Testing Transistor using

Multimeter.
Transistor Pinouts
Testing the transistor
Step 1: (Base to Emitter)
Hook the positive lead from the multimeter to the to the BASE (B) of the transistor.
Hook the negative meter lead to the EMITTER (E) of the transistor. For an good
NPN transistor, the meter should show a voltage drop between 0.45V and 0.9V. If
you are testing PNP transistor, you should see “OL” (Over Limit).
Step 2: (Base to Collector)
Keep  the postitive lead on the BASE (B) and place the negative lead to the
COLLECTOR (C).
For an good NPN transistor, the meter should show a voltage drop between 0.45V
and 0.9V. If you are testing PNP transistor, you should see "OL" (Over Limit).
Step 3: (Emitter to Base)
Hook the positive lead from the multimeter to the to the EMITTER (E) of the
transistor. Hook the negative meter lead to the BASE (B) of the transistor.
For an good NPN transistor, you should see “OL” (Over Limit).If you are testing PNP
transistor, the meter should show a voltage drop between 0.45V and 0.9V.
Testing the transistor
Step 4: (Collector to Base)
Hook the positive lead from the multimeter to the to the COLLECTOR (C) of the
transistor. Hook the negative meter lead to the BASE (B) of the transistor.
For an good NPN transistor, you should see “OL” (Over Limit).If you are testing PNP
transistor, the meter should show a voltage drop between 0.45V and 0.9V.
Step 5: (Collector to Emitter)
Hook the postitive meter lead to the COLLECTOR (C) and the negative meter lead
to the EMITTER (E) – A good NPN or PNP transistor will read "OL"/Over Limit on the
meter. Swap the leads (Positive to Emitter and Negative to Collector) – Once again,
a good NPN or PNP transistor should read “OL”.
If your bipolar transistor measures contrary to these steps, consider it to be bad.
Testing the transistor
You may also be able to use the voltage drop to determine which lead is the
emitter on an unmarked transistor, as the emitter-base junction typically has a
slightly higher voltage drop than the collector-base junction.
Remember: This test only verifies that the transistor is not shorted or open, it does
not guarantee that the transistor is operating within its designed parameters. It
should only be used to help decide if you need "replace" or "move on to the next
component". This test works on bipolar transistors only – you need to use a
different method for testing FETs.