts (as the factory was up the road in Eastleigh)
It may be just my perception, but it always seemed that US magazines/books used 2N2222, whereas European or UK ones used BC107/8/9 or 547.
That's because those are examples of the coding standards used in each continent, and therefore represented parts most easily available. Parts starting with a letter such as AF114 or BC108 use the European EEAC standard, the first letter indicates the semiconductor material (A=germanium, B=silicon), second letter indicates intended use (switching, audio amp, RF amp etc).
2N2222 is an example of the American JEDEC standard, first digit is the number of pins minus one (hence three pin transistors start with 2).
That's actually a thing I'm noticing too. 2N2222 seems to be one of the most popular transistors in american hobbyists projects and general purpose stuff whereas here in the EU (germany to be specific) nearly everyone uses BC546...550 and BC556...560. Almost every electronics hobbyist here starts out with these BCs it seems.
@@BavarianscienceBack in the 1960's Philips in the EU made the BC107-8-9 family which became the European jellybean transistor family (the newer 547-8-9 are similar with plastic packages en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BC108_family ) ... In the US Fairchild and Motorola made the 2N types which became the US jellybeans... and of course the Japanese have theirs too lol
BC107, 108, 109 was my go-to transistor for *many* years.
Same. Love those metal hat TO-18 enclosures and gold-plated leads! Still got a bunch in my lab.
Yep, and I still have many, many BCxxx flying around - and BDxxx. Perhaps they never made it to down under. 2N... all this yankee stuff. And a BD249C can take 25A@100V
Yes, I can still buy them (here) in numbers, but well, they are not available in Asia I guess.
They were made obsolete, but were replaced by the ztx108.
BC546, BC547 in my case. I always keep a few of them around for the "Uhm, i guess any transistor will do" jobs.
@@hermannschaefer4777 We had lots of BC108, BC109 and BDs in Oz back to the early '70s.
Remember Elektor had always in the parts list the jellybean shown as TUN or TUP, and generally around once a year they had a few pages of what would work in either, a pretty long list of transistor types.
I totally forgot to show off my old school transistor substitution book!
@@EEVblog Yes I wore a few of those out, and they came in very useful as well, especially with some of the more obscure devices. Think I still have a few badly dog eared copies around, plus some motorola data books, and others, that showed exactly what each die was used for, and that the differences between many were all due to sorting in manufacture, and the package used.
DUS DUG too! (Diode Universal Silicon / Germanium)
I also made one substitute book...lol...
I first heard of TUP TUN DUG DUS in a Big Clive video about his Joule Thief. I love the concept of "if the datasheet says 'general purpose,' just whack it in there."
We use 2n2222's for lots of space stuff! In a fun little hermetic metal "sot23" looking thing. Gold plated case and everything!
Sweet 😮
are they radiation hardened?
@@echelonrank3927 do they need to? It's a pretty large transistor, afaik radiation is a problem for digital electronics where the transistors are nano scale and billions of transistors are on a few mm of silicon
@@marcogenovesi8570 hmmm, for low earth orbit probably not necessary
2N2222AUB (8 Canuck pesos on Digikey)...
Quite costly, but wow, the look they provide on a PCB....
3907 and 2222 the biggest difference is which side of the Atlantic you are. US 2222 rest of planet 3907 and BC whatever dominate.
Bloody yanks, as usual.
I like to use the tip41 & tip42 as fairly high power complementary pairs all the time and they are fairly common even at my local electronics component stores.
Why didn't you cover BC547/BC548 in a serious way? It's basically the same as 2N3904 and 2SC1815.
Only the 3904/3906, 2222/2907, and 3055/2955 resonated with me. The rest on the list were misses for me.
But that's because we're ancient North American guys, I'm presuming? That SS8050 looks like a 2222 killer, and the 2222 has needed killing for a long time.
At last, I finally recognized some part numbers on the channel! Ancient North American guy here!
@@paulmoir4452 i used bc547 / bc557 in the 90s. made by motorala in usa.
Fun, and always appreciate the speed, energy and enthusiasm! And when you sort of made that Mmmmmm, delicious, sound, that really reminded me of the way I feel when I go through a spec enjoying every little characteristic that a part has. Thank you Dave!
Ordered a batch of boards turnkey from PCBWay. Customer in big hurry and cheapskate. Next day PCBWay emails list of short/long-lead parts. Among those MMBT3904 in SOT23. Back and forth, no way to pass the message that it is a jelly-bean part and it is impossible that they don't have 3904 available. I had to change to BC845
Hey, I'm just thrilled you mentioned my nostalgic BC547's 🙂! I was wondering if they were truly jellybean, or just randomly thrown in the Dick Smith Electronic Kits back in the day (from which I still have this irrational feeling that the BC547 is the one true NPN transistor)
BC547 is a European jellybean. The 2n parts are American jellybean.
Good call on the FZT458/558. For me the jellybean BJTs are BC807, BC817, BC846 and BC856. Through-hole equivalents are BC327, BC337, BC546 and BC556.
Glad to see another BC817 enjoyer in the wild - at this point I don't even bother using anything else unless I need more than half an amp of continuous current.
I still remember picking up bags of 2N3904’s and 2N2222’s from RadioShack and Allied when they had actual stores you could go in. The higher gain variants of the BC547 and 557 I’ve used as drivers and voltage threshold detectors in audio amps for relay sequencing.
I've been looking forward to more of these jellybean videos.
I've always defaulted to 3904/3906s when using jellybean BJTs. I think it's because I like how well matched they are. I couldn't even speculate as to what the PNP equivalent of a 2222 is. That, and when I started off a few years ago, I bought like 500 3904s, not knowing what I was doing. Which is a bit much when you're only using breadboards at the time lol. I just like buying parts for the sake of having them. I don't even use half of the chips I've bought. They're there "just in case". I mean, you never know.
As transistors were manufactured locally about everywhere in the world, each major region ended up with their own jellybean part numbers.
35 years ago, the world was divided into four major regions.
Some examples for small signal BJTs:
Europe: BC107/177 , later BC547/557
USA: 2N3904/3906
Japan: 2SC945, A733
USSR: KT315/361
Today this division is not as relevant due to globalization (and there are only 3 regions left), but some people's preferences in the comments show where they started their hobby/profession.
Re: FETs with BJT part numbers, Microchip has the VN2222.
Ah yes, forgot that one.
2N3904/3906, 2N2222 and 2N3055, absolutely. Never worked with the others. I would have added TIP31C and its complementary friends, they were handy TO-220 packages for anything from small audio amps to little DC motor speed controllers.
Supporting Dave's judgement, there is one big way in which the 2N3904 is more "jellybean" than the 2N2222, or at least so it seems to this complete amateur. The 3904 is well suited for both switching and linear applications, whereas the 2222 is really only suitable as a switch. According to the datasheet gain specs, both have similar max hfe of 100-300, but the 3904 reaches that peak at 10 ma Ic, whereas the 2222 doesn't reach it until 150 ma.
If you run the 2N2222 in a linear amplifier with 150 ma of idle current, you would hit the package dissipation limit of 600 mw at only 4 volts Vce. Maybe there is some odd low-voltage, high-current (but not too high!) application where it would be the optimal choice--but I have trouble thinking of one.
Of course you can run the 2N2222 as a linear amplifier at a lower idle current, but you would probably be better off using the 2N3904, and getting a higher hfe (at least according to the datasheet).
Worth mentioning (maybe?) is the 2N2219, which I gather is the same silicon as the 2N2222, but in a larger TO-39 case, capable of handling up to 3 watts with heat sinking. I have a 1970s vintage HP 20 MHz function generator that uses these as 50-ohm output drivers--so they can definitely handle linear applications. Not exactly "jellybean," though, since they cost about $3 each on digikey.
BC 547 and 557 were the only bjt's i could get at the local hardware store back in the day, so I became a 547 fanboy out of necessity
Same here. BC574 was the staple in the 1970's and early 80's here.
I do it like the manufacturers, but vice versa. They put the marking on their silicone that (within specs) gives the biggest margin and I by out of the different flavors of numbering silicone, the one that gives me the best margin. 😂
@@EEVblog it was like that here in the early 2010s too
i was poorer than that, so had to salvage transistors like 2sc2021 etc. out of discarded jap gear.
then i tried some BC series. didnt end up using them, the gains were consistently low.
talking to people who spent decades working with the crap revealed that the west never bothered to fully develop transistor tech like japan did.
When you learn electronics in Europe, the BC54x NPN and BC55x PNP transistors are your "standard" ones. It doesn't matter what type you use, as long it gets the job done aka without turning into a light emitting transistor ;) .
Same in the old Dick Smith Funway into Electronics 1 and 2 books (and kits they came with) I remember from the late 80's / early 90's (except with a different prefix than BC).
Having seen pictures of different dies with the same markings on, i would assume the manufacturers put on whatever marking meets the specs of the silicone and gives the highest margin.
And I can’t see a problem with that.
Would have been nice to concentrate on the real difference between US and European universal small power transistors, which could be the pinout, because that ruins diy experience.
@@fromgermany271 Yep, BC547 can be replaced with a 2N3904 (can handle double the collector current), but has a different pinout. Another trap is, that there are three sub variants of the BC547(A/B/C) which are binned based on the gain. The BC547C has higher gain than the 2N3904.
Yep, totally agree..
I have used BC547 for 20+ years now for hobby projects and BC337/338 as well.
For the slightly higher powers i have always used BD137 and for the really high currents (above 1 amp) I have always used 2N3055, those things are almost indestructible (as long as you remember the heat sink and the 10mOhm emitter resistor if you hook them up in parallel that is - Yes I have let out the magic smoke that way)
Below are my favourites from THT era:
Generic: BC547 / BC557 , 2N3906 / 2N3904 , 2SC1815 /2SA1015 , 2SC9014 / 2SC9015 , 2SC945 / 2SA733
Low noise: BC549 / BC559
High gain: 2SC3616
Low power RF: 2SC2570 , 2SC9018
Medium power: PBSS4350 / PBSS5350 , SS8050 / SS8550 , BD139/BD140 , 2SD882 / 2SB772
Low VceSat: 2SD1347 / 2SB985
Muting (high Vebo): 2SC2878
Hello Dave, this series is outstanding, please keep going! I think it is useful both for the hobbyist which just wants a part name to put over a function, and for the design engineer which has multi-sourcing constraints from their customer. I happen to be both, depending on the topic, so I would press like twice if it wasn't overflowing to zero. Thanks!
(By the way, if I could suggest a next one... I believe optocouplers and maybe just diodes too would be appreciated)
What had to be mentioned was mentioned. Nothing to argue about.
I enjoyed this video 👍
Glad I could accomodate your fanboyism.
The BC327, BC337, BC546, BC556, BD139, BD140 ,Tip31 ,Tip32 , 2n3055 , 2n2955 are some of the more common i remember using in Australia through the 70's, 80's and 90's
My personal favourites: MPSA42/92 NPN/PNP With VCE=300V!
Yep, common as mud.
Yep, and with wide base. Lovely parts when you need something close to an ideal transistor in terms of ideality factor and linearity of response.
when I was in the school, kind of hundreds years ago, the most common one were: BC107, BD139 and 2N3054 (to cover full range of power).
And BC211, and BD354... The memories :)
@@KeritechElectronics you are right - it wasn't 3054 but 354, and yes, 211 - bigger brother of 107 if I remember correctly, all in metal cases ;-)
I was hoping to see some discussion on Darlington transistors in this video, or perhaps it could be a topic for the next top 5. Currently, I'm on the lookout for a Darlington transistor similar to the BD679 but available in an easy-to-solder surface-mount package for switching inductive loads with a µc
I've been using the TSM2308CX MOSFET, but I've unfortunately destroyed a few of them. As Dave mentioned, BJTs can often withstand a bit more torture in certain applications.
A few days ago I asked chat gpt about surface mount replacement for the tip122, it gave me a completely wrong answer every time, pointed towards a TO92 package instead
@@danielaustin7643 tried it as well, but clearly chatgpt is not trained on transistor datasheets
For lower frequency RF, 3904/3906 and the 2222 are good enough. Anything above 10-14 Mhz will be useless but then you're really dealing with those weirder RF BJTs that are too sensitive imo for amateur electronics work unless you really know your stuff. Like the 2sc5551 is out of production and it was one that you could tame with little effort but it's just becoming harder to find anything in the RF BJT lines that won't just turn into an oscillator.
I like 2n2222
But also have a lot of s9013 s9015
For medium power, i like them japanese 2sc2655 2sd882 2sb772, typically used to drive the bases of bigger power transistors
For big power, tip41c tip42c
For big big power, 3055 and 2955
Whoa! What are these obscure parts you're trying to pass off as jellybean? Where are the ever popular OC44/45 and OC71s (or even the AF115 should you fancy a four legged beast)? You can even upgrade the OC71 to an OCP71 photodiode by centrifuging the opaque filler in the glass package away from the junction - two types from a single stock item - try that with your fancy pants suggestions! And they only cost a week or two's pocket money apiece. Nurse, nurse - my head's starting to hurt again!
Unless you struck lucky and got an OC71 with the clear filler ...
2n3055 was allrounder king in to3 can days but havent seen them in to247 til this video
and the BD brothers 140 and 139, for every small project.
2SC5200 and 2SA1943.. every power amp i worked on that used TO3P BJT's and had >100W/ch either used or work with these flawlessly
just got a bunch of them now and grouped them for hFE gain to find the best matched pairs
Yeah "The BD Brothers" like it ! and the trany's as well.
funny thing is i have 2n3055 and tip2955
yeah, 2 different packages
Love the Jellybean videos
I track parts for our company purchasing decisions and lots of discrete and logic IC parts have been eliminated from distributors inventories. Not that we can’t get them but selection and quantities are way way down and prices are way up.
2N2222 still available with metal case... What is the advantage of choosing that?
In theory you could better thermally couple two devices. In practice, no reason.
Metal case will give you better thermal margin at the same power dissipation and ambient temperature due to its lower thermal resistance (junction to ambient) this might be important for high reliability applications.
Noise characteristics are good too.@@ganopterygon
You can add a to18 heatsink (if you can find one) and get over 100mW at 100MHz if you are an oldschool fm radio pirate. Memories of the mid 1990's...
Obligatory comment to feed the algorithm. Thanks for these videos Dave. Great stuff
The BFU590GX is really cool to have if you want to work with high frequency stuff. I am a huge fan of that transistor!
The 2N3055 came in vastly different trade-offs of hfe vsv ft and SOA. Ranged from ft of 800;KHz to 2 MHz. But the 800 KHz SOA was almost the full 115 Watts at its Vcb. The ft 2 MHz variant SOA started to have Second Breakdown dropoff at Vce of only 40 Volts. RCA introduced and JEDEC registered it before SOA was a regular item.
I'm surprised you didn't mention TIP31 and TIP32, personally I'm not a huge fan of them the gain is low but they are fairly common
Yep !
Yes. You are right.
BC547 was hard to come by in the US during COVID. I wound up buying a bunch of 2N4401s and 2N4403s instead.
Last time I needed medium current for a one-off, I needed about half an amp, and fished a 2N3053 out of my parts box, along with a little clip-on heat sink. I have absolutely no idea how old that thing was.
I don't work with the higher voltages much, so I'll have to remember the 458/558 if I happen to need such a thing.
Jellybean RF transistor would have to be the '5179, I think! The SOT-23 version is dirt cheap, 2 GHz transition frequency, other specs stink but maybe you don't need 'em. Lots of DIY ham gear uses it.
Fun fact about 2N4403s: They have surprisingly low rbb' especially for a jellybean part, making them useful for low-impedance low-noise audio applications like the inputs of (dynamic) microphone preamps or MC prepres. In that sense they are the polar opposite of the other "low noise" school of transistors (BC550 and the like), which is high-beta types that keep working well to very low Ic.
BC182 is burnt into my mind out of factory
Europe, Argentina are BC series 547,548 549,. And BD 139 140 2n3055.
MJE13007A were all over the
flourescent lamp drivers and chinese PC PSU-s.
(That is a high voltage part.)
2N4401/4403, a few cents more than 3904/3906, but work better.
Ah, I also see that the 3904 and 3906 make up a complimentary pair!
BC547/BD139 gang rise up
BC548 and BD139 for reasons that are lost from 40 years ago now. Probably voltage. But yeah. Then 1N4148 for signals and 1N4001 for power. I miss the simple old days.
BC847 is what I use a lot.
It was oc07, ac 108, bc 107, bc 237 and then the re-harmonised it again and the 237 became the 548....and then we got these -16, -24...markings....and then the bc8xx and reassigned bf entirely.... Look at old (pre 80s) databooks... All different to the ones you are familiar with.... 😉 😊
I too have killed millions of Thargoids with my BD139 powered weapon, but when not fighting I think there great in audio circuits !
Another one, I've always used the D44H series for higher power - D44H8 and D44H11 are 60/80V NPN, D45H8 and D45H11 are the complementary 60/80V PNP respectively. Might be starting to dry up though.
Jellybean means a very wide variety of applications. So not only new product design but also repair and modifications. And the latter category includes field work. For that reason, in my opinion is a requirement for jellybean that a through hole version must be available.
An interesting video would be jellybean parts from "the old days" that are unobtanium but still in some demand.
But i'm just a regular dude watching this for fun :)
I would like that as well, the AC178K / AC188K come to mind immediately. Who dares to buy them today? With all the fakes being offered.
2SC3356 for a jellybean RF transistor, up to 7ghz NPN and cheap / available from all sorts of OEMs.
Chocolate Moose FETS.
I was brought up with my favourite BC107,8,9 , Tip31,32 and yes the brilliant 2N3055.
Ahhhh, the 2N3055 what a transistor, you could fry an egg on it !!!!!!!😏🇬🇧
Never heard of 3904. When you say jellybean, I say BC547/8/..., BC557/8/..., or BC850, BC860 for SMD.
From Japanese products, I mainly salvaged C945, which I assume is jellybean.
You must be European. BCxxx = European, 2Nxxxx = American. It appears the 2SC parts like the 2SC945 are Japanese.
Hey new episode in jellybeans... Still have bags of BC547/BC557 in my components box :P
My go to was always the BC548/558.
Thanks to Tricky Dicky's "Fun Way 1" and "Fun Way 2" kits as a kid.
Same here!
fun fact: the old school (mainly Ge) BJTs are valued items on ebay. Whatever makes them seen as junk by most of electronics professionnals is seeked by the fuzz pedal makers. Same thing for some discontinued JFETs. Their non-linearities and oddities are needed in some preamps, overdrive and distortion pedals. That and also some kind of weird cult :-)
Back in my day, we had the TIP31 and TIP32 as jellybeans too. Now they're long gone...
Huh? The TIP31 is still in production
@@Agent24Electronics yep, but nowhere to be found, except for importing
2N3055 was manufactured by many various production plants around the world. I had ones from Tungsram (hungary, commie times), american RCA, Czechoslovakian Tesla and some other ones. Hungarian 2N3055 are prone to have low beta, around 30-50 at Ib=10mA, RCA ones were around 100, while Czechoslovakian ones (Motorola license), well above 100.
I did an engineer's thesis by building a digital curve tracer and measuring static characteristics of various things I had available.
And when I think low power, BC547/2N3904 in the signal amplifier use, 2N2222/BC337 as the low power switch, BD139 as the actual medium power amplifier/switch (12.5W, 1.5A) and then BD911/2N3055 for high power, non jellybean wise, 2SC5200 is a better choice, with some vintage Tesla KD502 (motorola licensed 2N3772) being very nice as well.
I recall using the BFY51 on several occasions when additional current was needed beyond what the 2N2222 could provide. Not sure if it was Jellybean but was always readily available.
As most Eastern Europeans, my first transistors were BC170, BD138, BD139, BC107, BC547... Never seen a 2N one before the late 90s.
Hello Dave,
Low voltage low current: BC846 / BC856
More current: MMBT2222 / MMBT2907
Mid power: BCX53 / BCX56 (sot 89)
High voltage (160V): MMBT5551 / MMBT5401
High voltage (300V): MPSA92 / MPSA42
High power: TIP35 / TIP36
Small mosfets: BSS138 / BSS84
No way. I was _just_ looking today for cheap, reliable and available BJTs as a beginner hobbyist looking to finish my first from-scratch project.
Jellybean switching: MPS/2N2369 baby!!!
Please do a jelly bean ttl chips
I've just unsoldered a 2N3904 lol... and the BC548 is the ultimate , best transistor ever :) BC337 is you want a bit more juice. and 2N3055 if you wanna start really cooking. TIP31/32 was also popular..
Yes the project that I am working on currently on my bench uses 3904 !!
One thing that nearly made me fall off my chair is that there is now a company that has restarted the BC108. That used to be a jellybean part 40 years ago.
I also love TIP41/42. They can take a lot of abuse from my diy stuff's.
more of these videos please!
I was really looking forward to another jelly bean episode! 😃❤
Over here bc 237/337 then bc 550/560 BD 139/140...and for sure the 3055..the 2955 was way later they instead did 'pseudo' complementary using 3055 at both sides and a PNP driver in front for the neg. Side I recently build a classic 3055 amp using ± 22 volt rails and four 3055. Dif pair input no current mirror, no current source but only a single resistor and a class A driver (bc 161-16) drivers (for that pseudo PP) and symmetrical supply to omit that ugly output cap...
Nice one Dave, thanx 👍😊
TO-3 form factor rules!
More jelly bean videos would be excellent.
Thought I would throw these into the mix AC128/127.
These were featured in a Ladybird electronics book I had as a kid... probably vintage 1970's!
The AC128 was the first Transistor I messed around with.
Thanks for the List 👍
It's helpful to have some Chicken Food trannies in your collection.
Actually We used the FZT4 recently to switch mains voltages for a low power application
BC547,BC557, 2n2222,2n2907,2n3904,2n3906. For FETs I use the J201, LND150, and 2n5457-9. I do mostly audio stuff so I use these the most. (Edit: I forgot about the KSA1381 and KSC3503 for medium power stuff).
Nice video Dave!! I start to liking this segment. Can you pls do jellybean microcontrollers? Thanks Dave
I prefer mentally stable transistors, thanks! 😂
Used to be BC171/BC251, BD136/BD137, 2N3055. If it couldn't be done with one of these then it was radio frequency tier, which is just saying arcane magick. Or, if you wanna wind the dial even further back a bit: AC180/AC181, P401 etc...
Bad souvenir about the 2222 (Plastic TO-92):
Only having 2222's available for a project, i carefully built it with them to finally find it behaved bizzarely. Pretty low gain and significant leakage.
After around 30 minutes of troubleshooting, i found the unimaginable: The BJT's Emitter and Collector leads were inverted !! In an JEDEC TO-92 device (base in center) !
I was so frustrated by such an amount of stupidity that i threw them in garbage without noting the brand, but i was 99% sure they were made out of Mandarium.
Since then, i carefully check the datasheet before buying 2222's and yes, i prefer 3904's over them.
Also, about the 2222's.
The metal can TO-18 2N2222 device uses bond wires in mid-air to connect the BJT's leads to silicon.
Its counterpart TO-92 PN2222 is completely encapsulated in epoxy resin which includes the bond wires.
Result: The TO-18 midair wires will act as fuses and will melt open in a mild overcurrent situation. In 99% of cases, the emitter will open.
On their side, the TO-92 bond wires, covered in epoxy, will require a MUCH higher overcurrent to melt. In fact, Plastic devices will burn short, the silicon die shorting way before the bond wires open. In fact, a Plastic device will explode in case of extreme overcurrent situation.
When I was a kid I happened to tear down a lot of dumpster dive derived consumer audio and RC toy stuff and they happened to be japanese (I was living far away from there) jellybean oriented. Those were mostly the 2SC945 and 2SC1815. I could see JIS stuff having a real "kanban" on their lettering and black/green color on high power stuff to denote PNP or NPN type junction. The town electronics store didn't really sell the low power 2N stuff for some reason (apart from 1N diodes) just the BC, BD, TIP, but especially the BC212. The guy might have grown up on the Philips stuff. I thought that BC212 is a jellybean part, but later I started speculating that the onwer might have just stocked up on too much of a single component. 🙃
I would disagree 3055 hfe~10@10A 3MHz is crap transistor compared to 2SC5200 hfe~100@10A 30MHz
You missed the BD136
Thanks for all the good stuff you put out!
I just watched all jellybean videos. knew most of them but discovered some good ones. thanks!
I'd really like something on DC/DC controllers. Does not sound like something you would do a JB video about.
however we often need them and always end up with single source devices which is terrible.
Don't know if there are aother devices like 34063, hopefully a bit better 🙂
MOS would also be nice.
The BC547 is just the 2N3904 of Europe. I'm VERY sure that it's one and the same chip in all those types nowadays.
I mean they are all Ucemax=60V or so, hfe=100..500 according to class, 100mA Icmax and 300MHz fT or so. The classical "TUN" ;)
BDX53C is a high power high gain jellybean for me. For rf stuff, at least the PA stage it's RD16HHF1.
That was fun! Looking forward to your picking out jellybean components in other categories. Some of these are already in my libraries but I need to add the smaller packages and complementary parts in some cases. I'm going to go back through my libraries and review adds and updates for future projects. Thanks again.
Dave, Here is your next video topic:
Why 4.7, 47, 470, 4700 why not 5 or 4 😂
the intervals between resistors in the E12 series were originally set by the tolerances, back when tolerances were typically much wider, 10%
eg, the top end of the acceptable values for a nominal 39 ohm resistor would meet, or just overlap, the bottom end of the acceptable values for a 47 ohm one, then to top end of values for a 47 ohm resistor meet the bottom end of a 56
Back in the ooold days we (in Germany) had that 10, 30, 50, 80, 100.... When they harmonized it it was E6/E12/E24/E48 and yes the pricey 6ring E96....Conrad was the first prosumer electronics component seller which printed the whole E96 series from 10R to 10Meg in their Master Catalog (around 700 pages A4) only to show off I thing and also for the page count.... 😉
See the Preferred Numbers: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preferred_number
Basically, every value is a fixed multiple of the previous one. For the E12 series, the multiplier is about 1.2. It gives you a wider, and reasonably uniform, range of values when you start putting resistors in series or parallel.
If I want 5 I'll put two 10s in parallel. Removing one item from the BOM and keeping one less part in inventory is usually more valuable than getting a value like 5 with a single resistor. If I need 4 it's 2.2+1.8.. though I'd want to see a reason why 3.9 (within 2.5%) isn't good enough.
Few resistor values are critical to more than, "enh.. it's the right order of magnitude." On the rare occasions when you truly -need- a specific value, you hock a kidney and pay Vishay for resistors of that exact value.
@@mikestone-w1q I thought, because some logarithmic or square root rule in parallel series connection at AC operation. Resistors I understand, but the caps too? Coils too? Even zener diodes too?