Spheric Diode Unknown

[alex frias]

Does anybody know this diode part number or any other info? They are being sold as Ge ones...

[Mark F]

I've seen diodes that look like those on some old PCB's and they were just regular old silicon diodes. If you have one measure it with your DMM. Someone on this board asked about these a while ago and the general concensus was that they were silicon diodes equivalent to 1n4001.

[R.G.]

They're silicon power diodes, maybe 1A or 3A rating.

They're right about how to tell: silicon has a forward drop of 0.5 to 0.7V, germanium has a drop of 0.2 to 0.3. It's not easy to mix up.

It is just barely possible that someone, somewhere packaged germanium that way - but I've never seen it, and I have a 40 year history of trying to find out what part is what. The measurement is a certain test.