I have desoldered many IR diodes with no damage done...
The first high powered red I desoldered became a 5mW at some point during the process. Now, I do know that it is well possible that my circuit killed the diode, because the filtering capacitor (3300uf) was charged due to my failure to turn the circuit off and discharge the cap before plugging the new diode in. But still this worries me. So my question is, are visable red diodes more fragile and sensitive to heat than I.R. diodes?
The first high powered red I desoldered became a 5mW at some point during the process. Now, I do know that it is well possible that my circuit killed the diode, because the filtering capacitor (3300uf) was charged due to my failure to turn the circuit off and discharge the cap before plugging the new diode in. But still this worries me. So my question is, are visable red diodes more fragile and sensitive to heat than I.R. diodes?