Hi,

I'm new to these forums and came here to get some help with my school project. I don't know much about circuitry so I was wondering if you could help me out. I'm making a school project which will be a light that can be remote controlled. This is my sketch of the idea; http://prntscr.com/u1mdv

I'm looking to buy http://www.mindsetsonline.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=1009786 . I know it can only power a really small lamp, but I don't think I have much choice. I wanted to power an ordinary bulb, but not sure if it's possible.

I sent them an email explaining my situation and they replied "the board will only output a maximum of 6V, 800mA; so I would recommend using the output to switch another circuit (using a FET) which has it's own power source for the bulb..."

Now I don't exactly get how I could use the output to switch another circuit using fet to power the bulb.

Could anyone tell me if this is possible, and if so, what would I need to make the circuit with the FET.

Thank you.

 

Hi,

I'm new to these forums and came here to get some help with my school project. I don't know much about circuitry so I was wondering if you could help me out. I'm making a school project which will be a light that can be remote controlled. This is my sketch of the idea; http://prntscr.com/u1mdv

I'm looking to buy http://www.mindsetsonline.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=1009786 . I know it can only power a really small lamp, but I don't think I have much choice. I wanted to power an ordinary bulb, but not sure if it's possible.

I sent them an email explaining my situation and they replied "the board will only output a maximum of 6V, 800mA; so I would recommend using the output to switch another circuit (using a FET) which has it's own power source for the bulb..."

Now I don't exactly get how I could use the output to switch another circuit using fet to power the bulb.

Could anyone tell me if this is possible, and if so, what would I need to make the circuit with the FET.

Thank you.

First of all 6V at 800mA is a fair amount of power. You could light quite a few LED's directly.

But, yes it is possible to use a MOSFET controlled by your device to switch more power to a DC incandescent bulb. Your drawing sort of implies mains AC voltage, which can be dangerous, and is not recommended for beginners. Would you be satisfied with turning on a few LEDs or a small DC light bulb?

 

Howdy, I have moved your thread where it might get more help.

 

First of all 6V at 800mA is a fair amount of power. You could light quite a few LED's directly.

But, yes it is possible to use a MOSFET controlled by your device to switch more power to a DC incandescent bulb. Your drawing sort of implies mains AC voltage, which can be dangerous, and is not recommended for beginners. Would you be satisfied with turning on a few LEDs or a small DC light bulb?

Would it be hard to use the MOSFET to be able to use a DC bulb(would it be too complicated to make everything work). I do have a teacher which knows quite a lot of information about circuits, but I don't want to ask too much help from him, although he would be able to help me if I it would be too hard.

Would this be a lightbulb I would use if I was to not use the MOSFET. http://www.maplin.co.uk/high-power-6v-halogen-bulb-33680

 

Yes, you could use the bulb you linked to with a MOSFET, and it would be quite bright since it is a 55 watt bulb. But it would require a power source capable of delivering almost 10 amperes of current to fully light the bulb.

You could use a 6 volt battery, but it would run down quickly unless it was fairly large. Or you could use a 6 volt power adapter, but one that could supply 10 amperes might be expensive.

What skills and equipment do you have? Can you solder and do you have soldering equipment for electronics?

 

I thought I could use http://www.maplin.co.uk/high-power-6v-halogen-bulb-33680 without the MOSFET, just with the http://www.mindsetsonline.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=1009786 . Cause the lightbulb is only a 6V, and the infra red remote control it can output 6v.

But since I wanted to use a normal household bulb, you stated that if I wanted to do that I would need to use MOSFET.

My school has all the equipment needed, so I would be able to solder and have past experience of soldering.

 

If you have someone who knows what they're doing and who's willing to help you use mains AC safely, you could use a transistor and a relay to switch 120vac to the bulb. But again, I'd recommend only doing this under the supervision of someone who knows what they're doing and how to do it safely.

That's how I would approach the problem, anyway.

Regards,
Matt

 

I thought I could use http://www.maplin.co.uk/high-power-6v-halogen-bulb-33680 without the MOSFET, just with the http://www.mindsetsonline.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=1009786 . Cause the lightbulb is only a 6V, and the infra red remote control it can output 6v.

But since I wanted to use a normal household bulb, you stated that if I wanted to do that I would need to use MOSFET.

My school has all the equipment needed, so I would be able to solder and have past experience of soldering.

The bulb you linked to requires almost 10 amperes of current to run at full brightness, but the remote control can only supply 800 milliamperes, so it will not provide enough current for the bulb. You would have to use a MOSFET (or a relay) that would be controlled by the remote control receiver to switch the power from a large battery or mains adapter to the bulb.

The only way you can control a light with the remote control receiver is by using a light that operates at 6 volts or less and draws 800 milliamperes or less. That means either a flashlight type bulb or a group of LEDs. I would suggest a group of LEDs.

Or, as DerStrom8 has stated, you could use the remote control receiver to control a relay (or other device) which would switch mains voltage to a regular (mains) light bulb. But mains voltage is potentially deadly and you would need help from your teacher or someone else who is familiar with handling mains voltage safely.

Maybe you should discuss these options with your teacher?

 

Thanks for both of your answers, I guess I will have to talk to my teacher. Highly appreciate all the help from you guys.

 

Hi, I'm in need of some help again :/

I've bought the infra red remote control kid and set it all up, but it didn't seem to work at school. I only had like 2 mins to try and test it after I set everything up, it was 5pm so teacher was kicking me out xD

This is what I've got: http://prntscr.com/11pm9c - http://prntscr.com/11pmvt

This is the pdf sheet - https://www.mindsetsonline.co.uk/images/IR_controller.pdf

The remote control works, but I can't seem to get it to turn on the bulb. http://prntscr.com/11pnhd

I tried turning it on with it connected to the transformer which didn't work, but I said I like 1-2 mins to see what was wrong. I'll check it out tomorrow in school. Anything think they know what could be wrong?

And what it be hard to add a relay to this to make it use a normal lightbulb? or even make this one more powerful? Remote control only supports 800Ma.

Could it be that I need to connect the bulb to the "3" on the right hand side of the reciever? cause the buttons on the remote control "1" and "2" turn on the little LED lights.

All help appreciated