PC Fan Generator

[jadaro2600]

interesting.  It seems you ma be generating a low enough vollage to use the diode you purchased without much fuss.

There are also other properties of diodes, max reverse voltage is different from continuous reverse voltage and peak reverse voltage ..etc.  You may be able to exceed this if the current on that voltage is low ..  in other words, so long as your diode is running cool, everything should be fine ..you may be able to throw a thousand volts at it and not damage it or impede its performance ( correct load across the bridge, etc ).

Some of the cheaper components perform admirably better than their stated properties.. after all, they do go into millions of different devices.

I'm not quite clear if you have a bridge off your coil or not ...  if you're having trouble, just reverse the polarity of the diode or flip the coil around and see what happens at the meter.

[geotron]

Well, I've recieved the Toshiba diodes, and honestly I can't
imagine them being any smaller. They're in a roll, and measure
approximately 2mm from end to end, including the metal leads.

I've done a lot of welding in the past, and have experience
soldering together LEDs, but these diodes are tiny... very
small, so I may have to find a different source.

I'll sharpen my soldering iron, and hope that the roll of
solder I've got isn't too big in diameter.

Anyone have any solding tips on these? They look like
they were meant to be used by a machine designed for the
sole purpose of connecting together itty-bitty parts.

[geotron]

It took a couple of tries, but I finally got resistance
on one of them. Its the one superglued to the cardboard
on the bottom.

I first glued it in place, then wrapped the wires and
gave it a second coat.

I'll slice it out and solder it into place a little later,
then recheck the continuity.

[jadaro2600]

Well, I've recieved the Toshiba diodes, and honestly I can't
imagine them being any smaller. They're in a roll, and measure
approximately 2mm from end to end, including the metal leads.

I've done a lot of welding in the past, and have experience
soldering together LEDs, but these diodes are tiny... very
small, so I may have to find a different source.

I'll sharpen my soldering iron, and hope that the roll of
solder I've got isn't too big in diameter.

Anyone have any solding tips on these? They look like
they were meant to be used by a machine designed for the
sole purpose of connecting together itty-bitty parts.

Well, you could do two things, get a piece of copper foil, and place the diode on it, heat it up from below and then touch the solder to the lead end above the heated area on the copper, then use an exacto knife to separate the foil between into two sections.

Or you could use the same technique with wire, and coil a length of it several time around the diode to hold it in the air stead, then solder both sides and then cut the cross linking to create the leads.

I think the foil idea may work better, if you have a steady way to hold either of them, heating the wire to be attached to a glow and bringing it together with the solder quickly may be your best option for this tiny size.


One hot wire, the solder and the lead all come together at once, basically.

If you have a blow torch, you could get a hook chape on one end, wrap a tiny amount of solder on it, and then heat this up to a glow, ..the would create a dropplet of solder on the hook end, just bring that into contact with the short lead.

time will be of the essence though.

[geotron]

Ok - the circuit is in place, and there is a definite
continuity...

...still not collecting a charge though. I've tried
multiple positions holding it as close as possible to
the spinning magnets, and not even a whisper of a
change on my meter.

I've got the alternating N-S pole magnets on a spinning
DVD, which I tried as well without success.

Could the problem lie in my coil? I gave it quite a few
turns, and its a fairly thin guage. It seems like even
a small coil would be generating at least something.

I must be going about some aspect of this the wrong way.
Either that, or I fried the diode in the process of soldering it... ?