Is My Diode Becoming Too Hot? Troubleshooting Advice Needed

Join the discussion
Registration is free. Ask a follow-up in this thread, or start your own.
Sign up Log in
4 replies · 14K views
ramonegumpert
Messages
187
Reaction score
0
Dear Experts,o:)

I have recently soldered some diodes to maintain a constant voltage. This i learned from this nice forum.

But when using it, the diode can become quite warm.

My doubt is, when diodes become warm to touch, like about 60 degrees celsius , is it something wrong with the diode?

I am not sure what kind of diode i am using but it has some aphabets and numbers on it which reads
"CT" and
"2 A 0 5"

I suspect it means 2 Amps diode.

The load does not drawing much current at about 162mA.

Someone told me that if your diode is hot, something is wrong.
I wonder is this true?


sincerely
Ramone :)
 

Discussion

Engineering news on Phys.org
Diodes can stand more heat than your fingers can. If you can't hold it for more than 5 seconds, it is getting too hot.
If it stops being a diode and conducts equally in each direction, then it is faulty.

The power dissipated in a diode depends on the current and voltage. The voltage is about 1 volt for a diode carrying high current.
Yours isn't really carrying high current so it shouldn't get very hot.

Silicon diodes do get hot if they are carrying high frequency current. If this was the case, you might need Schottky diodes.
 
You seem to be describing a very simple shunt regulator and I assume you are using the diodes to provide bias for something.
If the circuit that you are using involves a resistor R from Vss in series with the diodes (forward biased), then the maximum power that the diode will dissipate is
Vd X (Vss - Vd)/R where R is the series resistor value. How much current does the circuit need? If the diodes are getting too hot, you may just be passing more current down this bias chain than is needed. Increase the pullup R value to something more sensible (if this circuit involves milliAmp circuit currents, then you don't need many mA down your bias chain) or use another biasing method - an emitter follower or something.
 
Using diodes for voltage regulation is a not a very good selection. You might consider using fixed voltage regulator IC's like 7805 (A 3-terminal device with 5 volts output), 7809 etc or LM17.