I’ve been messing around with some electronics stuff lately, and today I want to talk about MOSFET circuits. I’m not a pro or anything, but I think I’ve got the hang of it enough to share what I did. So, let’s get started.
Get Everything Ready
First, I gathered all the stuff I needed. This included a breadboard, some jumper wires, a MOSFET, resistors, an LED, and a power supply. I made sure I had the right MOSFET for what I wanted to do. There are different types, you know, like N-channel and P-channel. You gotta pick the right one based on how you want your circuit to act.
Set Up the Circuit
Next, I put the MOSFET on the breadboard. I connected the source pin to the ground of my power supply. I then took a resistor and connected it from the drain pin to the positive side of an LED. Then, I connected the negative side of the LED to the ground, completing the circuit. Oh, and I also put a resistor between the gate pin and the ground, just to make sure the gate didn’t get messed up by any floating voltage.
Apply Power
With everything connected, I turned on my power supply. I set the voltage to something safe, just to start with. Then, I used another jumper wire to connect the gate pin to the positive side of the power supply, I then disconnected the power supply from the gate pin.
Test and Observe
Here comes the fun part. I used a multimeter to check the voltage between the source and drain pins. When I gave the gate some voltage, the voltage between the source and drain pins should jump up. It was pretty close to the power supply voltage, which meant the MOSFET was on and letting current through. After I removed the voltage from the gate pin, I tested again. The voltage between the source and drain should be close to nothing, meaning the MOSFET was off.
What I Learned
- When the MOSFET is on, the LED should light up.
- When the MOSFET is off, the LED should be off.
It was really satisfying to see it all work. It’s like, you put these little parts together in a certain way, and you can control something like an LED. I played around with different resistor values and voltages, just to see what would happen. It’s pretty cool how changing one thing can affect the whole circuit.
So, that’s basically what I did with a MOSFET circuit today. It was a good learning experience. If you’re into electronics, I definitely recommend giving this a try. It’s a simple project, but you learn a lot about how these components work together.