Mystery Parts

Below are components and chips that I ran across many years ago. I had little or no idea what they did.

It didn’t take too long after the article was published for several thoughtful readers to provide the answer: Almost all of the mystery parts are either inductors and house labeled chips.

From: Bill Ruehl
Sent: Friday, August 25, 2000 8:02 AM
Subject: RE: Your guess the part page...

Many of the parts you have in this section are ambiguous because they are “House” labeled parts. This is something that happens when a manufacturer has an application that might call for a slightly different IC function than what is available in the data books. Some devices are very close to standard parts. Manufacturers have also done this to stifle reverse engineering.

Labeled 08 or 80 (it depends on which way is up). Possible ferrite core with reddish brown magnet wire. Five leads, two on one side. A transformer?

From: Eric Gallas

They appear to be balun type transformers, used to balance impedance between coax cable and transmission lines (usually 75 to 300 ohm)

Eight-sided surface-mount component with four leads. Labeled 1017.

From: Adrian Shead
Sent: Thursday, February 22, 2001 7:08 AM

The octagonal shaped thing with 1017 marked on it is a Toko 12RF series inductor. Its full identity is Toko part No. 457A-1017.

It’s a 220 µH inductor with a DC resistance of 0.54 ohms, rated at 480 mA.

If you want to find more about it, you will probably find it at www.bec.co.uk because I’ve been selecting inductors lately, and I found this one whilst searching for others in an old Bonex catalogue.

Labeled 102 GJ=. Metal spool covered with gray plastic wrapper. Two leads. Likely an inductor.

From: Arthur Clampitt answers:

Standard inductor package. I’ve used similar in Tuned IR receivers. 102 would indicate 1000 µH value, eg 1 mH

Labeled .152. Blue plastic case with blue glue holding a coil. Two leads. Likely an inductor.

Labeled with 18K01 CPBD9944, 18K05 CPFF9939, 18K15 IK8844, 18K41 CPAT9913, 18K06 FKR9826. Black plastic DIPs, 14 pins. Second set of numbers on chip likely plant and date of manufacture.

Labeled with 18K25 CPCY9903, 18K27 FWR9814, 18K34 KK8847 ZUCRK. Black plastic DIPs, 16 pins. Second set of numbers on chip likely plant and date of manufacture.

Labeled with 18K35 CPFM9937, 18K43 CPPH9930, 18K44 CPHD9844, 18K45 IK8825. Black plastic DIPs, 16 pins. Second set of numbers on chip likely plant and date of manufacture.

Labeled with 18K56 CPAW9950. Black plastic DIP, 20 pins. Second set of numbers on chip likely plant and date of manufacture.

Labeled with 39M01 CPBF9942, 87K09 CPHE9950. Black plastic DIPs, 20 and 14 pins. Second set of numbers on chip likely plant and date of manufacture.

Labeled 21E08 936C and + sign (polarized?). Black plastic round case with flat corner. Four leads. A rectifier?

From: Bill Ruehl

Is indeed a full bridge rectifier.

Labeled 600 160 XK7H and TAIWAN. Orange-yellow, two leads. Self-resetting fuses?

From: Kevin Sorenson

Those look very similar to the parts I used to use while an intern at Cray Research. I’m not sure what the exact name is, but we called them “delay lines.” Their purpose was to ever so slightly add delay in the master clock signal on a giant CPU processor board. Every chip needed exact timing and the only way to sync the clocks on every chip was to add proper amounts of “delay”. Now, they had a big collection of various delay lines, and we would stick in one and monitor the clock pulse as referenced to the master clock. If there wasn’t enough delay, we would use a higher number one. They also got bigger in size as the delay values increased.

From: Eric Gallas

Appear to be capacitors, common package type.

Shaggy hair, 70’s collar, mumbling something about a cheeseburger. Elvis?

Labeled with SC390138FB 5184523TO7 LAH9938. Black plastic surface mount. 80 pins.

Possible ferrite tube with wire core with ends insulated with clear plastic tubing. Airbrush bright yellow on one side. Two leads. Likely an inductor.

Red coil embedded in yellow plastic. Two short leads. Likely an inductor.