# Help me find a book that catalogues electrical components. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 22, 2003, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-a-book-that-catalogues-electrical-components/208833 "2003-10-22T03:12:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Clu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/22d042/32.png) [@Clu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clu)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2003, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-a-book-that-catalogues-electrical-components/208833/1 "2003-10-22T03:12:20Z")
Hi, I’m thinking about manufacturing/marketing a product and I was told on an inventor’s newsgroup to look for a book that catalogues electrical components w/ part numbers. Could anyone here tell me the title of similar books? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![cletus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@cletus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cletus)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2003, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-a-book-that-catalogues-electrical-components/208833/2 "2003-10-22T06:37:10Z")
A quick search of [Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0830633332/103-4086627-0895004?v=glance) brought this up. It’s a reference guide for electrical components but I’m not sure if they list part numbers. Amazon also provides related materal that might be of help to you. ---
**Author:** ![KP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a9adbd/32.png) [@KP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KP)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2003, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-a-book-that-catalogues-electrical-components/208833/3 "2003-10-22T09:24:14Z")
For general electronics componets, I use any of the major industrila catalogs. They list specs and equivalences. For semiconductors, I have a shelf full of references (and their downloadable equivalents, but I’ve been doing electronics since I was a tot, and the books are like old friends) There are many useful transistor substitution guides, but for integrated circuits, youmay be better off with the more detailed manufacturer catalogs, unless it’s a common enough chip to be practically generic, and even then, a circuit can snag on seemingly minor differences between makers. There are omnibus references for ICs, like the Master IC Handbook, but I find my old way works better for me (more detailed specs and more accurate for the actual products you’ll buy). It’s also cheaper - nom tter what the cover price, you can usually get the catalogues for the price of a snail-mail request or even download them, if you hunt around he manufacturer’s site really hard (they often hide the darn things pretty well) Once upon a time, the manufacturers had some pretty nifty e-versions, but the reign of the PDf killed some of the neater features, like nehanced searching, and made them little better than the hardcopy National Semiconductor makes a nice line of Applications Notes and Spec books, but that may be personal bias, and it’s not all inclusive. Motorola, and the other makers do the same. For inventions, I often turn to smaller makers like Maxam and Analog Devices, who make nifty near-specialty parts with great specs at decent prices ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2003, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-a-book-that-catalogues-electrical-components/208833/4 "2003-10-22T10:25:10Z")
For starters I would get catalogs from [Newark](http://www.newark.com/) and [Digi-Key](http://www.digikey.com/). First find what you need in these catalogs. And then if you need more specs, contact the component manufacturer. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2003, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-a-book-that-catalogues-electrical-components/208833/5 "2003-10-22T11:57:49Z")
This was started online many years ago. It’s very similar to the ICMaster (as you can probably tell by the name). [http://www.hw.cz/docs/giicm/giicm.html](http://www.hw.cz/docs/giicm/giicm.html) I also tend to keep Newark and Digikey catalogs handy when designing, just to see what is commonly available from the larger supply houses. I changed the PIC micro I was using in a design because Digikey and Newark tended to stock a slightly different version in much greater numbers.