Soldered my LD wrong but it didnt die !?!?....

to make the story short , i was changing the DDL driver with a different DDL driver i made
and upon reconecting the LD i connected + to - and - to + i turned it on and no light came out.

Upon checking my connection i realised this huge mistake so i though "great i killed it , good going dumb ___"

I desoldered and reconnected it the correctly and turned it on .... very little light came out
so i started turning the 16 turn pot and it started getting brighter and brighter .

Im using :

-lm317t
-100 ohn 16 turn pot
-12 ohm resistor
-n4001 diode
-47uf 16v cap

Conclusion: Although i connected it wrong and my guess is that the pot was turne to its lowest setting
could have killed my diode , it didnt or could have it ?

Im confused , I know LDs are sensitive and people kill them all the time ...or should i say im very lucky and happy its working strong

I have hooked up a couple LD's backwards -- Duh !!! I've killed a lot of diodes but never lost one that way.

Mike

I'm guessing that ur driver didn't push the LD past its breakdown voltage. After all, LDs are still diodes hence, they can take a reverse voltage. They just won't conduct.

Tw15t3r said:

I'm guessing that ur driver didn't push the LD past its breakdown voltage. After all, LDs are still diodes hence, they can take a reverse voltage. They just won't conduct.

Click to expand...

IME reverse voltage is MUCH more damaging to the driver than the diode.

Peace,
dave

Funny thing is, reversing the polarity always works in Star Trek.

Or the polarization, depending on the episode.

;P

suiraM said:

Funny thing is, reversing the polarity always works in Star Trek.

Or the polarization, depending on the episode.

;P

Click to expand...

I think that only works if your laser is made with dilithium crystal

Peace,
dave

daguin said:

IME reverse voltage is MUCH more damaging to the driver than the diode.

Peace,
dave

Click to expand...

Oh well, guess I'm wrong then. Didn't know that... :-/