> If they're glowing you have an leaky soldering iron. > Or some other source of stray current. It's a 25W Antex with an earth-grounded barrel. Here's something interesting. When cold, a meter between barrel and earth pin measures 0.4R, as you'd expect. When hot, it measures either 8R or, if you have the meter leads the other way around, -8R. -8R ??? Meter leads acting as a thermopile ? Could some thermo-electric effect be why the LED glows ? I mean, it's not a big glow, hardly post-coital, but looking down the lens, what was once dark is now light > No wonder you kept blowing chips with what you thought > was static . Hmmm, well there is a lot of static around here on occassions. Here's a handy babysitting tip - rub those littlies on a wool sweater and they'll just stick right up there on the wall for hours -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist