1n34a Germanium Diode finally found!!

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Finally found some 1n34a and one of my new favorite sites!!

http://www.bgmicro.com/1n34a-germanium-diode.aspx

 

[Michael Black]

Finally found some 1n34a and one of my new favorite sites!!

Not many people here are repairing things that need germanium
semiconudctors.

You do realize that while the 1N34 was an early diode that somehow made it
into hobby circles, for most of the decades since it's merely been used to
indicate "small signal germanium diode". There isnt' a lot unique to it,
and since most of the articles specified "1N34", the outlets needed to
indicate that they had it, or a reasonable facsimile. For that matter,
after a while, "1N34" became shorthand in the articles for "small signal
germanium diode". You needed that low forward voltage drop, and beyond
that, most of the time nothing else mattered.

My stash of germainum diodes are mostly unmarked. I have no idea what
they are, and it really doesn't matter. If I need one, one will likely
work as well as another.

"!n34" is like "365pf variable capacitors" or "am loopsticks" or a lot of
common transistors. They define a part, rather than a specific part.

Michael

 

[JW]

I found my 1N5819s!!!
I searched hi and low for these quite some time ago. I could find only
minimum order 100.

You sure you looked hard enough?
http://www.findchips.com/avail?part=1N5819

They're everywhere!

 

[Michael Black]

Their minimum order was 2000!!

But the price goes down the more you buy.

It's a tradeoff. You can buy resistors at Radio Shack and pay quite a bit
for a package of a few, or you can mail order and get a whole lot more for
the same price. Unless you abandon electronics next week, you will make
use of those extra resistors.

The cost of handling a few components drives up the cost, a willingness to
buy more of the same component lowers it. Somewhere in between, the
priceis probably the same when you buy a few, or a lot.

Diodes might not be the same, but you can always give them away. You
won't be stuck with having to order them again. Or just think of it as
paying outrageous prices for a few diodes, and then having lots of
leftovers.

Michael

 

[Geoffrey S. Mendelson]

Diodes might not be the same, but you can always give them away. You
won't be stuck with having to order them again. Or just think of it as
paying outrageous prices for a few diodes, and then having lots of
leftovers.

But what do you do if you get Chinese 1N60 type diodes which are made with
silicon.

That's the problem with buying from eBay, what happens if you buy them
from this company?

Geoff.

 

[JW]

Their minimum order was 2000!!

Which distributor are you talking about? Both Mouser and Digikey have
stock and you can buy one piece for about 50 cents.

 

[Michael Black]

But what do you do if you get Chinese 1N60 type diodes which are made with
silicon.

That's a separate issue.

Yes, the problem with Ebay is people treat it like a single entity, "Ebay"
rather than a platform for individuals and companies to sell their stuff.
For some reason people are willing to buy things from strangers when in
the past they would't or at least would give it a lot of thought.

About a decade ago, I was scrapping boards, and found a lot more germanium
small signal diodes than I expected. They were larger than silicon small
signal diodes have become. An older solid state radio, with the germanium
diodes in the discriminator kind of made sense, but I found more than
that, though I can't remember what sort of boards. I was surprised, I
figured I wouldn't find much and not in more recent boards. "Lot" is
relative, but unless manufacturing, one doesn't need that many germanium
small signal diodes. Now I wonder where I put those diodes?

Michael

That's the problem with buying from eBay,

what happens if you buy them > from this company?