Jeeze, almost an entire month gone by, and nothing new from me?

Well, almost … I did finally fill in the [Image Missing] place holders in my pcb fab article.

I’ve been doing a little tinkering, but also working outside … spring time has arrived for my little microcosm and the outdoors needs tending to. I’ve also been having a bit of a mole problem, so lots of time has been wasted trying to deal with them.

I have been in the lab a little, working on a few projects, and burning out parts … I burned my last ‘free’ tps61040 boost regulator, so rather than ask TI for more freebies, I’ll buy some this time, luckily they’re not too expensive. Also I managed to bust a red Luxeon III Star. I had two of them wired in series and hooked ’em to a 12v supply, without any manner of current limiting … needless to say, it was bright for an instant and then dark. Luckily only one star was killed, the other lives on. Here’s a few post mortem pictures, I removed the little lens, which really was filled with silicone goo just like Lumileds claims!

You can see a little bit of the goo remaining on the heatsink structure, as well as the fine gold bond wires and fine grid used to power the die.

Here’s a bit of a closer view.

This die still works… when I poke at it with the leads of a 3v battery pack, it lights up blindingly bright… wonder how long it will survive before oxygen or something else kills it?