Grab bag items with no numbers

Take it back and get your money...it's useless without knowing what it is, then again maybe they know what it is...either way works for me....or you could try testing it with one of these multitesters...

Mo' better ...

https://www.newark.com/peak/scr-100/thyristor-triac-analyser-0-12a/dp/51AC6947

Depending on what the device turns out to be, that may or may not be better. I have a device very similar to the one in your previous post, that I got bare board (no case) from Banggood a few years back for something like $20. It has been fantastic. Unfortunately, it appears to be buried somewhere in the stack of stuff on my desk, so I can't show a picture or give a part/model number at the moment.

Well that's true, but if you're going to be buying your electronic parts in grab bags, you could probably use a sophisticated analyzer...jus sayin'...

I bought a grab bag to fill the "coffee can" and meet the free shipping requirement on my full order. Turned out to be a pretty good deal as I got a pound of transistors, diodes, resistors, ICs, and caps of many sizes and packages. A ton of the resistors are multi-turn pots. The list goes on. Good haul for pennies on the dollar. This supplier gets a lot of surplus from Raytheon and Varian and Harris L3 in the south bay area and is where I used to go for parts before I moved to the wine country. Been in business since the '60s. So many of the parts are mil spec. The same bag of "new" parts would cost $100+. These are new, but surplus.

Reminds me of a practical joker technician that soldered several pieces of wire together and then covered the soldered end in epoxy so that it looked like a semiconductor device. He enjoyed asking "know-it-alls" what kind of device it was.

Yeah It does seem that way. All my searches turn up similar packaging but nothing with three different length leads. The way they exit the case is similar to some transistors but the case itself is notched and shaped sort of like a Hall Effect sensor. The green dot may be to mark the surface that faces the magnet perhaps.

The case material seems to be black Bakelite.

I don't need them, but I'm curious because I've been able to ID just about every other component in the bag. A couple of MOSFETs and three lead voltage regulators will be useful, as well as all the resistors and caps and crystals.

I could be a reed switch.Check to see if a magnet affects the continuity between any of the conductors.

Then switch magnet polarities to see if it changes.

I used to be an electronics service technician back in the days when transistors outnumbered IC's on printed circuit boards (or the boards had nothing but transistors) but I have never seen a package like that. I even tried searching the package illustrations but nothing like what you have there appeared.

I did notice that the lead lengths seemed to be similar to dual LED lamps:

I know you already said that they don't test either forward or backward so they are probably not diodes or are defective . You didn't say what readings you got so it's difficult to say.
If you're willing to accept damage to one or two of them, you could try testing them as hall effect sensors. Connect 5 volts (the center should be the negative lead) to either side and monitor the other lead using a meter. See if it will respond to a magnet.

regards,

Vulcan

That's the kind of answer I'm looking for. Thank you. I'll try that with 3v and then 5v.

those look like hall effect sensors. or at least like some I have used in the past.

Thank You

Just wondering whether they might be Infra-Red output rather than visible spectrum. It's now years since I handled discrete components, so simply a guess.

The case appears to be completely opaque and made of Bakelite.

There do exist materials which are opaque to visible light, but transparent to other wavelengths, like IR or UV, so it could still be an LED.

As has been suggested before, photos taken from a much smaller distance could help. Many newer smartphones, both iPhone and Android, can do it with a bit of care and patience.

You know I was going to say it most resembled an ir receiver, they do seem to have the angled tabs...maybe it's a component for remote control...

Seems the green would be 36khz....yeah I know, no window...

https://www.tindie.com/products/analysir/infrared-component-starter-kit-ir-remote-control/

"the outer leads exit at two right angles"

Can you get a picture of that? If we can identify the package it should be easier to home in on the actual device.

Another view

Have you tried testing it as an SCR?

https://www.circuitstoday.com/how-to-test-an-scr

I'll give that a try too. Thank You.

Color "coding" like this was used on varicaps. But then it should also test as a diode with a V forward drop etc. Are you sure it doesn't? S.M.

I'm gonna mess with these some more this weekend. I'm really curious now, and I think they might be hall-effect sensors. Old ones. They are about the size of TO220 mosfet and my current hall sensors are the size of a 2n2222 transistor. These things are very magnetic too.

You should have mentioned that: "These things are very magnetic too." at the beginning...

But is it the device that's magnetic, or the leads?

I didn't know at the beginning. It seems to be the whole device which adds to my suspicion it's a hall effect sensor. There is no internal magnet so it is not biased but it sticks to the corner of my laptop in any orientation suggesting an iron pole piece inside. The leads are magnetic too but no more than any other nickle plated copper leads.