Which diode is this?

[Kryczeck]

Hi All,

I was rummaging through a closet and came across an old (I think) DVD combo drive (LG GCC-4522B 52xCDR, 16xDVDR, 52xCDW), so I decided to harvest the diode from it. However, I have no clue which diode it is and what the specs are for it.

I'm pretty sure you all do...so any help here would be appreciated.

I did search several times here and found quite a few similar posts and questions, but none looked or sounded like mine.

I've attached some pics as well.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

 

[nosebleedXD]

erhh its a really weak diode, you can practice soldering with it, i wouldn't bother building a laser out of it tho

 

[blu-ray laser]

maybe you could test it with a driver on a bread board, just start from the lowest current and turn slowly up on the pot. until it turns brightest...

unless its IR...

 

[Prototype]

I believe it is a 16x red diode.

 

[blu-ray laser]

I believe it is a 16x red diode.

that makes sense.:banghead:

 

[Kryczeck]

Bummer... Ok, thanks. I guess I'll keep looking through some more closets

 

[Gryphon]

Your first post says it came from a drive with a 16X dvd writer in it, the diode could be a
decent high powered red. Check the sled for any other diodes, including the flat plastic
kind, if you find any other diodes in that sled post a pic of them, we should be able to
determine what is what.

 

[Tech_Junkie]

I guess I'll keep looking through some more closets

Be careful, you might find Rangedunits in one of them. :crackup:

 

[Kryczeck]

Your first post says it came from a drive with a 16X dvd writer in it, the diode could be a
decent high powered red. Check the sled for any other diodes, including the flat plastic
kind, if you find any other diodes in that sled post a pic of them, we should be able to
determine what is what.

Hmmm, well ok... I hope I didn't damage it then when I threw it in the trash...just dug it out.

It's interesting you mentioned the "flat" diode...because there is a piece on the side of sled that looks very much like a diode:heatsink pair...it was screwed on and glued much the same way the other diode was, but since it didn't look like a "can", I just ignored it.

I've tried to show this in the pictures here... You can see the "flap" contains a flat circuit, which overlays a hole in what I'm calling the heatsink...which then passes through yet another hole in the sled.

Hopefully the pictures are good enough.

So what do you think? And if this is a high power diode, what are the pinouts?

Thanks again for all you do!

 

[ZRTMWA]

I can't tell from the pics but if it is a diode it's just a "reader", not a burner, which means it'll be less than 5mW. It'll probably also be infrared although I guess it could be red.

 

[Meatball]

a 16 DVD writer diode can pump out a solid 200mws! That's a GREAT diode to experiment with!

Many members here don't remember when the 16X diodes were the big thing!

 

[Kryczeck]

I can't tell from the pics but if it is a diode it's just a "reader", not a burner, which means it'll be less than 5mW. It'll probably also be infrared although I guess it could be red.

Yes, but what about the diode shown in the OP? That's really what I'm interested in knowing about. I had thrown it away due to earlier comments, but now I'm curious again due to more recent comments...but as I said, I hope I didn't damage it if it is a "usable" red.

Thanks.

 

[BShanahan14rulz]

Probably just a phototransistor array. If it looks like it's 3D, meaning not all just one chip in there, then it may have an integrated low-power laser diode as well.

You already took that other board out with the 3-pin component and the black and white component, right?

 

[ZRTMWA]

Yes, but what about the diode shown in the OP? That's really what I'm interested in knowing about. I had thrown it away due to earlier comments, but now I'm curious again due to more recent comments...but as I said, I hope I didn't damage it if it is a "usable" red.

Thanks.

It what everyone else said, a 16x DVD burner diode. It should be about 200mW. Usually the higher the write speed of the DVD burner, the higher powered the diode is. Check out the "Diode Compilation thread". I would run it at 250mA. Here's the pinout taken straight from the DC Thread:

For more info search "16x DVD burner" in LPF's Google search box.

 

[Kryczeck]

Thanks all! I think I'll continue looking into this diode (if it's still usable)....and thanks ZRTMWA for the pinout diagram and other thread info...will check it out.

However, I hate to derail my own thread...but life just keeps getting stranger... I found yet another DVD writer (yes, I have lots of old computer equip. given what I do). Only this one has no manufacturer info on it anywhere, so I can't be sure what it is. So... I removed the sled and this is where things got strange (for me anyways).

Apparently there are 2 (maybe 3) diodes on this thing, one is in a much larger heatsink than the other, but both have what appear to be some kind of lens glued right on the can. The diode with the smaller heatsink has a much larger lens than the one in the larger heatsink (if that means anything)... Anyways, I found this interesting and am wondering if you guys have seen this before, and if so, what is this thing? IR ? :wtf:

See pics.

Thanks again.

 

[Gryphon]

Its not uncommon to get diodes with a small lense or prisim of some kind glued or stuck
right on the front of the diode or have it attached to the front of the diodes small
heatsink. The small optic should come off fairly easily.

Desolder each diode and hook them up like its shown in ZRTMWA's post above and dump
250mA into each of them. If it came from a drive that can write DVDs one will be a
high powered red and the other will be a moderately high powered ir. The red should
come produce a brilliant amount of red light while the IR will simply pop under the
current.

Do the same thing with the diode you threw away in the OP, you should not give up on
a diode with out testing it out first.