TRANSISTOR PRECAUTIONS

Labels: Basic of Electronics

Transistors, although generally more rugged mechanically than electron tubes, are susceptible to damage by electrical overloads, heat, humidity, and radiation.
Damage of this nature often occurs during transistor servicing by applying the incorrect polarity voltage to the collector circuit or excessive voltage to the input circuit.
Careless soldering techniques that overheat the transistor have also been known to cause considerable damage. One of the most frequent causes of damage to a
transistor is the electrostatic discharge from the human body when the device is handled. You may avoid such damage before starting repairs by discharging the static
electricity from your body to the chassis containing the transistor. You can do this by simply touching the chassis. Thus, the electricity will be transferred from your
body to the chassis before you handle the transistor.

To prevent transistor damage and avoid electrical shock, you should observe the following precautions when you are working with transistorized equipment:

 Test equipment and soldering irons should be checked to make certain there is no leakage current from the power source. If leakage current is detected,
isolation transformers should be used.
 Always connect a ground between test equipment and circuit before attempting to inject or monitor a signal.
 Ensure test voltages do not exceed maximum allowable voltage for circuit components and transistors. Also, never connect test equipment outputs directly
to a transistor circuit.
 Ohmmeter ranges that require a current of more than one milliampere in the test circuit should not be used for testing transistors.
 Battery eliminators should not be used to furnish power for transistor equipment because they have poor voltage regulation and, possibly, high-ripple
voltage.
 The heat applied to a transistor, when soldered connections are required, should be kept to a minimum by using a low-wattage soldering iron and heat
shunts, such as long-nose pliers, on the transistor leads.
 When it becomes necessary to replace transistors, never pry transistors to loosen them from printed circuit boards.
 All circuits should be checked for defects before replacing a transistor.
 The power must be removed from the equipment before replacing a transistor.
 Using conventional test probes on equipment with closely spaced parts often causes accidental shorts between adjacent terminals. These shorts rarely
cause damage to an electron tube but may ruin a transistor.
 To prevent these shorts, the probes can be covered with insulation, except for a very short length of the tips.

LEAD IDENTIFICATION

Transistor lead identification plays an important part in transistor maintenance; because, before
a transistor can be tested or replaced, its leads or terminals must be identified. Since there is no
standard method of identifying transistor leads, it is quite possible to mistake one lead for
another. Therefore, when you are replacing a transistor, you should pay close attention to how
the transistor is mounted, particularly to those transistors that are soldered in, so that you do
not make a mistake when you are installing the new transistor. When you are testing or replacing
a transistor, if you have any doubts about which lead is which, consult the equipment manual or
a transistor manual that shows the specifications for the transistor being used.

There are, however, some typical lead identification schemes that will be very helpful in
transistor troubleshooting. These schemes are shown in figure 2-17. In the case of the oval-
shaped transistor shown in view A, the collector lead is identified by a wide space between it and
the base lead. The lead farthest from the collector, in line, is the emitter lead. When the leads
are evenly spaced and in line, as shown in view B, a colored dot, usually red, indicates the
collector. If the transistor is round, as in view C, a red line indicates the collector, and the emitter
lead is the shortest lead. In view D the leads are in a triangular arrangement that is offset from
the center of the transistor. The lead opposite the blank quadrant in this scheme is the base lead.
When viewed from the bottom, the collector is the first lead clockwise from the base. The leads
in view E are arranged in the same manner as those is view D except that a tap is used to identify
the leads. When viewed from the bottom in a clockwise direction, the first lead following the tab
is the emitter, followed by the base and collector.

Figure 2-17. - Transistor lead identification.

In a conventional power transistor as shown in views F and G, the collector lead is usually
connected to the mounting base. For further identification, the base lead in view F is covered
with green sleeving. While the leads in view G are identified by viewing the transistor from the
bottom in a clockwise direction (with mounting holes occupying 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock
positions), the emitter lead will be either at the 5 o'clock or 11 o'clock position. The other lead is
the base lead.

Transistor test using an analogue multimeter

The diode test using an analogue multimeter can be extended to give a simple and straightforward confidence check for bipolar transistors. Again the test using a
multimeter only provides a confidence check that the device has not blown, but it is still very useful.

The test relies on the fact that a transistor can be considered to comprise of two back to back diodes, and by performing the diode test between the base and collector
and the base and emitter of the transistor using an analogue multimeter, the basic integrity of the transistor can be ascertained.
It should be noted that a transistor cannot be functionally replicated using two separate diodes because the operation of the transistor depends upon the base which is
the junction of the two diodes, being one physical layer, and also very thin.

Step by step instructions:

The instructions are given primarily for an NPN transistor as these are the most common types in use. The variations are shown for PNP varieties - these are
indicated in brackets (.. .. ..):

1. Set the meter to its ohms range - any range should do, but the middle ohms range if several are available is probably best.
2. Connect the base terminal of the transistor to the terminal marked positive (usually coloured red) on the multimeter
3. Connect the terminal marked negative or common (usually coloured black) to the collector and measure the resistance. It should read open circuit
(there should be a deflection for a PNP transistor).
4. With the terminal marked positive still connected to the base, repeat the measurement with the positive terminal connected to the emitter. The
reading should again read open circuit (the multimeter should deflect for a PNP transistor).
5. Now reverse the connection to the base of the transistor, this time connecting the negative or common (black) terminal of the analogue test meter to
the base of the transistor.
6. Connect the terminal marked positive, first to the collector and measure the resistance. Then take it to the emitter. In both cases the meter should
deflect (indicate open circuit for a PNP transistor).
7. It is next necessary to connect the meter negative or common to the collector and meter positive to the emitter. Check that the meter reads open
circuit. (The meter should read open circuit for both NPN and PNP types.
8. Now reverse the connections so that the meter negative or common is connected to the emitter and meter positive to the collector. Check again that
the meter reads open circuit.
9. If the transistor passes all the tests then it is basically functional and all the junctions are intact.

Notes:

 The final checks from collector to emitter ensure that the base has not been "blown through". It is sometimes possible that there is still a diode present
between collector and base and the emitter and the base, but the collector and emitter are shorted together.
 As with the germanium diode, the reverse readings for germanium transistors will not be as good as for silicon transistors. A small level of current is
allowable as this results from the presence of minority carriers in the germanium.