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DIY 555 Mosfet Driver

555 MOSFET drivers are common circuits found in many electronic devices, such as automobile ignition coils, amplifiers and fully automatic airsoft guns. In the circuit, a 555 chip is used to switch the MOSFET on and off at a rapid rate, which in turn quickly connects and disconnects the power supply to the device being driven by the circuit. Using inexpensive parts bought from a local electronics shop, you can easily build your own driver circuit. From there, you can tackle more projects, such as making a series of lights blink on and off.

Things You'll Need

12 to 15 volt DC power source
Prototyping board
Soldering iron
Rosin core solder
1,000-ohm (1K) resistors (2)
10,000-ohm (10K) resistors (2)
555 timer chip
8-pin DIP socket
.01 microfarad capacitor
100-ohm resistor
2N2222 transistor
330-ohm resistor
10-ohm resistor
IRF510 power MOSFET

Instructions

- 1
  Solder the leads to your power source. On some prototyping boards, you will have a header for DC power. If you do not have a spot for it, solder it to an out-of-the-way point.
- 2
  Wire a 10K-ohm resistor and a 1K-ohm resistor in parallel, and solder them to your prototyping board. Hook the resistors up to the positive (+) terminal of the power source.
- 3
  Affix the DIP socket to the prototyping board. This is where you will install the 555 chip. You can omit the socket and just solder the chip directly to the board, but a DIP socket will help prevent your soldering iron from destroying the 555 timer chip.
- 4
  Attach the resistors to pin 7 on the 555. Additionally, wire another set of 10K-ohm and 1K -ohm resistors in parallel to the prototyping board, with one end attached to pin 7 and the other end soldered to both pins 2 and 6.
- 5
  Solder the .01 microfarad capacitor to the board. One end should go to pin 2, and the other should go to the negative (-) terminal of the power source.
- 6
  Hook pins 8 and 4 of the circuit directly to the positive terminal of the power source, and pin 1 directly to the negative terminal.
- 7
  Solder a 100-ohm resistor onto pin 3 and the base of the 2N2222 transistor.
- 8
  Wire a 330-ohm resistor from the positive terminal of your power source to the collector pin of the 2N2222 transistor. Between the two resistors, attach the 10-ohm resistor. Wire the emitter pin directly to the negative terminal.
- 9
  Attach the SS pin of the MOSFET to the 10-ohm resistor, and solder the connection. Solder the gate and drain pins, and hook it up to the negative terminal. Solder a point from the source pin to the negative input of your device and the positive terminal directly to the positive input of your device.

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