At some point in Arduino, you are going to want to leave the calm waters of blinking an LED and control something a little more powerful. To do that, you are going to need a little help.

Transistors can be used as a switch using the Arduino’s digital signal for control. A MOSFET is an ideal type of transistor for this application, and can handle several amps of current and up to 30 volts!

I’ve designed an Open Source Arduino shield to utilize three MOSFETs, which can be used to control motors, solenoids, or even the three channels of an RGB LED string!

You can build this circuit with a number of various parts, but these are the ones I’ve found to work:

PCB:

Digikey parts:

• 3 – MOSFET IRLB8721, IRLB8721PBF-ND
• 4 – TERMINAL BLOCK 3.5MM 2POS, ED1514-ND
• 1 – LM7809 Voltage regulator, LM7809ACT-ND
• 1 – 100 uf 35V Cap, 93-1081-ND
• 1 – 10 uf Cap, P997-ND
• 1 – 1 uf Cap 50V, 478-7667-ND
• 3 – Diode 1N4001, 641-1310-1-ND
• 3 – 10K resistor, 1/8W, CF18JT10K0CT-ND
• 1 – 1K resistor, 1/8W
• 3 – 330 resistor, 1/8W, CF18JT330RCT-ND
• 1 – 3mm LED, red, 160-1955-ND
• 3 – 3mm LED, green, 160-1710-ND
• 1 – power shunt, 2-881545-2-ND
• 1 – CONN HEADER .100″ SNGL STR 40POS, S1012EC-40-ND

Optional:

• 2 – CONN TERM BLOCK 2.54MM 2POS PCB, ED10561-ND
• 1 – CONN TERM BLOCK 2.54MM 3POS PCB, ED10562-ND
• Heat syncs, HS198-ND (with analog headers installed, will only fit on one of the MOSFETs).

Tools and Supplies:

• Soldering iron.
• Solder
• Wire nippers
• Desoldering braid (hopefully not needed, but you never know).

You will also be helping me develop and share other projects!