Triac Question

[H2814D]

Hi all. I have sourced a particular Triac (BTA800-600C) from two different places. When I put each of them separately into a Component Tester, I am getting two different readings. The components have the same component number markings on them and they both appear to be manufactured by the same company (ST Micro), but the printing is obviously a little different.

In the pictures, there is one on the left and one on the right. My thoughts are, based on the better printing, that the one on the right would be the quality component. But if you look at the picture where that one is in the tester, it only shows it as only being a resistor. That doesn't look right to me. The other one (on the left), shows up as a BJT NPN Transistor, which would seem more appropriate, that is if the tester isn't able to distinguish it as a Triac. I don't know what a Triac is supposed to look like on one of those testers though. I would like to know which is the more probable good component before I risk installing it. The original one is bad, so I can't compare it to that one.

Can anyone help me out please, and thanks in advance for any replies.

 

[Bluejets]

Are you sure you have it in the correct socket on the tester?
Mine (different triac but) show as thyristors with the appropriate symbol and correct terminal markings.

Found this image on the web......... mine comes up same as this

 

[bertus]

hello

it could well be that the left one is a chinese counterfit. the surface looks scraped and bad quality printing on it.

bertus

 

[H2814D]

Are you sure you have it in the correct socket on the tester?
Mine (different triac but) show as thyristors with the appropriate symbol and correct terminal markings.

Found this image on the web......... mine comes up same as this

Thanks for the reply. Yes. I have each of them in the same sockets during the testing. They have to be placed in the tester I have the way they are to get a reading. Any other socket placement gives me an "unknown or damaged part" on the display. You can see the three sockets I am using in one of the pictures. The tester you have shown is different than mine. Mine might not have the capability of testing Triacs though.

 

[H2814D]

hello

it could well be that the left one is a chinese counterfit. the surface looks scraped and bad quality printing on it.

bertus

Thanks, Bertus, for the article. There are some "red flags" as shown in the article. Because of that, I have ordered another set of components from a different, and hopefully more reputable, place. I'll see how those test out when they get here.

 

[Bluejets]

Did a quick search and that particular tester (mine is slightly different, no encoder) can give you weird readings on triacs.
Something to do with the available gate current. Mine works fine though.

....around 18:40

Mine is this one ......

 

[H2814D]

Did a quick search and that particular tester (mine is slightly different, no encoder) can give you weird readings on triacs.
Something to do with the available gate current. Mine works fine though.

....around 18:40

Mine is this one ......

Thanks again for spending so much time on this. I had some other Triacs available to test with my tester. BT136 and BT134. Oddly, my tester had no problem identifying them as Triacs. See the pics. Unless the BTA08-600C is quite different in construction, that doesn't make sense. That is unless all of the ones I have are fake. The new ones are on the way. I will wait for them to get here and see what happens. I'll be back with the results.

 

[Bluejets]

Unless the BTA08-600C is quite different in construction, that doesn't make sense.

If you watched the first video, especially the time noted, it would.

"Something to do with the available gate current" ....did you see this time..??

 

[H2814D]

If you watched the first video, especially the time noted, it would.

"Something to do with the available gate current" ....did you see this time..??

Yes. Thank you. I watched it the first time and heard him talking about testing a "thyristor" and the problems associated with testing one. Directly after that, in the video, he tests a Triac, and gets a proper reading on the tester, just like I did. After reading about Thyristors and Triacs, I do see some similarities in the components, but I also noted differences. If my BTA08-600C is a Triac and not a Thyristor, it should show up on the tester as a Triac, just like my others did. Anyway, the new BTA08-600C's are on the way. I'll be back to let everyone know what they look like on the tester when they get here. The learning process is never-ending here. That is a good thing.

 

[Bluejets]

A triac IS a thyristor.

 

[H2814D]

Haaaa. Oh.

 

[H2814D]

I received the new Triacs today and tested them in the same tester as before. This time, the very same component number Triac (BTA08-600C), but sourced from a different vendor, tests out as a Triac. See the pic. The new one is on the left in the pic with the three I now have. My next step will be in installing one of the new ones into a ceiling fan receiver I have also inquired about on this board in a separate thread, but have been unsuccessful in getting it to work. I'll see how it goes. The outcome will be provided in a couple of days. In the meantime, thanks again for everyone's input and guidance.

 

[Martaine2005]

There certainly is no shortage of fake components on the market. To be fair, not necessarily fake, but desoldered from used boards and sold as new. Obviously not checked and posted.
But fakes are a big deal too.

Martin

 

[H2814D]

All of the ones I have have not been de-soldered. Unless when they installed them, they left all of the legs the same size as a new one, but there is no evidence of any solder material on the legs. The odd thing about the pieces I sourced prior to this last time, is they all had good buyer ratings from those that show as buyers. I realize, however, that can be faked as well, depending on the seller.

 

[roughshawd]

Obviously the triac that is giving you a bad reading is faulty. Those are the ones I like to test the voltages on... Smoke, too much voltage... No smoke, open connection or fatal error.

 

[H2814D]

Mine is this one ......

Just for info, Bluejets, based on your reply, I ordered and received one of these a while back. I actually got the "upgraded" version TC2. The tester was so far out of range, when compared to my other test equipment, to include my multi-meters, I ended up sending it back. Caps were way off (reading low) and it didn't read some components correctly. I'm sure you have verified yours for accuracy, but after seeing others with the same issues as i had, I decided to just keep using what I have. I didn't want to have something I need to rely on being that far off.

 

[kellys_eye]

The capacitor readings are within 10% and probably better than the OEM spec anyway. As for the fact that they are electrolytics that's even less of an issue. No one I know uses or requires greater accuracy for electrolytics than the 10% rule. ISTR the standard spec for electro's as being +10 to -25% as far as value is concerned.

Or do you prefer test meters that match the marked values on the components rather than their ACTUAL values?

TBH I only use that type of tester for <10uF devices anyway or, for values >10uF, just to test for ESR, not value. I've recently used mine to test air-spaced variable capacitors and found it to be very accurate indeed (5pf-400pF range).

Anyway, 15 bucks versus 400 bucks+ ??? What do you expect?

MODS - can we fix the REALLY ANNOYING issue of typing a 'dollar' sign (that always turns into a 'math' function that practically no one uses? Grrrr...

 

[Harald Kapp]

@kellys_eye : I don't have this issue here (Win10, Chrome):
This is a dollar: $ - no tricks required

We mods can't do anything about it anyway. This needs to be addressed to the admins. I remember that we had this issue before at the time when the math interpreter was added to the forum. I thought it had been remedied then.

 

[kellys_eye]

[imath]15 and[/imath]400

 

[kellys_eye]

This is what I see when I type (dollar sign)15 and (dollar sign)400