Hi all, I have a portable bug zapper that stopped working, I replaced the battery and bulb still didn’t work. Opened it up to investigate further and discovered what appears to be a burnt transistor. It’s burnt to the point that all but the last 2 numbers on it are readable which are 9C. I have taken photos of the board, hopefully someone can help with suggesting a replacement part so I can get this thing working again.

The part missing is where you see the burnt spot just the the left of the center of the board.

 

You only have two possible polarities. If you reverse engineer the circuitry around the transistor, you could probably figure out the important parameters.

What makes you think it will start working if you replace the clearly defective component? If you don't remove what caused the fault, a replacement transistor would burn up and, next time, it might cause a fire.

 

I am fairly certain that it was due to the wrong charger being used. it was supposed to be a 6.5v and a 12v was plugged into it for several hours.

 

Then trace the circuitry around the transistor and just use a circle/box to represent the transistor; but label the terminals.

 

I am not sure what you are asking me to do.

 

I am not sure what you are asking me to do.

Trace the circuitry around the transistor and make a schematic. There's most likely a resistor connected to the base. Draw it, give it a component designator, and record its value.


Keep tracing back through additional components until we get enough circuitry to determine transistor polarity and important parameters.

 

I doubt you will find the exact replacement. Even if you knew the part number, that might be obsolete.

I did a parametric search on DigiKey for high-voltage transistors in similar cases. The list is fairly short:

Here's the search: https://www.digikey.com/products/en/discrete-semiconductor-products/transistors-bipolar-bjt-single/276?k=transistor&k=&pkeyword=transistor&sv=0&sf=1&FV=16|413090,16|413297,16|413514,69|411897,74|380569,74|380584,1291|405480,1291|405596,1291|412988,1291|412994,1291|412997,1291|413296,1291|413505,1291|413513,mu1.5kV|2103,mu1000V|2103,mu1100V|2103,mu1200V|2103,mu2200V|2103,mu400V|2103,mu420V|2103,mu425V|2103,mu440V|2103,mu450V|2103,mu460V|2103,mu465V|2103,mu480V|2103,mu500V|2103,mu525V|2103,mu550V|2103,mu560V|2103,mu600V|2103,mu650V|2103,mu700V|2103,mu750V|2103,mu800V|2103,mu825V|2103,mu900V|2103,-8|276,1989|0,1989|7&quantity=&ColumnSort=0&page=1&stock=1&pageSize=25

All but one are under $1. Model aircraft ignition systems use a similar design to make a voltage of about 250 V to 300 V which then feeds a spark coil. I would try any of the 400 V rated units (they are cheaper) with the highest current. The TS13005 looks similar to an ST1300x version that is obsolete, but the link to TS is broken. Just be sure collector is the middle pin (most are).

 

Take pictures of the track side, you could try BD131 or BD132 types.

 

This small trimmer pot (?) looks burned too:

 

Take pictures of the track side

Yes the trimmer pot is for sure fried. Thank you guys for your time looking at this for me.

 

Sutton's Law:* Get a new one.

*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Sutton
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutton's_law

Edit: Added reference to "Sutton's Law" based on an allegorical tail involving Willie Sutton. Didn't realize Wikipedia actually had that heading.

 

Sutton's Law:* Get a new one.

*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Sutton
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutton's_law

Edit: Added reference to "Sutton's Law" based on an allegorical tail involving Willie Sutton. Didn't realize Wikipedia actually had that heading.

someone forgot about the meaning of "HOBBY". Why would I bother coming on here and getting help from all these folks, if I didn't want to fix it. I realize i could get a new one for $80 but why when i could spend less than $5 and learn something doing it myself.

 

I am all for fixing stuff. I do it all the time, and not uncommonly, my result is better than the original. It boils down to the extent of the damage and to what extent you will go to fix it.

If you can repair that for less than $5.00, I will reimburse you, assuming you are in the US. Save all receipts, even for things that didn't work out, and get pictures.

 

A happy ending to the story. Thanks jpanhalt for the TS13005CK suggestion. As well as anybody else for looking at it.