IRF740 MOSFET

So what's the resistor for?

Also, how do you get 10Volts to turn it on. The datasheet shows:

VGS(th) Gate Threshold
Voltage
VDS = VGS ID = 250 mA 2 3 4 V (3 volts typical)

Am I missing something or is this the wrong spec point?

Thanks

cosmos275:
So what's the resistor for?

A mosfet gate is like a large capacitor that has to charge up or discharge when first going from off to on and on to off, this draws high current for a moment and may stress the output pin current limit for the arduino output pin. Once the mosfet is fully on or off no gate current flows. So it's an arduino output pin protection thingee.

Also, how do you get 10Volts to turn it on. The datasheet shows:

VGS(th) Gate Threshold
Voltage
VDS = VGS ID = 250 mA 2 3 4 V (3 volts typical)

Am I missing something or is this the wrong spec point?

Wrong spec to look at. Gate threshold is the voltage that the mosfet will just start to conduct current, perhaps just uamps. You need to look at the graph named "Output Characteristics" that plots current flow Vs gate voltage and you can see the almost no current flows with just 5vdc on the gate.

Also look where they define what voltage is required for the best (minimum) Ron resistance:

RDS(on) Static Drain-source On Resistance VGS = 10V ID = 5.3 A 0.48 0.55 ?

A 'logic level' mosfet is required if one wants direct control from an arduino output pin.
Lefty

Thanks

[/quote]

So what's the resistor for?

So you can blow up your mosfet in fast switching.

As to whether it is the right mosfet, it depends on the current you are trying to switch and how you are trying to switch it.

Thanks for the help guys!

No 400V MOSFET is going to be anything but a very poor performer at low voltage. For your purposes a 55V
automotive logic-level MOSFET would be a good choice, STD30NF06L, STB40NF10L, IRLZ34N - that sort of
spec is more like it.

For switching purpose the threshold voltage is never worth considering, you must always checkout
Rds(on) at the Vgs you are intending to use. If you want to use 5V gate drive and the datasheet
only shows Rds(on) for Vgs=10V, its not likely to be logic-level compatible.

Fair enough. I thought the high voltage would make it more "robust" :slight_smile: Apparently, they're not all the same. Got a correct one on order. Thanks for the help all.

Happy Holidays!

So, I'm seeing a fair amount of circuits drawn with a resistor parallel with the gate to ground, such that there is a direct connection from the output pin of the arduino to the gate, with the resistor going from this wire to ground. Does this achieve the same effect? I was planning to go from the output pin to the resistor to the gate like suggested (in series). Any thoughts?

Here's where I'm seeing the other way:

http://bildr.org/2012/03/rfp30n06le-arduino/

Thanks

I think the gate-to-ground resistor is there to pull the gate low and keep it there unless something drives it high on purpose, to prevent accidental or unwanted switching. Could be wrong... but I seem to recall that's what it does.

BulletMagnet83:
I think the gate-to-ground resistor is there to pull the gate low and keep it there unless something drives it high on purpose, to prevent accidental or unwanted switching. Could be wrong... but I seem to recall that's what it does.

Yes, to insure cases where an arduino wired to the gate is powered down but the drain circuit of the mosfet is being powered from a different voltage source and is still powered up. This will insure the mosfet is forced off in that case.

Lefty

retrolefty:
Wiring is pretty much as you stated, except most recommend a series 100-150 ohm series resistor between that arduion output pin and the gate terminal. Also you need a common ground wire run between the 24 volt negative terminal to the mosfet source terminal and then on to a arduino ground wire.

Lefty

Why do you say that? No resistor is needed between an Arduino port and the gate of a MOSFET. Sure the Miller effect makes the gate look like a sizable capacitor of several hundred picofarads, but the current spike required to charge or discharge that capacitor lasts for so short a time that the Rds of the MOSFET drivers in the AVR chip will limit the current.

MOSFETS and any other solid state devices are destroyed by heat. Overloading a device causes it to get hot and fail. The momentary overcurrent that the drivers will see (driving the MOSFET gate) is so short that the drivers will not even get warm.

No resistor is needed and indeed using a resistor just slows down the switching time of the MOSFET and makes it dissipate more power (because it stays in the linear region longer).

A true MOSFET driver circuit is usually a high current, low output impedance circuit meant to hammer the gate HARD to a logic one or zero... the idea being to minimize switching time and therefore minimize power losses.

That is why I stated

except most recommend

This is a pretty controversial topic (gate resistor or no for mosfets) around these parts and both parties make a decent case for their point of view. I have mostly not used a series base resistor when driving mosfets with arduino output pins, but then I'm a quick and lazy type that just wants to get some electrons flowing. I'm of the belief that the AVR output pins are pretty husky devices that can take some abuse. But then again I just build hobby projects not selling commercial offerings, so long term reliability is not a high priority for me.

Lefty

Hey all,
So I got my circuit wired up and it's working.. mostly. Thanks for the help to get here.

So I have this basic circuit: http://bildr.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/rfp30n06le-arduino-motor.png
with the addition of a 24V-5V power supply, such that I power the Arduino from that and the main 24V power supply powers the motor. All the power comes then from one 24VDC wall outlet supply

The problem is the pull down resistor doesn't seem to work. If I disconnect the Arduino output (from the Gate), the motor will run, albeit at about half speed. If I tough a ground pin to the top of the resistor, it stops. I measured about 2 volts across the resistor.

So, when I connect everything and flip my 24V power switch, the motor starts turning until the Arduino is fully powered, then everything runs fine. So, I get about 1 second of motor turning I'm not asking for at startup.

Any ideas what might be going wrong. The resistor is 10k. The diode I had laying around, but I'm pretty sure it's rated for 24VDC (previous project). Soldering isn't expert quality, but thinks seem to be where they should checking continuity.

Thanks!

Found the diode, doesn't look suspect to me.

Thanks

It is a 10K? Brown Black Orange.
If you turn off the Arduino with the circuit in-tacked, what happens?
Why would you want to disconnect the controller (Arduino) from the driver with driver power still on?

For others you may want to review: http://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/transistor/tran_7.html

retrolefty:
That is why I stated

except most recommend

This is a pretty controversial topic (gate resistor or no for mosfets) around these parts and both parties make a decent case for their point of view. I have mostly not used a series base resistor when driving mosfets with arduino output pins, but then I'm a quick and lazy type that just wants to get some electrons flowing. I'm of the belief that the AVR output pins are pretty husky devices that can take some abuse. But then again I just build hobby projects not selling commercial offerings, so long term reliability is not a high priority for me.

Lefty

Well some MOSFETs are as much as 10nF equivalent input capacitance, and I've don't think I've seen a logic output claim
a max capacitive load more than a few 100pF - so a series resistor is indicated. If the gate capacitance is
smaller (say 300pF or below) then you can argue both ways - the ATmega datasheet doesn't give pin-current derating
curves for short pulses - the abs max current limit might be thermal or it might be ion-migration or both...

http://www.mouser.com/ds/2/149/FQP30N06L-112819.pdf

So, are we looking at input or output capacitance to determine the need for the series resistor? For this one, they are 800 and 270 pF repectively.

Thanks

LarryD:
It is a 10K? Brown Black Orange.
If you turn off the Arduino with the circuit in-tacked, what happens?
Why would you want to disconnect the controller (Arduino) from the driver with driver power still on?

For others you may want to review: http://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/transistor/tran_7.html

It's 10K, but what's weird is when I probe the one in the circuit it measures 1.2k

So, I'm building a machine. It has a mechanical on/off switch. The switch turns on or off the 24VDC supply to everything. When it's first turned on, the output pin apparently isn't commanded low until the Arduino is powered up, so for whatever weird reason, the motor turns and it does for the first second until the Arduino is up and running. Not the end of the world, but not ideal. I thought the whole point of the resistor was to pull down the gate. It doesn't seem to be doing so. I noticed this because I got most of the way through soldering and I wanted to test out the Mosfet, so I turned on the power before I had the Arduino wired in (gate was to the resistor then ground, so connection to output pin), that's when I noticed. Maybe the resistor is pulling down the Arduino output and not the gate and I'm misunderstanding?

Thanks!

LarryD:
If you turn off the Arduino with the circuit in-tacked, what happens?

Ok, I have 2 wires going over to the Arduino to the Vin and GND pins. When neither are plugged in, the motor turns (oddly it breifly pauses after it hits an Input_Pullup switch) and turns and turns, although not at full speed.

When I plug in both wires, the motor turns for about a second and then stops as I've described before.

When I only plug in the GND wire, it acts perfectly, no motor action whatsoever.

FWIW, I have the gate output wired to pin8, a indicator light output on pin9, input_pullup switch wired to pin 10, and another input_pullup switch wired to pin 11

Any help is appreciated, thanks!

For "POWER UP" conditions I would have the Arduino operate a relay which is picked when the program is running (needs a transistor and digtal o/p). The contacts of the Relay would be used to supply the power to the motor. This way you guarantee that the program is running before any motor operation can occur.

That puts me back where I started. I originally had a relay only controlling the motor, but I learned here on the forum that it wouldn't last because the relay was pulling too much current through the Arduino.

I think I found one however,

This one has only pulls 30mA so maybe I can just use it and ditch the Mosfet altogether. I'm trying to keep the part count down, maybe this relay is where I need to go

Thanks