If it looks like a resistor, and has color bands like a resistor...

roothorick

Active member
Joined
Apr 2, 2008
Messages
1,336
Reaction score
14
Location
Wisconsin
If it looks like a resistor, and has color bands like a resistor...

...but it's not a resistor, then what is it?

These are from the gun sensor boards for Big Buck Hunter Pro; not sure if earlier versions use the same board or not. It's marked "L1" on the board; the flipside has SMT resistors marked "R1", "R2", and so on. I have three of these mysterious components, one bad (blown open), one good (at least, the board works with this one present), and one untested (I've got two more "dead" sensor boards I haven't been able to nail down -- I really wish I had an ESR tester...). The color bands are green-blue-red-silver, which if it was a resistor, it would be 5600 Ohms +/-10%, correct? But if I probe the good one with my multimeter, I get 30.6 Ohms. The untested one reads 30.3 Ohms... so either the color bands are wrong, or these are something more than mere resistors. Which, they're not labeled "R3", they're labeled "L1"... Any guesses?
 
(L) is usually a coil or inductor of some type...never really messed with those guns to know for sure...

Josh
 
Alright, so it's an inductor! Looks like the Happ part is the same spec, but their picture looks different... these are rounded and blue. It's odd, because the orange gun has a Happ-branded board that doesn't have anything that looks like either, but it does have about twice the SMT components, so maybe it's some new "inductorless" design or something.

I hate SMT. So much harder to lift legs for testing. :(

I still need to tackle the other two boards before I have another board break. Just to throw it out there: These broke legs off the phototransistors. I replaced them with brand new Optek OP-805SLs, but the boards still didn't work, and I double-checked my wiring. Is there something that cooks if the phototransistor is intermittent or pops open?
 
Inductors are like a lot of other passives.....the manufacturer can wrap them in whatever "package" they feel like. I can't believe Happ wants $10 plus for that part. That's crazy for that. Does it look like this....

http://www.bourns.com/data/global/pdfs/5300_series.pdf
http://www.mouser.com/Search/Refine.aspx?Keyword=542-5300-10-rc

Edward

That's the right shape, but these are a blue-green color. (Not that I care matching exactly; as long as it's electrically identical, good enough.)

Btw, if the color code chart Andy posted is right, these are 5.6mH or 5600uH. The ones you posted are 5.6uH. Easy to get your units confused :)
 
Last edited:
Here's a pic of it.
I wondered why the resistors didn't work.

Bingo, that's the exact guys I'm talking about. Looks like the same board too. Long, skinny board with "Uni-San" / "MODEL: 95-1019-00-V6" printed on the other side?
 
Back
Top Bottom