On Jan 30, 1:19*am, "N_Cook" wrote:
Chris wrote in message

...

I think I might have toasted a/some transistor/s last night. *I
dropped a test probe into my tape deck, and saw sparks. *I put it back
together to check everything and the transport motor was running
slow. *In the power inverter there is a blueish looking 2N1542, and
some strange metallic crystal deposits on the inside of the case
around this transistor. *The transistors in the inverter check good.
They both have a lower forward bias voltage .18V, but I am assuming
that this is due to the fact that it is either a power transistor or a
Germanium transistor. *However, I have had transistors check good with
on the diode setting of my DVM and they actually turned out to be
bad. *Any advice?

Thanks,
Chris KQ6UP

Are the "crystals" shattered glass from glass sealing/encapsulation, around
the leads of the transistor? Replace with any old Si device and run at low
voltage and see what happens around it before sacrificing a second Ge power
tr

--
Diverse Devices, Southampton, England
electronic hints and repair briefs , schematics/manuals list onhttp://diverse.4mg.com/index.htm

Well my dad and I took a closer look at the situation. I would say
for sure they are metallic crystals. However, the transistor that is
in there now has been blued from excessive heat, there is no rupture
on the can, so we figured there was a transistor that had blown in
there before and it had been replaced. It is pretty obvious that it
was the transistor that caused the deposits because of the patterns
and positions of the markings. If I were to take a stab I would say
that they are Ge crystals. The crystals are really small and they
look like this:

http://tinyurl.com/yzt74ou

Pretty strange eh?

Thanks,
Chris Maness