Ok, what would a 1N5404 do? it says 2 amps and piv 400. does that mean it can handle 400 volts and its out put is 2 amps? if i does what would the dc out put voltage be if the input is 110 ac?
Back in the days before temperature controlled soldering irons, people used to wire a diode in series with one of the wires of the soldering iron element so that it ran less hot. Wasn't "half the power because it's half the cycles", but it's 0.7 of it for some reason that escapes me right now.