IN34NA Cathode

[Ctrl4Smilerz]

I got these diodes from StompBoxParts for a AionFX Refractor (Klone) build. The website says"Cathode bands may be either blue or blue/red" which is unclear. The red band appears to be under the glass and the blue/grey band on the surface so I'm inclined to go with the Gray/Blue bands, but I don't want ruin them. What do you guys think?

 

[Dan M]

D1 and D2 are back to back pairs. So it will work if both are pointed correctly or both are pointed incorrectly. So if you align “grey” with the cathode of D1, do the same thing for D2.

If you have a multimeter with a diode test you could check them to see which way they flow.

 

[StompBoxParts]

On these 1n34a's, the blue band side is the cathode side. That is a wider than normal red band, sorry about the confusion.

On any germanium diode, the cathode side has the germanium pellet (the metal ball/disk inside the glass), circled on a few examples below. If you can see the pellet in the glass, that's the best way to identify the cathode. Most Russian germanium diodes mark the anode side, making the cathode band "standard" somewhat confusing at times.