Test it with an ohmmeter. You should have zero or little resistance passing through the diode in one direction. Reverse the ohmmeter cables and you should get infinite or really high resistance. Test with no other wires connected to the diode. Diodes allow electricity to flow in one direction. A Zenor diode allows electricity to flow through it in the direction that it couldn't before when a preset voltage (12v) is reached and there is a voltage drop across the diode. The amount it's dropped depends on how the diode was designed.