If your workbench or electronics studio looks anything like mine, you've organized your components in a step-wise fashion. That is, you didn't purchase all the shelving, component compartments, drawers, boxes, pull-out bins, etc on the first day you set up shop. Instead, as your electronics component inventory grew, you expanded your existing organizational scheme piecemeal. That has worked out well for me, as I now have shelves of components and nice pull-out drawers containing my resistors, capacitors, inductors, LEDs, MCUs, linear and discrete logics, etc. The biggest drawback, though, has to be when my inventory of a particular component outgrew the others, leaving me with a cramped compartment jam-packed full of, for instance, diodes (don't even get me started on resistors).
One of the problems with my diode overflow is that some kinds of diodes are not marked, except for the cathode lead, in particular, zener diodes. These have been the bane of my existence, as if I don't mark them somehow (usually with tape and a sharpie) I will never remember or know what the zener voltage is. You see, zeners aren't color coded like resistors and inductors, they don't have helpful numbers like capacitors, and they rarely -- if ever -- have any component numbers marked on their shiny, tubular bodies.
After a few different angles of attack, I think I have found the best way to not only determine the zener's breakdown voltage of an unidentified zener independent of changes in the supply voltage, and, in the same fell stroke, am able to determine if a zener diode is fried or otherwise faulty.
If you have a box, compartment, bag, or drawer full of unidentified zeners that you haven't been able to use for sake of identification, this instructable will be right up your alley. It could easily become a standard part of your electronic testing and measurement arsenal due to its simplicity and ease of use.
Go to the next step and let's begin!
One of the problems with my diode overflow is that some kinds of diodes are not marked, except for the cathode lead, in particular, zener diodes. These have been the bane of my existence, as if I don't mark them somehow (usually with tape and a sharpie) I will never remember or know what the zener voltage is. You see, zeners aren't color coded like resistors and inductors, they don't have helpful numbers like capacitors, and they rarely -- if ever -- have any component numbers marked on their shiny, tubular bodies.
After a few different angles of attack, I think I have found the best way to not only determine the zener's breakdown voltage of an unidentified zener independent of changes in the supply voltage, and, in the same fell stroke, am able to determine if a zener diode is fried or otherwise faulty.
If you have a box, compartment, bag, or drawer full of unidentified zeners that you haven't been able to use for sake of identification, this instructable will be right up your alley. It could easily become a standard part of your electronic testing and measurement arsenal due to its simplicity and ease of use.
Go to the next step and let's begin!
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Signing UpStep 1: Zener Diodes
Background
Diodes
A diode is a two-lead semiconductor that acts as a one-way gate to electric current flow. When a diode's anode lead is made more positive in voltage than its cathode lead -- known as forward biasing -- current is permitted to flow through the device. However, if the polarities are reversed (that is, the cathode is made more positive than its anode) -- a condition known as reverse biasing -- the diode will act to block the flow of electrons.Diodes are used in circuits that convert, or rectify, AC voltage into DC voltage. They are also commonly found in voltage-multiplier circuits, voltage-shifting circuits, voltage-clamping circuits, and voltage regulator circuits. For a novel design showing what you can do with regular old diodes, check out my instructable Make a Solar Panel Using Diodes!
Characteristics
Forward Voltage (Vf): Current flows in the direction of the arrow (from anode to cathode) provided the voltage across the diode, the forward voltage, exceeds its junction threshold voltage.Junction Threshold Voltage: In many cases, the p-n junction composing the diode has a 0.6V threshold, while other special types of diodes, like germanium diodes exhibit 0.2V thresholds, and Schottky diodes often can be found with 0.4V thresholds. Don't carve these values in stone though, as production values may skew these thresholds off by upwards of a volt.
Forward Biasing: When the diode's anode is more positive in voltage than its cathode
Reversed Biasing: When the diode's anode is more negative in voltage than its cathode.
Note my hand drawings below to see this graphically represented. Keep in mind that not all diode junctions are p-n junctions, specifically Shottkys which use a metal junction.
Peak Current Rating (Iomax): Also called Max Forward Current, this is the maximum current that must flow through the diode for safety reasons, lest you burn it out.
Peak Inverse Voltage (PIV) Rating: When reverse biased and the reverse voltage is negative, this negative voltage must be less than the peak inverse voltage rating of the diode.
Kinds of Diodes
As mentioned, there are numerous types of diodes to be found and that are useful in various projects you may work on. Here are some of the top ones and a brief description of what they do.Rectifier diodes: These diodes are used to rectify (convert) AC voltage and current into DC voltage and current.
Signal/Switching diodes: Often used in circuits where small currents and high frequencies are involved, like radio and RF.
Fast recovery diodes: Ultrafast switching diodes used to conduct reactive load current and rectify AC, among other uses.
Schottky diodes: Using a metal conductor junction, these diodes have a lower Vf and are commonly found in voltage clamping and transistor saturation modulation circuits.
Germanium diodes: These have a low reverse resistance value giving a lower forward volt drop across the junction but have a higher forward resistance value because of their small junction area.
LEDs: Ah the light-emitting diode. The blinken light favorites of all of us.
Zener Diodes
Zener diodes, instead of acting like a one-way gate to current flow, act as a two-way gate for current flow. In the forward direction it's easy to break through, often 0.5 - 0.7V like a standard diode. But, in the reverse direction, current can flow but it's harder to push open. The voltage required is equal to the zener's breakdown voltage. This breakdown voltage can be anywhere from 1.8V to upwards of 200V. Power ratings vary.Characteristics
Breakdown Voltage (Vz): The voltage required to push open and flow current in the reverse direction. This is, arguably, the primary characteristic you look for in a zener diode (outside of maybe power ratings).
Zener Diode Application Examples
1. Line regulation
2. Load regulation
3. Split supply from a non-tapped transformer
4. Waveform modification and limiter
5. Voltage shifter
6. Voltage regulator booster
7. Overvoltage protection
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Often it is impractical to try to separate absolutely every value of some components so I go with the grouping strategy a lot. At least that narrows it down a lot for me the next time I need to go hunting for a part.
I had to laugh when you mentioned resistors because I spent some time last night going through a drawer of pulls here looking for a specific odd value (45K). I never did find one, but I found two that worked well in series for it (40K & 5K). As I went through the drawer I sorted each resistor to its last color band on the color chart into other drawers. Again, that helps me out looking for a specific value next time by narrowing down the potential candidates a lot.
Although I do have an entire cash register drawer dedicated to just resistors and they're individually bagged in ascending order in it. But I don't mix pulls in with those. Oh and a box of resistors on tape, and some cut and formed in bags too. They are the bulk storage, not too organized either. But I do have all the values in the box written in ascending order on the outside of it, just to see if it is worthwhile to dig through it, or not.
Then there are the power resistors where I go back to the grouping strategy. There I have <10 ohms, and everything else. Which may seem crude, but that is how I use those so it works OK for me.
$ 1 5.0E-6 10.20027730826997 57 5.0 50
a 576 240 720 240 0 15.0 -15.0 1000000.0
174 512 224 528 288 0 47000.0 0.5 Resistance
w 528 256 576 256 0
r 512 224 512 128 0 2200.0
r 512 288 512 400 0 2200.0
w 576 224 368 224 0
z 368 400 368 224 1 0.805904783 3.3
w 368 400 512 400 0
r 368 224 368 128 0 47000.0
w 368 128 512 128 0
162 720 240 720 320 1 2.1024259 1.0 0.0 0.0
r 720 320 720 400 0 1000.0
w 512 400 720 400 0
w 368 224 256 224 0
w 368 400 256 400 0
v 832 128 512 128 0 0 40.0 30.0 0.0 0.0 0.5
w 832 128 832 400 0
w 832 400 720 400 0
p 256 224 256 400 0
x 344 451 747 457 1 24 Zener Diode Tester from 741 Op Amp
o 13 64 0 35 40.0 9.765625E-5 0 -1
o 13 64 0 35 10.0 9.765625E-5 1 -1
o 13 64 0 35 10.0 9.765625E-5 2 -1
Thanks for the comment and questions. The .SCH is also for Eagle and is the schematics file while the .BRD is the board file. As for my zener tester being similar to the one you linked, they are both similar in that they use an op amp and the zener's breakdown voltage as differential input into the op amp, however, if you check the schematic image I posted, you'll find I use a dual op amp; the latter one being a buffer and sending its output to the resistive divider, as I laid out in one of my equations.
Have you tried building mine in Falstad? I'd be interested to see how it runs virtually. If not, you should have no trouble building mine on a real board.
Feel free to hit back if you run into any other questions!
Gian
At present I have only a very few zener diodes on hand. Discarding them and buying new zeners marked in a new package would cost far less that building a zener tester.
Maybe I should try Eagle. It will be a long time before my abilities require more than the Falstad applet, though.
The Eagle cad software is excellent and I can't find myself using any other schematic/PCB layout software. Now if it were only open source...haha. You're right, there is a free version but it has some slight limitations such as imposing the size of your PCB and only allowing one schematic layout sheet. The hobbyist license is affordable, however.
I tried to design the circuit around parts anyone might have lying about their shop, and in fact, I built it without buying a single component, but to satisfy my own curiosity, here's what I found out from the Bill of Material I included with the instructable. The number in parenthesis is the number you actually need while the first number is how many you're actually buying:
5(2) x LM741 PDIP (you only need two but this is cheap) $2.59 free shipping ebay
100(1) x 100 ohm resistor $0.99 free shipping ebay
50(4) x 10k ohm resistor $0.99 free shipping ebay
50(1) x 100k ohm resistor $0.99 free shipping ebay
50(2) x 6.8k ohm resistor $0.99 free shipping ebay
2(1) x 10k linear potentiometer $0.99 free shipping ebay
1 70mm x 90mm PCB $0.98 free shipping ebay
2(1) x 0.1" female pin header $0.99 free shipping ebay
I am assuming you have stuff like a soldering iron, solder, wire cutters, etc. I'd lay odds that you already have the 10k/100k/100 ohm resistors in your workshop, maybe even the trim pot and scrap PCB, but I included them just for completeness. Now, if you were to buy the above, it'll run you around $9.51 which I'll grant you is far more expensive than tossing your few unknown zeners and buying a handful of new ones. But then again, you'd have 99 extra 100 ohm, 49 100k, 46 10k ohm resistors, 48 6.8k, 1 10k trim pot, two virtually untouched pin headers..oh, and 3 shiny, new LM741 op amps for you to play with (you can really use any op amp in this design so long as your lowest rail potential is ground). So really, if you actually didn't have these parts, you'd be picking up a nice stack of very commonly used values of resistors, anyway.
All the same, I appreciate you having a look at my project and offering your feedback, especially a pro like you with over 200+ instructables under your belt! After all, its through participation like yours that I'm able to take another look at my designs and possibly improve on them based on collective feedback.
I would support you in giving Eagle a try. It has a slight learning curve at first, but once you learn the handful of keymappings you'll be laying out circuits as fast as you can come up with designs.
Thanks again for your comments, Phil!
Gian