BC517 Darlington transistor
BC517 Darlington transistor electrical specification
- TIP121 NPN Darlington transistor device
- Collector to emitter voltage is 30V
- Collector to base voltage is 40V
- Emitter to base voltage is 10V
- Collector current is 2A
- Power dissipation is 625mW
- DC current gain is 30000hFE
- Junction temperature & operation temperature is between -55 to +150℃
- Collector to emitter saturation voltage (VCE (SAT)) is 1V
- Thermal resistance is 3℃/W
- Transition frequency is 220MHz
- High current gain
- High current
- Low voltage
BC517 Darlington transistor Pinout
| Pin Number | Pin Name | Description |
| 1 | Collector | Current flows through the collector |
| 2 | Base | Base terminal is used to trigger the transistor |
| 3 | Emitter | Current flows through the emitter |
BC517 transistor package
BC517 Darlington transistor has a TO-92 package, it is a low-power transistor package.
TO-92 package is made with epoxy or plastic material, this is the reason why they had higher resistance properties and lite weight. Both of these two properties make the package more powerful to withstand the BC517 Darlington transistor.
BC517 Darlington transistor electrical specification description/application
In this section we try to explain the electrical specs of the BC517 transistor, this detailed explanation will help us for a better understanding of the transistor and support for the replacement process.
Voltage specs
The voltage specs of the BC517 transistor are collector to emitter voltage is 30V, collector to base voltage is 40V and emitter to base voltage is 10V, the voltage value of this device is low.
The collector to emitter saturation voltage is 1V, it is a moderate voltage value for a semiconductor device.
The voltage specifications of the BC517 transistor shows that they have low voltage specs compared to other Darlington transistor device.
Current specs
The collector current of the BC517 transistor is 1.2A, the switching load application of this transistor is under this value.
Dissipation specs
The power dissipation value of the BC517 transistor is 625mW, the dissipation value of this device will be laying on the transistor package.
Current gain specs
The DC current gain of the BC517 transistor is 30000Hfe, this is the important specification of this device.
Junction temperature/ storage temperature
The junction temperature & operating temperature values are -55 to 150℃, and the BC517 transistor.
Thermal resistance
The thermal resistance of the BC517 Darlington transistor junction to the case is 83.3℃/W
Transition frequency
The transition frequency value of the BC517 transistor is 220MHz, this transistor device has a high-frequency range.
BC517 NPN Darlington transistor DATASHEET
If you need the datasheet in pdf please click this link
BC517 Darlington transistor equivalent
The BC517 Darlington transistor has equivalent devices such as MPSW45A and 2N6426, both of these Darlington transistors have the almost same electrical and physical specifications, so we can use them as a replacement for the BC517 transistor.
BC517 Darlington transistor complementary
BC516 PNP Darlington transistor is the complementary transistor of BC517 NPN Darlington transistor.
BC517 vs BC547
In the table below, we try to compare two transistor devices such as BC517 and BC547.
| Characteristics | BC517 | BC547 |
|---|---|---|
| Collector to base voltage (VCB) | 40V | 50V |
| Collector to emitter voltage (VCE) | 30V | 45V |
| Emitter to base voltage (VEB) | 10V | 6V |
| Collector to emitter saturation voltage (VCE (SAT)) | 1V | 90 to 600mV |
| Collector current (IC) | 1.2A | 100mA |
| Power dissipation | 625mW | 500mW |
| Junction temperature (TJ) | -55 to +150°C | -65 to +150°C |
| Thermal resistance | 83.3℃/W | - |
| Gain (hFE) | 30000hFE | 110 to 800hFE |
| Transition frequency | 220MHz | 300MHz |
| Package | TO-92 | TO-92 |
Both of these transistors had the same voltage and package specifications, other than this BC517 transistor had the highest DC current gain value than the BC547 transistor.
BC517 is an NPN Darlington transistor device, so naturally, the gain value of it is higher and applications wish BC547 transistors have small-scale applications.
BC517 NPN Darlington transistor applications
- Preamp circuit
- Audio amplifier circuit
- Sensor circuit
- Battery charger circuit
- Regulator circuit
- Motor control driver circuit
- H-bridge circuit applications
- Switching applications
- Multi-vibrator circuit
BC517 NPN Darlington device characteristics curves
The figure shows DC current gain characteristics of the BC517 transistor, the graph is plotted with DC current gain vs collector current.
At constant collector to emitter voltage, when the device starts from the highest value with respect to collector current and gain decreases towards the end.
The figure shows the collector to emitter saturation voltage characteristics of the BC517 Darlington transistor, the graph is plotted with the collector to emitter saturation voltage vs collector current.
The characteristics curve plots at three different temperature values and the increase of saturation value of each curve are in the same fashion with respect to collector current.
