one thing isolating the diodes protects from static from my fingers when touching the base. means i can add all the mirror mounts and optics etc... with worring about static
one thing isolating the diodes protects from static from my fingers when touching the base. means i can add all the mirror mounts and optics etc... with worring about static
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I will chime in and add that although it is good practice to ground the various parts, as stated above, a simple static discharge when touching your case sends literally thousands of volts through that entire structure. If you think about the distances involved, your extremely sensitive diodes are within inches of the source of discharge while the grounding (contact with the ground electrically) is many meters/feet away. Even at the speed of light (the speed of electricity) there is no way of keeping the diodes from experiencing the voltage before it has time to be "drained away" by grounding.
The safest way of wiring is to keep all your signal/power paths isolated from your protection(ground) until a proven protected contact point is made. (In audio terms you keep all your low power signals isolated from all grounding to prevent the all too common 60Hz hum from working it's way into your signals. The same principal in a slightly different format.)
Hope that helps.
I guess when it comes to grounding... you have to do whatever makes you feel comfortable. The thin insulation between the diode block and the base will have a low breakdown voltage (compared to a static strike). So, basically it worthless to have it there for static protection. In my opinion it actually makes it worse because of the higher resistance and inductance of the lead going from the diode to the driver then from driver to the power supply. If the whole projector has poor grounding structure then it may actually help with ground loops(as related to audio like stated above).
For the best security against static discharge I keep a rabbits foot in my projector
Andy,
do you have a link to those heatsink pads you mentioned?
i normally just use something like this
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Thermal-Ad...item1c194782e6
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Why do you think these are electrically isolated
Cheers
Looks very similar to the silcone pads I use which are electrically isolated.
Except it's made from Aly
Are the silicon pads you use "sticky" like these ones
Cheers
Last edited by catalanjo; 08-10-2011 at 15:51. Reason: sticky silicon pads ?