Broke down and learned how to measure leakage!

[swelchy]

Finally made up my mind I’m going to learn how to populate a breadboard and measure germaniums for HFE and leakage… I scored about 30 AC125’s and in going through the bag and recording what each one is… So far I’ve measured about 7 and recorded their numbers… really takes a while for them to settle in… amazing how fast the numbers rise just touching f the case of them… Wasn’t hard at all

 

[coltonius]

Nice! If you ever get tired of the maths, I recommend a DCA 55. I use one alongside a cheap-o component tester I purchased on Amazon, and the measurements seem pretty consistent between the two.

 

[swelchy]

The Atlas Peaks are nice but spendy… Maybe one day! Besides I can just leave this breadboard setup just for this task… I found a web page that does all the calculations.. all I have to do is put in two values and it’s spits out the HFE and Leakage…..

 

[Phil hodson]

An Atlas 55 and one of these has made it super simple for even me to figure it out!
Having the breadboard permanently set up equates to the same thing though especially with a web site to make the calculations too.
I found it great to experiment with different numbers in builds. Crazy how much difference it can make.

 

[swelchy]

An Atlas 55 and one of these has made it super simple for even me to figure it out!
Having the breadboard permanently set up equates to the same thing though especially with a web site to make the calculations too.
I found it great to experiment with different numbers in builds. Crazy how much difference it can make.

This is a great idea... I have a few of the proto board like this.... I used a trim pot to get as close as I could to value I needed for the 2.472K because even my 1% resistors were a bit off. One of those smaller screw trimmers would probably be more accurate. My 2.2M that I had was dead on but couldn't hit 2.472k on the nose with the cheapo trimmer.

 

[andare]

A TC1 tester is cheap and gives reliable readouts for gain and leakage. Also reads all kinds of components very quickly.

 

[KR Sound]

A TC1 tester is cheap and gives reliable readouts for gain and leakage. Also reads all kinds of components very quickly.

I bought one and is really much better than that cheap yellow Amazon one. Not only does it read twice as fast, but it’s more accurate, usb rechargeable, color readout, and has more features. I recommend it.

Here’s readings comparing a 2N3904:





And a J201 which is the more obvious difference:

 

[coltonius]

I bought one and is really much better than that cheap yellow Amazon one. Not only does it read twice as fast, but it’s more accurate, usb rechargeable, color readout, and has more features. I recommend it.

Here’s readings comparing a 2N3904:

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And a J201 which is the more obvious difference:

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