TDK, ACT45B-510-2P-TL003.
Datasheet just shows where the marking will be, but nothing about what it should say. I have no way to verify that I have the correct part. I have searched multiple sites, and they all have the same datasheet.
I still do not understand why they put a marking on parts, but do not readily include that information in the datasheet.
Can anyone assist?
I have “G4030L7”
I can’t help with decoding the mark, I do know that the reason why many, possibly most, parts manufacturers no longer publicly publish full marking specs. It’s because publicly publishing that info makes it easier to make excellent looking counterfeit parts.
I believe somebody from DigiKey will help decode the marking for you once their main office with the most engineers and support people opens for the day.
The counterfeit thing has been mentioned, however, couldn’t they just purchase one? I feel like most counterfeit items, watches, purses or whatever, start with buying or at least having access to the real thing. This just seems like a security measure that is easily thwarted and yet inconveniences the manufacturer.
Buying one simply gets them one set of valid marks to use.
Having the full information gives them the capability of making an unlimited number of valid codes. That is far more valuable to a counterfeiter.
It’s also much easier for the manufacturer to combat counterfeit parts that are all marked with only one older set of valid marks.
This is not obvious to honest people, I learned about many of the tricks of counterfeiting after I was burned by counterfeit parts decades ago.
I can see that. But on the other hand, without actual useful documentation, I have no way to prove that if the parts I just received say “Mickey Mouse”, that they aren’t valid because I have nothing to compare it to.
Well hopefully someone can help. Production gets halted every time I have to ask DK or M or whoever to verify the parts they sent.
In 40+ years we’ve never needed to verify parts we bought from a reputable distributor. That’s the whole point of not buying from lower priced suppliers and instead paying more for parts from a reputable distributor. (our counterfeit parts were when our purchasing person chose a lowest price seller)
When we buy from DigiKey we are always confident the part is genuine so there is no need to verify.
If your company absolutely wants to verify every part you buy, I suggest you have parts delivered a couple weeks ahead of when you need them. Then have somebody in purchasing do the verification dance with the supplier and manufacturer.
We have unfortunately received incorrect parts from reputable distributers, including this one. Plus, in order to teach AOI machines to verify parts, I need to know what marking is significant and which is a lot code or date code that will change.
Hi ProcEng, this is Chris, a tech from the Applications Engineering team here at DigiKey. Unfortunately Paul is correct here, counterfeiting has driven an increasing number of manufacturers to withdraw their part marking codes from public documentation, leaving us to do this back and forth each time a part needs to be validated.
Regardless of how we may each personally feel about this trend, the situation we’re in is unchanged. We have to request info for these markings on a case by case basis, with the understanding that many manufacturers are very hesitant to provide any information about their marking codes beyond a simple “yes or no” style answer as to whether a particular batch is correctly marked.
I’m sending an email to our rep with TDK to see what information we can get in this case. If we’re lucky they will share more information, but we cannot assume that they will share any specific documentation. I understand that this makes the manufacturing process difficult on your end, but this is a problem much larger than our individual company.
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Hi ProcEng
Attached is what the product manager received from the manufacturer.
ACT45B-TL003 Marking specification.pdf (60.2 KB)
Manufacturer: TDK Corporation
Manufacturer part number: ACT45B-510-2P-TL003
DigiKey part number: 445-3958-2-ND, 445-3958-1-ND, 445-3958-6-ND