N3904 broken?

Question

I'm a serious newbie at soldering so I "accidentally" screwed up with the placement of my N3904 transistor. I've heated it with a 30 watt soldering iron about 4 times and I think it might be broken... How do I know if it is?

Answer 1

Try another one -- they are less than 50 cents (assuming you mean 2N3904, an NPN transistor).  But practice your soldering technique with the old one first.  Use solder wick to remove all the old solder and then re-apply.  Keep doing this until you are comfortable with your technique.  Then put in the new one -- your training will only cost you 50 cents, some time, plus some solder wick (it probably will cost more than the transistor).  Cheaper than using a new transistor each time you try again...

There are methods to test transistors, but they aren't worth it for a 50 cent part, especially if there's a good chance it's been cooked...