I recently bought a Towers International Transistor Selector. So I just wondered, was this a stupid idea to buy this book (a bit late hey?), or am I going to use it regularly. Please let me know if this purchase was a mistake, or if this is one thing in electronics that hasn't been replaced by the internet.
Equivalents books can be useful,but some of them quote equivalents which are more obscure
than the original one.
In many cases,you can find a replacement by the use of a little circuit analysis.
Ask yourself these questions:-
(1) What does the device do?(Is it a critical circuit,or just some thing like a relay driver or LED driver?).
(2) What device does another Manufacturer use in a similar circuit?
Many simple circuits use things like 2n2222s & BC108s in very similar service,so in many cases,these may be regarded as equivalents,although the Equivalents Book may not list them as such.
Back when I was fixing a lot of Sony Profeel 68cm picture monitors,we used to use BD651A
transistors in place of 2SC1413s.
After looking at the equivalent section of the Philips TV,we had a pretty good idea that it would work,so we tried them with no problem.
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