Guide to finding datasheets and avoiding malicious datasheet SEO sites

Kragen Javier Sitaker, 02020-11-02 (updated 02020-12-22) (7 minutes)

Getting datasheets used to be easier, but it’s gotten harder on the modern web due to SEO scum. Google is almost useless. https://yandex.ru/ gives much better results for datasheet searches. (Compare the results for searching [bp2842 datasheet] on the two engines: Yandex gives you datasheets for the TI TL2842BP, which may be a slightly wrong chip, but Google gives you random bullshit. The term “Даташит” may be helpful,) However, you run into CAPTCHAs occasionally on Yandex. For non-obsolete parts, Digi-Key is often a better source. Still, though, you need to blacklist some providers.

Yandex puts a link saying “pdf Посмотреть” after search results that actually point to PDFs. Do not follow this link; it goes to docviewer.yandex.ru. But it does allow you to distinguish PDF links from fake links. (Except that the SEO scum sometimes generate fake PDFs.)

Most of the sites mentioned have their own search engines.

Octopart has its own search engine, and it’s useful if you want to buy things, and it does provide datasheet links, but for example searching for bp2812 on Octopart gives you sealed lead-acid batteries. With a datasheet, mind you. Searching for “c3205” (the marking on the common 1990s 2SC3205 transistor) similarly produces no useful results.

Known-good sources

Broken at the moment

Malicious but sometimes usable if nothing else works

Blacklist; never visit (at least if you want the datasheet)

Transistor part numbers

kludge explains:

There are three religions: Japanese numbers, Pro-Electron numbers, and American JEDEC numbers. Japanese numbers all start with 2S so they don’t bother printing the 2S part. American ones start with 2N but they print it. Pro-Electron ones have two letters for type and then more numbers.

So if you have a Japanese transistor that says C3205 on it, maybe look for 2SC3205.

Surface-mount parts are a bitch. There’s a book I’ve seen somewhere...

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