"Frnak McKenney" wrote in message
m...
On Thu, 31 Jan 2013 09:07:08 GMT, Jan Panteltje
wrote:
On a sunny day (Wed, 30 Jan 2013 20:16:28 -0800) it happened "Paul
Hovnanian P.E." wrote in
:

TO-92 package markings:

"650"
"B24"

I've got dozens of them. Wondering if I can use them for anything.

Why not measure one?
PNP-NPN?
Beta
Build a curve tracer (Vce breakdown).

Which begs ( for ) the question: Has anyone attempted to develop a
method for identifying components simply from their characeristics?

Apparently Peak-Atlas are marketing a (massively) upgraded version of their
3-terminal component analyser, it has a USB port for connection to a PC (I
think it may actually do curve tracing).

The original version I bought about a decade ago will at least tell you if a
device is transistor, MOSFET or just a pair of diodes - anything more
complex and it'll just report "unrecognised or faulty component".