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N Channel MOSFET not working properly - Using Arduino _ General Electronics - Arduino Forum

A user on the Arduino Forum is experiencing issues with an N Channel MOSFET not functioning as expected, remaining on regardless of the control signal from an ATtiny85. Despite troubleshooting efforts, including testing connections and replacing components, the MOSFET continues to behave erratically, indicating potential wiring issues or component failure. Suggestions from other users include ensuring proper wiring, using a pull-down resistor, and starting with lighter loads for testing.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
14 views6 pages

N Channel MOSFET not working properly - Using Arduino _ General Electronics - Arduino Forum

A user on the Arduino Forum is experiencing issues with an N Channel MOSFET not functioning as expected, remaining on regardless of the control signal from an ATtiny85. Despite troubleshooting efforts, including testing connections and replacing components, the MOSFET continues to behave erratically, indicating potential wiring issues or component failure. Suggestions from other users include ensuring proper wiring, using a pull-down resistor, and starting with lighter loads for testing.

Uploaded by

bdaka2834
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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10/09/2024, 12:35 N Channel MOSFET not working properly - Using Arduino / General Electronics - Arduino Forum

N Channel MOSFET not working properly


SouthernAtHeart May 2018 post #1

I'm at a loss as to the problem, but I'm trying to use this SMD N channel Mosfet as a
small switch. I actually have 2 different custom boards I've made with it on, and
neither are working, So I populated on of my boards with the bare minimum to test it,
and it's not working. Seems like it's on all the time, whether I turn Digital pin 4 on or
off. Here's photos of the schematic, the board layout, and even one of the actual real
life board. I don't think I have the source/drain/gate hooked up wrong, do I?
Thanks!

PS. The board has a 5 volt regulator on it for the ATtiny85. I tested the ATtiny85 by
have it blink a different pin on and off, and watching it with my meter, and it was
working. So I know the ATtiny85 is working. But when I had it blink D4 on and off
every second, (that's that pin connected to the gate of the MOSFET), it was always on
according to my meter.

board.pdf (21.3 KB)

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system May 2018 post #2

Connections look okay buts it is a low side switch, what are you connecting as a load?
Voltage only isn’t a valid test.

SouthernAtHeart May 2018 post #3

I used a 5ohm 25watt resistor.


Ammeter showed about 2 amps current flow - all the time. Regardless of the digital
Pin state
According to the data sheet at three votes it can handle 4+ amps.
My end result will be a DC gearmotor the drawls about 300 mill amps

DVDdoug May 2018 post #4

If you've got an LED so you can see the gate is switching.... The MOSFET is backwards,
or it's shorted/blown, or it's the wrong part. I'd guess you've got the drain & source
reversed. (I didn't check the datasheet or your board layout.)

I used a 5ohm 25watt resistor.


Ammeter showed about 2 amps current flow - all the time

Next time, I'd suggest starting with a "lighter" load. Maybe an LED with a few-hundred
Ohm series resistor... Something that can't burn anything up even if it (or something
else) is wired wrong. When that works, you can add a heaver load or the actual load.
And, you can optionally leave the LED in the circuit so you can if it still works with the
real load...

SouthernAtHeart May 2018 post #5

I have the source connected to ground.


The gate connected to D4

And the drain is the ground for my motor, which is connected to 12 volt on the other
lead

Do I have the source and drain backwards?

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6v6gt Karma: 1000+ May 2018 post #6

And of course the test sketch you are using is not missing a pinMode(4, OUTPUT)
statement ?

SouthernAtHeart May 2018 post #7

No I have the pin mode set.


I’m going to try a new bare PCBoard, and only populate the MOSFET and three jumper
wires. I’ll connect the source to ground, the gate to a 5 V supply from my Uno (I’ll tie
the grounds together from My Uno and my 12 V power supply ) and the drain I’ll
connect to The ground of a small gear motor powered by 12 volts on the positive side
of the gear motor
Set a van when I connect or on connect the gate from the 5 V supply that should turn
the motor on or off right? Don’t go away I’ll try this and be back in 10 minutes!

SouthernAtHeart May 2018 post #8

Step 1. Chip is the correct chip. Markings on chip match up. I have 10 new ones.

SouthernAtHeart May 2018 post #9

No shorts on board, and wires all have continuity to the chip

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SouthernAtHeart May 2018 post #10

OK, with the bare bones test, I got it working. I discovered that if the gate is left open,
the MOSFET will kick on. It'd put off if I grounded it. But just a finger touch on the lead
would start the motor running again.
Also, a current draw of 2.1 amps (that was using a 5ohm, 25 watt power resistor as
the load), the MOSFET would slowly heat up, too hot to touch. I need to find a slightly
large package surface mount MOSFET that'll work with low voltage TTL.

tinman13kup May 2018 post #11

How are you soldering these to the board? They are very sensitive to ESD, and also
don't take well to cooking them with a soldering iron.

SouthernAtHeart May 2018 post #12

tinman13kup:
How are you soldering these to the board? They are very sensitive to ESD, and
also don't take well to cooking them with a soldering iron.
Topics
I have a reflow oven, though on this bench test I just used my hot air gun...
More

Categories
SouthernAtHeart May 2018 post #13
Using Arduino
So I seems I need a pull down resistor on the gate to keep it off. Would 10K be a good
Projects Discussion and…
selection?
Hardware

Software
6v6gt Karma: 1000+ May 2018 post #14
Community

Development SouthernAtHeart:
So I seems I need a pull down resistor on the gate to keep it off. Would 10K be a
International
good selection?
Deutsch

Español But surely only in your limited (barebones) test environment without the MCU. A
digital pin on an ATTiny85 should be close to the rails ( 0 Volts when off and 5 Volts
Français
when On ) so ensure that the mosfet is either fully on or fully off.
Italiano

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All categories Edit.


Include your test sketch in the post anyway.

wvmarle May 2018 post #15

SouthernAtHeart:
So I seems I need a pull down resistor on the gate to keep it off. Would 10K be a
good selection?

A MOSFET should always have a pull-down resistor on the gate. Otherwise all kinds of
weird things happen - the worst being a partly opened gate and a burned-up MOSFET.
The ATtiny will always start up with pins set to INPUT so until your code kicks in and
sets it to OUTPUT, LOW the gate level is undefined.

10k is a common value for pull-down. if you're battery powered you want to increase
this, usually 1M or even higher resistance will work just fine and limit current leakage
when your pin is HIGH.

Southpark May 2018 post #16

SouthernAtHeart:
OK, with the bare bones test, I got it working. I discovered that if the gate is left
open, the MOSFET will kick on. It'd put off if I grounded it. But just a finger touch
on the lead would start the motor running again.

Yep.... something is very wrong there, that's for sure. If it's all wired up correctly, and if
you've manually grounded the gate of mosfet.... then the mosfet should not be
supplying power to the load (ie. the motor).

Better make sure your jumper leads etc are all 'good', and to double-check that you
have indeed wired up the mosfet correctly -ie. absolutely sure the pins are all the
correct ones, and the the ground (or grounds) are indeed grounds.

MarkT May 2018 post #17



SouthernAtHeart:
I used a 5ohm 25watt resistor.
Ammeter showed about 2 amps current flow - all the time. Regardless of the
digital Pin state
According to the data sheet at three votes it can handle 4+ amps.
My end result will be a DC gearmotor the drawls about 300 mill amps

At 3 volts drive it can handle 2A at 25 centigrade, (I presume assuming good PCB


thermals, which
is doubtful on that breakout).

If its on all the time you may have fried it. Small MOSFETs are very static sensitive,
they have no protection
diodes. Just touching the gate electrode is enough to destroy a MOSFET.

Closed on May 6, 2021

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