Comeback!!!

[Sciphii]

After blowing up my perfect preinstalled axis housing+ diode, :'(
I salvaged a broken dvd player and found a small brass cylinder- 4 wires coming out of it, so I'll just put the whole thing in the housing instead of picking the diode out.

Uhhh.... 4 wires? There is one wire w/ a white base- so I know that's negative, and the one above that (The white base facing to the far right) is probably the positive. Is that the typical laser diode?

 

[billg519]

DVD Player? A player will not normally have a strong diode in it. Maybe as strong as a dollar store red keychain pointer. Not much power needed for reading. DVD burners have a powerful diode. (look for 16x or better)
4 Wires? Probably a combination red and IR reader diode of some sort. Is it a normal looking 5.6mm can with four leads? You might want to look into a stonetek diode ...

 

[Sciphii]

DVD Player? A player will not normally have a strong diode in it. Maybe as strong as a dollar store red keychain pointer. Not much power needed for reading. DVD burners have a powerful diode. (look for 16x or better)
4 Wires? Probably a combination red and IR reader diode of some sort. Is it a normal looking 5.6mm can with four leads? You might want to look into a stonetek diode ...

Ok, thanks, I'll just buy another diode from Stonetek instead.