Identify an SMD component

From: der Mouse <mouse_at_Rodents.Montreal.QC.CA>
Date: Sun Aug 29 18:43:07 2004

>>>> The black plastic SOT-23 package is marked with 5A followed by a K
>>>> rotated 90deg counter-clockwise.
>> This says to me "five-amp rectifier pair", especially if [...]
> Are you suggesting a 5A diode (or diode pair) in an SOT23 package? I
> would be _very_ suprised.

I don't know the SOT23 package. I do know I have seen surface-mount
devices I would have no trouble believing capable of carrying five
amps. This is another reason I asked for pictures, if possible; if (as
I infer from your note) the SOT23 package is too small for it to
plausibly hold a five-amp device, that theory slips down the list.

As I noted, though, I'd be surprised to see such a thing on a 72-pin
memory module. :-)

> More like the '5A' is a code for the diode type.

That's one plausible other theory I have, too. A third is that the
device is something more like a voltage regulator and the CR
designation on the board does not indicate a rectifier, but instead,
perhaps, a parts-list code, or maybe refers to some other device, or
whatnot. Another reason to want pictures: to estimate how plausible
some of those theories are.

> Can you figure out what it's connected to (do any of the connections
> go to supply lines or ground, for example).

Yet another reason I'd like to see pictures. Many memory modules
include solder pads for some large-size module; for a module of (say)
half that size, only some of the RAM chips are installed. Such modules
not infrequently include solder pads for what I might loosely call
jumpers, to indicate the module size. It would not surprise me if
that's what this device were - and if, for example, there are similar
pads nearby with nothing attached on either stick, that would reinforce
the theory.

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Received on Sun Aug 29 2004 - 18:43:07 BST

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