fake 1n34 or peak dca55 weird reading?

[DiggyFresh]

Hi all, 
I bought a small batch of 1n34 germanium diodes from a guy in Canada from ebay. (later to be found he's a chinese parts reseller...).

When i measure them with my Peak atlas dca-55 transistor tester they all measured between 0.55v- 0.67v voltage drop.  So i thought they where in fact silicon, but when i measure them with my normal multimeter, they measure like normal germanium diodes (0.22v-0.34v...) . 

So im kinda lost, i read somewhere some poeple where having strange readings from the dca55 with germanium diodes. 

So did any dca55 users notice that or do i have newer silicon 1n34?

Thanks

[armdnrdy]

or do i have newer silicon 1n34?

Post an image of the diodes you are testing.

[DiggyFresh]

This is the actual auction and you can see a picture of the diodes.  Glass, do7. Red band ect.

http://m.ebay.com/itm?itemId=360865125345

[Kipper4]

The listing state they are Ge
Should you find they are silicon you can always get a refund. Ebay mostly sides with the buyer in disputes.
IIRC there are several versions of the 1N34 though with differant suffixes.
google is your friend.
Also I'd check the vendors spec sheet if there is one.

Have you tried them in your circuit as yet?

[DiggyFresh]

No, not tried in circuit yet.

The main issue is why does my Peak atlas measures germanium diodes as 0.55v- 0.67v voltage drop and my dmm measures them at ~0.23v - 0.34v ? (The dmm measures normal Si diodes at ~0.6 as it should. Is it a dca55 problem?

I think i saw someone here stating the same.

I dont have any other known germanium diode to compare at the moment.

[IvIark]

Yes I get exactly the same with my Peak, it always measures much higher with germaniums than my DMM even on 100% certain ge diodes.

[DiggyFresh]

Ah! Thanks Ivlark!

Thats what i thought!

I almost left a negative feedback to the guy, good thing i checked with the dmm!

I wonder why the peak measures Gediodes wrong though?
I was trusting it more than my dmm, very strange...

I wish it was more accurate....

[nick d]

  I get the same - all my Ge diodes read much higher on the Atlas than on the DMM ,

[IvIark]

I didn't look into it too much, once I decided in my own mind that it wasn't accurate I just decided not to use it to measure them again.  Although I suppose we would be better bringing it to their attention, then we may get a firmware update

[amz-fx]

Nothing wrong here probably.

The forward voltage drop depends on the current through the diode. The dmm and Peak are likely measuring at different currents.

For example, on the datasheet of a Schottky diode that I use, the Vf is listed as:

0.25v at 0.1ma
0.30v at 1.0ma
0.40v at 10ma
0.50v at 50ma
0.75v at 200ma
0.90v at 500ma

So you could measure 0.25v with the dmm and 0.5v with the Peak (at a higher current) and both could be correct. It depends on the conditions of the test.

regards, Jack