First Major Screw-up!

I harvested the diodes out of 4 drives yesterday, and out of all of them, only 1 of the red diodes got messed up during extraction. But, I decided to power it and see what would happen since it was only the lens that I saw get messed up. I just wanted to see something happen rather than tossing it in the trash. So I used a multimeter on test mode to find out the polarity....when it bleeped I thought, "Great! Now I can hook up the wires!" So I soldered some wires to the indicated pin and the case(wouldn't ever do this normally but I figured it was busted so what the heck why not). When I got them connected, I directly hooked it up and all of a sudden there were sparks everywhere! I had mistaken the bleep to mean that the case and that pin were opposite, but what it really means(which anyone here knows) is that they are the same....so I fried that diode like KFC....SOOOOO Glad I tested power on a messed up diode!

I hesitated to post this due to the idiocy inherent in my actions, however I figured a couple of you might enjoy imagining my :wtf: when the wires started glowing red and sparks started flying.....so there it is, hope yall enjoyed it....and if you are reading this as someone who doesn't know how to use a multimeter and gets this from a search, DON'T EVER PUT THE WIRES ON THE PIN AND CASE COMBINATION THAT MAKES A BLEEP! -source:see above

I just wanted to see something happen rather than tossing it in the trash.

Click to expand...

Look at the bright side, soldering your wires onto something that were connected to each other made something happen.

Mistakes happen.

That's true! Got my first burns from the Iron too....happened when I was desoldering the pins from the little circuits on the backs of all the diodes. I was using a very small flathead to push the board off the instant it liquified but one of the boards stuck to the Iron. it had a long ribbon connected to it well away from the Iron so I figured that the ribbon was safe to grab. Wrong. It was extremely hot.....lots of learning moments that make me wish I had gotten started on electrical stuff before now. lol, on a side note, a bunch of mosquitos got some Karma last night

I have seen Blue Sparks many times, and You will never get used to it. Good thing it was Your bad Diode. Soldering takes some practice, but You will get the hang of it. A quick tip is to Use Magnifying reading glasses if You don't the helping hands that has a magnifier with it (You can use both even).

I liked your story. Thanks for posting. You have to start somewhere!

wannaburnstuff said:

lots of learning moments that make me wish I had gotten started on electrical stuff before now. lol, on a side note, a bunch of mosquitos got some Karma last night

Click to expand...

When I first got into electronics, my first valuable lesson was.....if you're going to solder, while wearing shorts, keep the work over the desk at all times.

Check the forum first. There are plenty of diagrams showing pin-outs of just about every diode. Also it may, or may not, live for a while on just 2 AAAs. I had one run for around 2 hours before I gave the diode away to help someone.

I hate to be a pisser here, but I don't understand how I got banned for my video if this is chill with you guys.

You didnt get banned for that. You got banned for being an A-Hole. No biggy, I got banned 3 times for the same thing.

wannaburnstuff said:

That's true! Got my first burns from the Iron too....happened when I was desoldering the pins from the little circuits on the backs of all the diodes. I was using a very small flathead to push the board off the instant it liquified but one of the boards stuck to the Iron. it had a long ribbon connected to it well away from the Iron so I figured that the ribbon was safe to grab. Wrong. It was extremely hot.....lots of learning moments that make me wish I had gotten started on electrical stuff before now. lol, on a side note, a bunch of mosquitos got some Karma last night

Click to expand...

I get burned by them all the time, however the hotter they are the less damage done. Maybe due to the leidenfrost effect?

possibly...but I plan on being more careful here on out

I was never being an A hole dude, you guys were trying to tell me what to do with my things AND you were insulting me. You guys should have been banned for harassment. I knew exactly what I was doing there. I was defending myself.

Move on. Like you said many time, its just the internet who cares. Or drag it out some more and get banned again. Its your call.

Lol you want me to get banned. You game me -rep like five times. I am done with this though.

I gave you 1 rep. And you said 5 times you dont care about reps. So why do you keep bringing it up if you dont care? Now you're hijacking this thread with your petty complaints. Just move on. WTF

Speaking of [insert transition here], anyone got some tips on getting these things out of heatsinks? I messed up my open can red and one weak closed can trying very patiently to get it out. I also gave up on a few IR diodes. I have tried the pliers twisting, I have used flatheads(very small ones) to loosen, I have even tried to file them down(maybe don't have the right type of file, but not sure as it belongs to my father and he isn't even sure lol)....anything out there I haven't tried that works for most people?