Product Overview
One Unused ECG 1232, Still on Its Original Sylvania ECG Card
Condition
This is new old stock. The photos show a single ECG 1232 in the poly bag it has lived in, behind the yellow SYLVANIA ECG COMPONENT header card that carries the Philips ECG imprint along its lower rule. Stock here is one, so the piece in the photos is the piece that ships. We opened the bag for the camera: the body is marked ECG 1232 on the first line and 3NAE on the second, with a small additional mark at the top right of the tab face that is present but too small for us to attribute. The five leads are bright metal, formed and staggered as they came, with no solder, no cuts and no bends from a previous life. The mounting hole is clean. The original ECG spec sheet is folded in the bag and goes out with the part.
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Product Overview
The ECG 1232 is an integrated circuit audio frequency power amplifier published at 8 W, described in NTE's datasheet for the matching NTE1232 as a Class B audio amplifier in a 5-lead TO220 type package designed to drive low impedance loads; ST uses the name Pentawatt for the equivalent package on its own TDA2002. The photographed part matches that description exactly: a molded tab package with one mounting hole and five formed leads. ECG began as the GTE Sylvania house replacement line and later traded as Philips ECG, Inc. of Waltham, MA, which is the imprint printed at the foot of the sheet in this bag, and the same replacement catalogue is carried today by NTE Electronics under matching numbers, so ECG1232 and NTE1232 are the same catalogue entry. The sheet states plainly that the device REPLACES TDA2002 & CA2002, which is why this number keeps turning up in car radio and low impedance audio output stage repairs. Per the NTE1232 datasheet the device drives loads down to 1.6 ohms with peak output current capability up to 3.5 A, with protection against short circuit, thermal overrange, accidental open ground, supply polarity inversion at Vs = 12 V maximum, and load dump voltage surge. The ratings table on the included sheet gives an operating temperature of -20 to +75 degC and storage of -40 to +150 degC. Supply voltage, quiescent current, gain, THD and the pin assignments are not confirmed here - verify against the datasheet before use. The original sheet ships in the bag and is the pinout authority.
Key Features
- Marked ECG 1232 on line one and 3NAE on line two; the included sheet carries the matching AE 3N code, so device, card and paperwork belong together
- Class B audio frequency power amplifier, published at 8 W, in a 5-lead TO220 type package per the NTE1232 datasheet
- Drives low impedance loads down to 1.6 ohms, with peak output current capability up to 3.5 A (NTE1232 datasheet)
- Protected against short circuit, thermal overrange, accidental open ground, supply polarity inversion at Vs = 12 V maximum, and load dump voltage surge
- Operating temperature -20 to +75 degC, storage -40 to +150 degC, read off the ECG sheet included in the bag
- Replaces TDA2002 and CA2002 per the ECG sheet itself; cross-references to NTE1232
- Original ECG spec sheet included, schematic side and ratings table both printed on it
- Supply voltage, gain, THD, power dissipation and pin functions not confirmed - verify against the datasheet before use
Applications
- A car audio restorer working a 1970s or 1980s dashboard radio whose output stage calls out a TDA2002 or a CA2002 and wants the ECG-numbered equivalent that the service literature of the era named
- A bench technician repairing a consumer audio chassis with a low impedance speaker load, who needs a protected single-chip output rather than rebuilding a discrete stage
- A collector doing a period-correct repair, who would rather solder in a Philips ECG era part on its own card than a modern substitute
- A hobbyist building a small monoblock output stage for a 2 ohm or 4 ohm driver and reading the pinout off the sheet that ships in the bag
Frequently Asked Questions
Is ECG 1232 the same thing as NTE1232?
Yes, as a catalogue entry. ECG was the Sylvania house replacement line, it continued as Philips ECG, and NTE Electronics carried the catalogue forward keeping the numeric part of the number. Who actually fabricated the die inside this one is not established, and we are not going to guess.
Will it drop into a TDA2002 or CA2002 socket?
The ECG sheet in this bag says REPLACES TDA2002 & CA2002, and that is the claim we stand behind. Wider cross-reference lists for the TDA2002 name other numbers alongside ECG1232; that is a weaker relation than the sheet's own statement, so we do not promote them.
What is the pinout?
We will not publish a pin table read off a photograph, and published web sources for the TDA2002 disagree with each other on pin assignment. The original terminal assignment drawing and the full schematic are printed on the sheet folded in this bag. Let the sheet be the authority, and verify against the datasheet before use.
What exactly ships?
The device you see in the photos, the ECG spec sheet folded with it, and the Sylvania ECG bag and header card. No heatsink, insulator or mounting hardware is included, and we make no statement about whether the tab is electrically isolated - that one is not established either.
Why buy this one piece instead of hunting a surplus lot?
Because this is a known, individually photographed unit rather than a bag of unknowns: one ECG 1232, unused, marked and readable in the photos, with the original spec sheet that tells you what it replaces and what temperatures it was rated for. Buying the lot means sorting someone else's mixed shelf to find one good number. Shipping is a flat $8, free once your order passes $28, and orders leave our Idaho warehouse the same or next business day.
Somewhere there is a dashboard radio that went quiet a long time ago, and the fix has been waiting on a card in a yellow bag ever since. The paperwork is still with it, which is more than most parts this age can say - the rest is your bench.
