I'm trying to drive an IRF530 power MOSFET from a 5V arduino output. I'm using the transistor to momentarily switch a load connected to a car battery (12V). My problem is that the IRF530 requires at least 7V to fully "turn on," and the arduino's 5V is too low.

How would I go about making a driver circuit from the 12V power supply and the arduino's 5V output? I have several PNP and NPN small-signal transistors and resistors to work with.

Thanks for the help,
bk8190

 

Easiest to just replace it with a logic level MOSFET. There are plenty about that have the same or greater specs than the IRF530

 

I know that would be easier, but unfortunately the IRF530's are the only power transistors available to me

 

Never mind, I figured out how to do it. I use an NPN transistor in a common emitter configuration. The base is connected to the arduino through a 3k resistor. The collector is connected to the MOSFET gate and +12V through a large resistor (1M). The emitter is grounded.