Printable catalog (PDF)
Whoops! We forgot to post this up on Friday! If you want to control our RGB LED strips, you’ll need to control a pretty big amount of current, a few Amps or so. Small transistors like a 2n2222 can only handle maybe 0.1 Amps so we need to step it up and go for a big packaged transistor such as a TO-220 type. These are much larger and have a heat sink tab. By themselves the packages can dissipate about 2 Watts, but you can connect up a heatsink easily.
For basic switching needs, we rather like the STP16NF06 or STP16NF06 power mosfet.
It can control 60V, at 16 Amp max with a fairly good RdsOn of 0.09 ohm. That means that you can control at least 5 Amps without needing a heatink (more if the switch isn’t on all the time). They also have a threshhold of 2.5V so you can connect the gate directly to 3.3V logic
You can pick them up for about a buck at nearly any electronics supplier.
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Posting one on Sunday proves you are human. (Did you have to read a resistor?
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Comment by Paul Scherf — April 17, 2011 @ 12:29 pm
It might be worth noting that the 2N2222A is very easy to come by as well, but has the improvement of being able to handle 600ma without heatsinks or big tabs (for smaller projects…)
Comment by Andy — April 17, 2011 @ 3:05 pm
…we rather like the STP16NF06 or STP16NF06 power mosfet. These “or” part numbers are exactly the same! A possible typo? Surprised no one else caught this. I saw it when you first posted but hadn’t had time to comment until now. Thanks for the fantastic website and all you share with the world!
Comment by Marty — April 22, 2011 @ 6:00 pm