Not me, the beasty I made is the LED abuser. Well, maybe me, too. See the photo. I had this high voltage transformer I got a few years ago, and I hooked up a power transistor (2SC2334) to the center tapped winding just like a Joule Thief. The resistor is 180 ohms wire wound. It draws 1.2 amps at about 4V (the power supply won’t go higher, it current limits a t 1.2A max). As can be seen it puts out a nice 1/4″ (6mm) arc. It makes some ozone smell, too.
I got a bag of Agilent (HP) HLMP-3401 yellow (amber) LEDs from Goldmine-elec.com for cheap, and I thought that being they’re a brand name, they would put out a decent amount of light. Well, they don’t, they’re only bright enough for indicators (See note below). They make okay light sensors, though. So I thought that`since I had so many, I would try to burn one out with my LED abuser / arc maker.
I held the LED with a pair of well insulated long nose pliers and put it up to the arc, and watched as the arc jumped between the LED leads. The LED was slightly flickering, so I turned it around and let the arc go through it in the opposite direction. COOL! I now have a fried LED!
But why was it flickering as the arc was going through it? I connected it up to the power supply and… It lit up, just like normal. Huh?? It should have been fried by now! So I repeated the arcing and then tested the LED on the PS and it lit up, just like normal!
Weird! I have an LED that can handle several tens of thousands of volts without even a bit of damage. It has withstood the ultimate test! Like Dr. Frankenstein said, “It’s ALIVE! ALIVE!”
…But I probably shouldn’t put this one back in the bag with the rest…
Back to zapping…
Note: I found another use for these amber LEDs. They work good for protecting the base to emitter junction against excessive voltage. I soldered two of them in series and put them between the base and emitter of a JT transistor, with the cathode connected to the base. When the base voltage gets to negative 5 or 6 volts, the LEDs light up and absorb the excess voltage.
