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Measuring transistor Hfe

Started by 2tonewarrior, August 01, 2012, 11:51:46 PM

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2tonewarrior

August 01, 2012, 11:51:46 PM
Another quick transistor question  ;D

Is it possible to test the Hfe of a transistor with a multimeter WITHOUT a transistor test socket? Or maybe with some easy circuit?

Thanks in advance

mgwhit

#1
August 02, 2012, 12:07:52 AM
R.G. Keen's article Picking transistors for FF Clones has a good circuit for measuring PNP Germanium transistors.  It can easily be adapted for NPNs.

joegagan

#2
August 02, 2012, 03:26:05 AM
the multimeters from harbor freight have hfe testing and trans sockets. they are under 10 bucks, and they seem to give reasonably good readings.

^^^ above was for Si. Ge trans, see the RG article linked above.

2tonewarrior

#3
August 02, 2012, 06:27:41 PM
Thanks for the info, Mr. Keen is always present to solve the doubts   :)

I should have bought a good cheap MM when I started with electronics but I bought a bad, cheap MM in a local store. For now I want to make the most out of mine, but I´ll keep the advice for the future.

Bret608

#4
August 28, 2012, 05:29:35 PM
My Harbor Freight DMM does seem to give reasonable readings on silicon transistors. I've only tried a couple of germaniums with it, but I can't seem to get a reading.

icecycle66

#5
August 28, 2012, 08:38:03 PM
My meter counts backwards to some apperantly unrelated number when I try to measure Hfe.

What's up with that?
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