identificationintegrated-circuitvoltage-regulator
I have a broken GPS/Compass and would like to get it working again.
The device takes 5 Volts input and powers a GPS at a max of 3.6 Volts.
I believe the below chip is bad and I would like to test it. It says IL314. I have no more information on what it is/who makes it? I suspect it is a regulator. Please advise on what this chip is and where I can source a few? Regards
To save the hassle of trying to modify a device to take a different voltage, I would personally consider using a "step-up" or a boost DC-to-DC converter to simply provide the required voltage.
One like this boost converter from eBay would be able to take in 6 volts and supply 12 volts on its output.
Your eBay listing did not provide amperage/power requirements, but the ~10 watts this provides should be enough
The problem of applying an external voltage to the output pin of an NPN-output type regulator is that this would apply a reverse bias to the emitter-base junction of the NPN. The emitter-base junction of a BJT typically has a very small breakdown voltage (the emitter is heavily doped).
In the datasheet you might find this:
However, two considerations should be drawn:
Therefore you might not need to insert the diode on a 7805.
Best Answer
It could very likely be a 3.3v regulator as the NEO-M8N chip requires a Vcc of 3.3v. (Is the board's input power 5v ?). You could also power up the board and measure pin 23 (Vcc) of the NEO-M8 chip, (on your board pin 24 is at the corner closest to the red dot, pin 23 is then to the right). Many other designs using the NEO-M8 chip use a similar low power 3.3v regulator (SOT-23-5) to step down from a 5v input.
If Vcc of the NEO-M8 has something lower than 3.3v then perhaps the regulator chip is the main problem, (but if it's 5v you might already have a blown out NEO-M8 chip).
Here is a pdf of a common 3.3v regulator from Micrel, (MIC5235), many similar low power 3.3v regulators have a similar pin out (though not guaranteed). http://www.farnell.com/datasheets/94456.pdf
If you can trace out visually or with a ohm meter at least the Input, Output, and Ground pins on the small chip and they match the common regulator configuration you can be fairly sure it is a 3.3v regulator.
uBlox NEO-M8: https://www.u-blox.com/sites/default/files/NEO-M8-FW3_DataSheet_%28UBX-15031086%29.pdf