Solder Kills Diode?

[Spyderz20x6]

Hey all,
I was soldering a diode to my dorcy jr. yesterday, and the dorcy solder that was already on there wouldn't melt. So i had to keep it on for 10 seconds while the diode pin was on there. Do you think it is possible that the heat from the soldering iron could kill the diode by transfering through the pin? BTW, i don't want to turn it on yet because i added some water-based silicone and need to wait till it dries.

 

[SenKat_Stonetek]

Yes, most definitely Heat transfer through the pins is the leading cause of death amongst DIY'ers ! Radio Shack (and other places online) sell a little "heat sink" clamp that can be used to assist with soldering. A good practice to keep in mind is that you want to pre-tin (clean, and pre-apply some solder to the area in question) the surface that you will be soldering to the diode pins - that will keep heat on the pins to a short period of time.

 

[john_lawson]

hey just wondering why doesnt someone make a connecting plug for these diodes

 

[roSSco]

hey just wondering why doesnt someone make a connecting plug for these diodes

Because if (or should I say when!) the pins become disconnected briefly, the diode will be blown by the surge. This has been heatedly debated on here repeatedly.

 

[john_lawson]

ok i was wondering it sure sounded like it was too simple of a cure lol

 

[SenKat_Stonetek]

You CAN buy sockets for them - but as mentioned - a momentary loss of contact, and POW

 

[natabata]

i believe this problem could be solved with a hot air gün and some soldering paste, (hot air not nessesairxy).

just put some lead based solder parste into the connector, and then put the diode in

correct me if im wrong but i bbelieve that would work

 

[SenKat_Stonetek]

Nataba - you could get lucky, and have it work out for a while at least - but say you accidentally drop the laser - the diode could get jarred loose, and then a bad connection is there when you fire it up - POW ! Honestly, for soldering hte diodes - as scary as it is...it really is not too hard to stay within the "momentary-heat" areas, and only have the soldering iron on the diode pins for a short period of time.

 

[jayrob]

 A good practice to keep in mind is that you want to pre-tin

That's a key point from Senkat there.
* Pre-tin the wires
* Clean the tip
* And I like to load the tip with just a little solder too. Just before your ready to solder to the pin.
Jay

 

[roSSco]

[quote author=SenKat_Stonetek link=1210193037/0#1 date=1210193385] A good practice to keep in mind is that you want to pre-tin

That's a key point from Senkat there.
* Pre-tin the wires
* Clean the tip
* And I like to load the tip with just a little solder too. Just before your ready to solder to the pin.
Jay[/quote]
+1 and use a little flux.

 

[chido]

I don't think it's really that complicated, the first time I soldered wires and a capacitor to a diode was the first time I ever soldered anything.
I used my home made helping hands, (they suck but they're better than nothing, I'll post a pic later so you can all get a good laugh at what they look like) ;D then I placed the diode inside an aixiz module on one of the clips, (never solder leads to a diode unless it's in some kind of heatsink) placed one wire and a capacitor on the other clip and then I lined them up. I put a little bit of rosin core solder on my soldering iron and placed it right under where the wire and capacitor met one of the pins of the diode, then I placed solder on the top of the connection while I had the iron on the bottom. The solder flowed all over the connection and ended up looking very shiny and clean. I then waited 2 minutes for the LD to cool down and I did the other pin. The diode saw no more than 5 seconds of heat. (but it died after 30 min of on time since it was one of the bad SenKat diodes)
My short open can diode saw way more than 5 seconds (probably like 30) of heat since the pins were really small and I had a little bit of trouble soldering the leads and the capacitor to it. But up until now it seems to be working fine, it has a total of 8 hours and 2 minutes of on time being driven at 200mA.

 

[cbrian4]

I don't think it's really that complicated, the first time I soldered wires and a capacitor to a diode was the first time I ever soldered anything.
I used my home made helping hands, (they suck but they're better than nothing, I'll post a pic later so you can all get a good laugh at what they look like) ;D then I placed the diode inside an aixiz module on one of the clips, (never solder leads to a diode unless it's in some kind of heatsink) placed one wire and a capacitor on the other clip and then I lined them up. I put a little bit of rosin core solder on my soldering iron and placed it right under where the wire and capacitor met one of the pins of the diode, then I placed solder on the top of the connection while I had the iron on the bottom. The solder flowed all over the connection and ended up looking very shiny and clean. I then waited 2 minutes for the LD to cool down and I did the other pin. The diode saw no more than 5 seconds of heat. (but it died after 30 min of on time since it was one of the bad SenKat diodes)
My short open can diode saw way more than 5 seconds (probably like 30) of heat since the pins were really small and I had a little bit of trouble soldering the leads and the capacitor to it. But up until now it seems to be working fine, it has a total of 8 hours and 2 minutes of on time being driven at 200mA.

Yeah the first time i soldered anything was with my laser diode. When i saw how small and close the pins were together i thought i was in trouble. I guess you really don't realize how small they are until you see one in person. Anyways all went well due to lots of research (badgering kenom) i was even barefoot on concrete to make SURE i was grounded. I still have yet to kill a diode! I hope i didn't jynx it.

 

[SenKat_Stonetek]

[quote author=chido link=1210193037/0#10 date=1210277510]I don't think it's really that complicated, the first time I soldered wires and a capacitor to a diode was the first time I ever soldered anything.
I used my home made helping hands, (they suck but they're better than nothing, I'll post a pic later so you can all get a good laugh at what they look like) ;D then I placed the diode inside an aixiz module on one of the clips, (never solder leads to a diode unless it's in some kind of heatsink) placed one wire and a capacitor on the other clip and then I lined them up. I put a little bit of rosin core solder on my soldering iron and placed it right under where the wire and capacitor met one of the pins of the diode, then I placed solder on the top of the connection while I had the iron on the bottom. The solder flowed all over the connection and ended up looking very shiny and clean. I then waited 2 minutes for the LD to cool down and I did the other pin. The diode saw no more than 5 seconds of heat. (but it died after 30 min of on time since it was one of the bad SenKat diodes)
My short open can diode saw way more than 5 seconds (probably like 30) of heat since the pins were really small and I had a little bit of trouble soldering the leads and the capacitor to it. But up until now it seems to be working fine, it has a total of 8 hours and 2 minutes of on time being driven at 200mA.

Yeah the first time i soldered anything was with my laser diode. When i saw how small and close the pins were together i thought i was in trouble. I guess you really don't realize how small they are until you see one in person. Anyways all went well due to lots of research (badgering kenom) i was even barefoot on concrete to make SURE i was grounded. I still have yet to kill a diode! I hope i didn't jynx it.[/quote]


Barefoot on concrete is a MUCH better image than trying to picture Hemlock Mike soldering naked (HEHEHEHEHEHE !) to be super safe..... I would worry about solder dripping off the end of the iron if I were him....LOL ! <Just kidding, Mike...I think you had posted something in the past about ESD safe soldering >

 

[Ace82]

Soldering tips don't last forever, but if you keep them clean and don't just have your iron on for long amounts of time when unused, they will last longer. You might need to buy a new tip. Solder should liquidity immediately (given a reasonable temp) as long as the heat transfers efficiently from the tip to the solder. If you find you need to hold it for more then approx. 2 seconds, then the heat isn't delivering properly. LD's are very fragile and very sensitive, so you want to connect the wires and solder as quick as possible and do not hold it longer then 2 secs. Also, if I miss, I wait a minute for cooling before I try again.

 

[pwnstar]

do the soldering after its in the aixiz houseing. thats will do some good heatsinking.

 

[toked323]

I found it easiest to dip the wire/ pin in flux(not the diode) then put solder on them. Then put some flux on the diode leg and heat the solder on the wire and it will flow smoothly to it