Killed my first 12x diode :(

[Bogart]

Well this is a bummer.

I bought one of the PCMK-M1X sleds from rayfoss, my first 405 diode, and took my time harvesting the diode and cutting/breaking the heatsink off of it.

I pressed it into an Aixiz base with a glass 405 lens, connected the leads to my FlexDrive, and powered it up. It sure made a weird color of light. Kind of ghostly blue/white/violet to my eyes.

I went to turn the pot to increase the power a bit, and...the leads going to the diode touched and shorted. I switched off the power to the driver right away and then unshorted the leads. Sadly that one mistake was enough that it was an LED when I applied power again.

I have had that happen (the leads shorting) with 445 diodes, and it never seemed to bother them a bit. I guess these diodes are a good bit more fragile.

I ordered another 12x sled from o-like now. I'll have to be a good bit more careful with this one.

 

[Morgan]

Congratulations are probably not in order here. I feel for you. Just feel better and remind yourself that these are the pitfalls of the hobby and that we have all done it. Some have done it with much more expensive diodes too!

Yes, the 405s are more fragile. The cap(s) will have charged during the short, (if this was the cause), and this is likely to have popped your diode. In this case you may be lucky and have only fried the driver, (cheaper), as it may not have liked powering a short circuit! Always use a test load to know for sure your current as it may not have been the short that killed it but the current you used. Turning the pot, "live", is not recommended.

As the saying goes though, "You live and learn".

Better luck with the next one.

M

 

[DTR]

I was also going to say to check to see if you just killed the driver as well. I killed one by shorting as well with a 445 and it looked like it was LED but put a new driver in and it was all good.

 

[Bogart]

If only. This driver continues to happily power 445 diodes, so I'm fairly convinced that the diode itself is fried.

Live and learn indeed.

 

[qumefox]

Another tip... don't mess with the driver current setting when running a live diode. Set it where you want it with a test load, then leave it alone. The pots on microboosts and flexdrives weren't really made to be constantly adjusted. And yes, 445's are MUCH more durable than pretty much any other kind of LD, you'd be hard pressed to kill a 445 with a normally operating flexdrive.