I'm trying to find a way to light an electric match using the five volt pin and an N-Channel mosfet on an Arduino Mega. With the mosfet I can switch on and off 5 volts to a circuit (according to my multimeter), but when I attach that to my electric match nothing happens. If I look at the voltage with the electric match attached it is practically zero. I'm not sure why this is, but my best guess is that the Arduino is regulating the voltage because it thinks that I am shorting ground and power together. Is there any way around this? Thanks!
Get a bigger power supply, these things can take up to 2A or more to light. Your supply can't cope with the current.
Also make sure you have a logic level type FET.
Is that voltage enough for your matches?
I've checked, and I can light the match with the five volts from the Arduino, so that's probably not it.
Post a wiring diagram. How much current is required to light? Which MOSFET?
I'm using the IRF520 Mosfet Transistor. According to the supplier, the electric matches can be lit with only 0.4 amps.
That's way in excess of what you should draw from the 5V pin on an Arduino.
Also your irf520 isnt very useful here as it requires >10V to turn fully on.
That is not a logic level FET and will take a 10V signal to turn it on. An Arduino is 5V only.
There is no "only" about it that is way more than you can get from the 5V rail od an Arduino.
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