Hi guys,
I have a Home Automation Motion Detector Project. I am to light a LED strip of 1meter when motion is detected. My arrangement is posted as an attachment. The Transistor is connected to a GPIO of a microcontroller through a diode and a resistor

My Q is, is a LED Driver cumpolsary in this arrangement?

 

Yes.
You can get away with the diode but not the transistor and base resistor.
The circuit act as a switch to light the LED strip with the low current available from a uC port.
The LED strip can be any high current one as long as the transistor can safely handle it.

 

the problem is, the micro controller is outputting 3.2V 12mA from its GPIO. Hence I am a little doubtful of this circuit running as expected...

 

even then the transistor will switch ON.
Test and see for yourself first.

What did you learn in school ??
Didn't you know a silicon transistor requires 0.7V at base to switch ON.

 

even then the transistor will switch ON.
Test and see for yourself first.

What did you learn in school ??
Didn't you know a silicon transistor requires 0.7V at base to switch ON.

Hey relax!! I did not have an opportunity to go to school. I have been learning whatever I could bit by bit from books and little bit of internet that i get...
Anyways, thank you for your big help! I'll figure out a way on my own...

 

My reply was not offensive but rather a mere question.
Some go to college to party, others to learn. So by asking we know which is which.
The OP saw what he wanted to see.

Besides he did not figured it out on his own like he said.

 

I did. I figured out a way to make it work without a LED driver. Plus, you did not see that if the LED strip is of high current, like you said, (considering 1A) I will require at least 100mA of base current. And 100mA is not even close to 12mA from the micro as I mentioned earlier. So I would need a different circuit all together. Which I re-designed. And now it works without a LED driver.

 

I did. I figured out a way to make it work without a LED driver. Plus, you did not see that if the LED strip is of high current, like you said, (considering 1A) I will require at least 100mA of base current. And 100mA is not even close to 12mA from the micro as I mentioned earlier. So I would need a different circuit all together. Which I re-designed. And now it works without a LED driver.

Wow...you must have a powerful micro. I can use that kinda IC's
What makes you think 1A will requires 100mA. It all depends on the transistor. Even 1mA can switch 10A.

YOU CANNOT DRIVE A LED STRIP IF IT EXCEEDS THE PORT CAPACITY WITHOUT A DRIVER. Period.

 

Even a RELAY is a driver

 

Even this circuit will not do the task? I am not having any Relays with me as of now. I am trying to make it work with MOSFETs and NPNs.. But if you still say even this circuit is wrong, you obv. must be right. You know more than me!

I changed the micro IO output. It now outputs a LOW to turn on the LED

 

But you said it was working.

So back to square one...!

1. Confirm the micro output when the port is high or active high and post the result.
2. What is micro you are using ?
3. What is the LED strip operating Voltage and current ?
4. Does the Strip has current limiting resistors in it ?

Answer all 4 questions then you will get a working circuit.

 

1. Micro I/O output when high is 3.2V 12mA.
2. Micro using is the OGEMRAY ESP8266
3. LED Strip = 12V 1.2A
4. The Strip has current limiting resistors in it

 

What are the numbers of transistors that can handle around 3A to 5A Ic, you can get

 

I have IRLB8721 in abundance!!

 

I suppose you were suggesting this circuit

 

Hmmm !
30V 60A NFET. Still it needs 4.5V to switch on.

What silicon transistors you have ?

 

2N3904, 2N222A

 

Non can even handle 1A.

Then we have to use the FET and transistor combination

 

The relay one is easier if you do not need fast switching

 

The relay one is easier if you do not need fast switching

I do not need fast switching. The switching will happen only about say once in 0.5 mins rarely