Is this a Triac, Regulator, or what?

[JohnByrne]

I'm not sure if this fits this particular forum but lacking anything better I'll post it here.

I have aquired a bag of "triacs". I'm guessing maybe 200 to 300 total. However only about a dozen have writing on them beyond a few digits. The rest either have nothing or have things like "N6" in a small circle. Similar I see J5, J1, 5H, etc.

Ok, I was told these are Triacs but the source really doesn't know. They could be regulators, triacs, ?. Is there any way I can first determine what they are with what I have (fluke meter). Then if they are triacs is there a way to determine specs so maybe they can be used in a project by someone? Reason I'm interested in we have a 14 year old over in the SSR forum that we are giving stuff to so he can make an 8 channel display this Christmas (if you have something he can use check the thread out). I'd give him or anyone else for that matter some of these "triacs" if I could ID them.

Thanks much in advance
John

[xmus]

can you post a picture of some of these things?

[xmus]

However only about a dozen have writing on them beyond a few digits. The rest either have nothing or have things like "N6" in a small circle. Similar I see J5, J1, 5H, etc.
John

Just a wild guess, but my thought is that you scored a batch of engineering samples. These would be ES or QS samples
ES = engineering, pre-production, product might change, just give you an idea of functionality
QS=quality samples, this is the final product, if it changes, we will document to difference and inform you).

So hopefully one or two have full part numbers, because if they don't there is almost no way to know what they are, there are thousands of TO-220 (assumed) parts in the world... these could be voltage regulators for all you know.

But i would _ASSume_ (big assumption) they are all the same... or at least they are the same product family.

The numbers could be binning.... this is where you sort a product based on a particular feature or failure. I think someone who works in a factory some where scored these, and made a little money on the side.

So i recommend, sort them out based on the bin marks, and assume they are all the same thing, but that they may behave slightly differently depending on the bin.

Just my 2 cents, based on my experience, I could be completely full of *@*@#! however, remember advice is worth what you pay for it :)

Dave

[JohnByrne]

Hi Dave,

They look just like the Triac and/or regulators we are using. They do have square corners. There are slight differences in some. I need to go through the few that have numbers and see what they are now.

I'll shoot a few pics for laughs and grins when I get a moment.