I'm looking to control an external 12V device (it's a CPU board that requires 12V at about 1A) that is attached to one of my circuits (a controller board). The input to MY circuit is 12V. All I want to do is control this 12V to go to the external device or not. Normally, a relay here would be great. However, I do not want any mechanical components in this design (for reliability, etc.).
Since I really do want 12V out, and I'm only getting 12V in - it doesn't seem like I should use a transistor to do this switching. (I don't really want to do a DC-DC converter to go to a higher voltage just to lose some for a transistor. Doesn't seem worth all that expense!!) What I really want is a relay - so I started looking at solid-state relays.
But then I found this transistor:
http://www.diodes.com/datasheets/ZXTN25012EZ.pdf
I figured since it was only had a 38mv drop across it, I would be giving my output circuit 11.62v which should be almost good enough.
Any other thoughts about using a transistor like this one vs. or SSRs? Or any other non-mechanical approach for taking 12V in and controlling 12V out? SSR's recommended? Any other better transistor like this recommended instead?
Thanks!
PS -- The external board, my board, and the 12V input all share the same ground connection. (Mentioning since I can't put a controlling transistor just above the ground plane... it needs to be connected to 12V to control the external device load - since I did a multi-point ground between the two boards.)
Since I really do want 12V out, and I'm only getting 12V in - it doesn't seem like I should use a transistor to do this switching. (I don't really want to do a DC-DC converter to go to a higher voltage just to lose some for a transistor. Doesn't seem worth all that expense!!) What I really want is a relay - so I started looking at solid-state relays.
But then I found this transistor:
http://www.diodes.com/datasheets/ZXTN25012EZ.pdf
I figured since it was only had a 38mv drop across it, I would be giving my output circuit 11.62v which should be almost good enough.
Any other thoughts about using a transistor like this one vs. or SSRs? Or any other non-mechanical approach for taking 12V in and controlling 12V out? SSR's recommended? Any other better transistor like this recommended instead?
Thanks!
PS -- The external board, my board, and the 12V input all share the same ground connection. (Mentioning since I can't put a controlling transistor just above the ground plane... it needs to be connected to 12V to control the external device load - since I did a multi-point ground between the two boards.)