diff --git a/tests/src/unit-explicit_instantiation.cpp b/tests/src/unit-explicit_instantiation.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..71132a59f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/src/unit-explicit_instantiation.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+//     __ _____ _____ _____
+//  __|  |   __|     |   | |  JSON for Modern C++ (supporting code)
+// |  |  |__   |  |  | | | |  version 3.12.0
+// |_____|_____|_____|_|___|  https://github.com/nlohmann/json
+//
+// SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2013-2026 Niels Lohmann <https://nlohmann.me>
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
+
+// cmake/test.cmake selects the C++ standard versions with which to build a
+// unit test based on the presence of JSON_HAS_CPP_<VERSION> macros.
+// The regression below only showed on C++17, so build this file for every
+// standard like the other regression tests:
+// JSON_HAS_CPP_17 JSON_HAS_CPP_20 (do not remove; see note at top of file)
+
+#include "doctest_compatibility.h"
+
+#include <nlohmann/json.hpp>
+using json = nlohmann::json;
+
+/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+// for #4825 - explicitly instantiating basic_json must compile; this
+// forces instantiation of binary_writer::write_bjdata_ndarray, whose
+// static_cast<string_t> was ambiguous under explicit instantiation on
+// C++17. Merely compiling this translation unit is the regression test.
+//
+// The instantiation compiles every member function, so it has a file of its
+// own: in unit-regression3.cpp it made the object too large for the MinGW
+// linker to relocate (see #5511).
+/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+template class nlohmann::basic_json<>;
+
+TEST_CASE("explicit instantiation of basic_json (#4825)")
+{
+    const json j = {1, "two", 3.0};
+    CHECK(j.size() == 3);
+    CHECK(json::from_bjdata(json::to_bjdata(j)) == j);
+}
diff --git a/tests/src/unit-regression3.cpp b/tests/src/unit-regression3.cpp
index dc9843ccb..1c2ebd3f0 100644
--- a/tests/src/unit-regression3.cpp
+++ b/tests/src/unit-regression3.cpp
@@ -74,13 +74,7 @@ using ordered_json = nlohmann::ordered_json;
     #endif
 #endif
 
-/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
-// for #4825 - explicitly instantiating basic_json must compile; this
-// forces instantiation of binary_writer::write_bjdata_ndarray, whose
-// static_cast<string_t> was ambiguous under explicit instantiation on
-// C++17. Merely compiling this translation unit is the regression test.
-/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
-template class nlohmann::basic_json<>;
+// the explicit instantiation for #4825 is in unit-explicit_instantiation.cpp
 
 /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 // for #4440