Atmega328, Question about components to use for a 12v blower(fan)

Using Arduino General Electronics
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Hi, I have a question about a setup im having problems with.

Here is the setup I have a bfb1012hh blower connected to the Atmega328. From pin5 to a 1k resistor>Irl501>22uf>12v>1n4001>Blower. The link is a pic of the scemantic used. ImageShack - Best place for all of your image hosting and image sharing needs the picture does not show the 1k resistor between the AtMega328 and the IRL501
The problem is that im using a bigger blower then what was suppost to have. The Atmega will lockup and needs to be reset, I believe when the is turning on or off and also when the IRL501 gets hot, which means I could probably add a heatsink to it and that could solve my problem.

But, I would like to know the solution. Would there be a better setup to do this. It works just fine with a smaller 6.7cfm 12v blower. but the 1012hh is a 34cfm max blower. From another forum someone said maybe adding a transistor before the mosfet, but he had not done that before and was not sure about how to go about doing so

Any help with this I would be very greatfull

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Any help with this I would be very greatfull

Your problem most likely stems from the IRL510 mosfet NOT being a logic level mosfet, needs more then +5vdc that the arduino output pin supplies to fully turn on the mosfet. Because it's not fully turned on it has a resistance causing voltage drop across the mosfet which results in lots of heat.

Look for mosfets that are designed to allow full rated current flow at logic level voltages. Here is one example and it's data sheet.

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Thanks, will give this a try.

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  1. I could not get a RFP30N06LE from a local vender, so I went with a NTE2985(expensive crap, lol). But, its a logic level mosfet and seems to be doing the job. I have not had any lock ups, since this afternoon, Thanks for the help