VOLTAGE REGULATORSThanks people for your feedback. I have now enough information to confidently, expertly organize all my regulators : I will just shove them all into the same drawer and call it a day !
Well maybe not... I will just carefully ignore all prefixes and suffixes, and just sort them by voltage and polarity.
I don't have any low current ones, which I guess makes sense since I have only beefy TO220 and TO3 packages. Since these can put out 1 or 1.5Amp, why would any manufacturer artificially limit them to 500mA ?! So I guess the only 'L' 500mA ones are those supplied in small packages like TO92 or SOT23 surface mount something or other. I don't have these.
I do have a few LDO ones though, in the end :
- x3 of the SI-3000 series: SI-3050, SI-3090 et SI-3120, respectively 5, 9 and 12V, as you would have guessed.
- L4805 , oh, that one breaks the rule already ! TO220 but limited to only 400mA !
Maybe it's inherent to LDO's ? Less current for a given package ?!
- L4940V12 Ah, no, this one does give the full current... 1.5A, good boy
- 278R05 oh boy this one puts out TWO amps !!!
As for the CT/CV suffix thing, I downloaded a few datasheet and they all agree.. it's clear as water, it's indeed CV for TO220 package and CT for TO3, simple as that.
So how comes I have TO220 packages marked CT instead of CV ?!
You don't believe me I am sure, so here is a picture.
At this point, I am inclined to decide that it was simply a mistake from the manufacturer and that's all ?!
Look, all of them are brand new, all made by Motorola. Probably all from the same batch (same markings on all of them, look). My dad ordered them for his work back in the day. So of course he ordered them all at once. So, I am inclined to say they are all from the same batch from some Motorola factory, and some guy operating the machine that marks the packages.. goofed it ?!
Maybe the guy from the previous shift was making TO3 packages and when the next guy came for the afternoon shift, his manager asked him to make TO220 packages instead... and he forgot to reconfigure the machine... who the hell knows.... humans make errors after all...
Picture of my collection. I think they are all there.. I think. 69 of them no less. 11 TO3 and 58 TO220. So I have a bit of everything !
I don't have a negative 5.2V one for ECL logic chips though... but I can take a 7905 and put a Germanium diode in series with the feedback pin and problem solved !
Also have a weird one : 9.3 Volts ?!
Anyone knows what that's used for ?! Maybe a custom order for a big client...
Bonus pictures : today in the back yard, Coypus were back. A few weeks back I had 2 adults sharing the garden with 2 ducks, a male/female couple that comes to see me every year, like clock work, they seem married to each other...
So today no duck, two coypus but not two adults. Instead this time an adult and a baby coypu ! Look how cute he is !
And a bit later, this evening as I was watering my strawberries and tomatoes and raspberries.... oh, I saw a Hérisson !! Well that's what we call them here.... lemme google that.... click click click.... a " Hedgehog" it seems ?? A baby one too, isn't he cute ?!