In this circuit I only have one doubt, the input signal to the mosfet sometimes is both 12v (when coming from the car) and 3v (when coming from the arduino). Is this fine? Also can the mosfet board support 12v on the input?
Do I need to wire the 5v from the Arduino or not?

Thanks

From the example you gave, it is 12V. Now we finally have all the facts, this is how to wire it:

View attachment 229106

 

Thanks everyone for replying. LesJones it's not the engine valves but the exhaust valves, they are valves to control the noise of the exhaust. They close it to make less noise, in some cars you can manually open them from inside the car in others like mine you cannot control them but the engine opens them when needed. I want to control them to be always open when I want.
This is the actuator
It has 3 wires: a pwm signal to open and close it and then +12v and gnd

When I was a kid they were manual and we called it a "cutout" and it was simply a flapper valve installed prior to the muffler so when open came the loud rumble of the engine exhaust pipes. Back then they were all mechanical just like the choke cable was. Today they have motorized versions and the common name convention is "exhaust cutout kit" a Google of that term will show what it is all about. The problem is when all the wrong terms are used to describe something. First one I installed was on a 1949 Ford. Not like they are anything new. Some today are also Vacuum actuated.

Ron

 

When I was a kid they were manual and we called it a "cutout" and it was simply a flapper valve installed prior to the muffler so when open came the loud rumble of the engine exhaust pipes. Back then they were all mechanical just like the choke cable was. Today they have motorized versions and the common name convention is "exhaust cutout kit" a Google of that term will show what it is all about. The problem is when all the wrong terms are used to describe something. First one I installed was on a 1949 Ford. Not like they are anything new. Some today are also Vacuum actuated.

Ron

A cutout system is different. This valves are placed inside the exhaust system you can see how they works for example here

 

So we didn't have all the facts. You say that the PWM from the Arduino is 3V. Are you using a 3V version of an Arduino?
What is the MOSFET on the new board? A 3V signal will not be large enough unless it is has logic level gate. The other board had a transistor amplifier on it.

 

I think the original mosfet board is more likely work as 3 volts should drive the opto coupler provided it have an indicator LED connected in series with it. It would help if you used a 5 volt version of the Arduino. (Using an NE555 would solve the drive problem as it can be used with a 12 volts supply. But then the mosfet module would probably not be required.)

Les.

 

A cutout system is different. This valves are placed inside the exhaust system you can see how they works for example here

The end result is the same. In the video the narrator even uses the word cutout. The motor drives a butterfly valve and looking close it appears the motor uses a reduction gear head. The flapper rotation is only 90 degrees maximum between wide open and fully closed. The idea is how the exhaust is routed, that is all. He does an excellent job with the cutaway to show the exhaust routing. I like how they use the term "silencer" rather than the term "muffler". They also point out how they make a 5.0 liter exhaust sound more aggressive.

The brown wire in the video is where they use a term for a bus called lin bus which is a Local Interconnect Network common to automotive applications because it is a cheap and simple bus.

While of this stuff is well and fine it does not define what you have? It also covers nothing about PWM as it would apply to what you have. A link or picture of what you have would go a long way?

Ron

 

So we didn't have all the facts. You say that the PWM from the Arduino is 3V. Are you using a 3V version of an Arduino?
What is the MOSFET on the new board? A 3V signal will not be large enough unless it is has logic level gate. The other board had a transistor amplifier on it.

Yes I'm using a 3v Arduino. This is the new board https://www.amazon.co.uk/YOUMILE-MOSFET-3-3V-5V-Arduino-Raspberry/dp/B07TWLLTRT with a IRF520 mosfet. You think I need to switch to a 5v version Arduino? In any case wouldn't it be a problem to have 5v and 12v on the signal pin?

 

The end result is the same. In the video the narrator even uses the word cutout. The motor drives a butterfly valve and looking close it appears the motor uses a reduction gear head. The flapper rotation is only 90 degrees maximum between wide open and fully closed. The idea is how the exhaust is routed, that is all. He does an excellent job with the cutaway to show the exhaust routing. I like how they use the term "silencer" rather than the term "muffler". They also point out how they make a 5.0 liter exhaust sound more aggressive.

The brown wire in the video is where they use a term for a bus called lin bus which is a Local Interconnect Network common to automotive applications because it is a cheap and simple bus.

While of this stuff is well and fine it does not define what you have? It also covers nothing about PWM as it would apply to what you have. A link or picture of what you have would go a long way?

Ron

Mine it's exactly the same i've already posted it, here it is https://www.kuester.net/en/products/actuators/59-exhaust-systems/127-exhaust-systems
It can be controlled both by PWM and Lin

 

OK, it's a gearhead motor. I wish those guys would have put more data out there. My best guess here is that changing the PWM will change the motor speed. Rather than the Arduino 3.3 volt schemes I like the 5 volt versions better simply because it makes it easier to drive a logic level MOSFET. Your module uses an IRF 520 N Channel MOSFET. This is the data sheet. The Gate-Source Threshold Voltage is 2 - 4 volts so using 3.3 is skirting it a bit. This is why I would likely choose a 5 volt Arduino and use a logic level MOSFET like a FQP30N06L designed to use a lower gate voltage. Anyway as I see it using PWM on the motor is only going to change how fast the butterfly valve opens or closes.

Still wish they put more data out there on the motor.

Ron

 

Or maybe can I use a level shifter to pull it up to 5v?

 

Or maybe can I use a level shifter to pull it up to 5v?

or that.

Ron

 

Or maybe can I use a level shifter to pull it up to 5v?

The VGS required to turn the IRF250 fully on is: Typical 2.9V, Max 4.0V. So it is marginal and may not work. A 3V to 5V level shifter would certainly do the job.

 

A few points.
1 Re Ron's post #49 I don't think the PWM is used in the normal motor speed control way. I think it is more like the way model servos work. Model servos use pulse duration's in the range 0.5 to 2.5 mS to give the full range of movement. The actual PRF of the pulses is not very critical. (I think it is normally about 50 hz) This is how I think they work. There is a potentiometer on the output shaft. I think the duration of the pulse into a voltage and that voltage is compared with the voltage from the wiper on the potentiometer. The polarity and value of that difference drives the motor until the difference is near zero. So it finishes at a position dictated by the by the pulse duration.

2 A mosfet only JUST starts conducting at the threshold voltage. The gate voltage needs to be somewhat higher to get it conduct a significant current. So even with 5 volts on the gate both the IRF540 or the IRF520 may not provide enough current. (And as no tests have been done we don't even know what "enough current" actually is.)
3 Has the TS done any tests on HIS CAR with an oscilloscope to verify which protocol is being used, (PWM or LIN.)
4 The information on the actuator does not make it clear if there are two different versions, if there is a switch or jumper to set which protocol is being used or can it automatically decide which protocol is being used.

Les.

 

A few points.
1 Re Ron's post #49 I don't think the PWM is used in the normal motor speed control way. I think it is more like the way model servos work. Model servos use pulse duration's in the range 0.5 to 2.5 mS to give the full range of movement. The actual PRF of the pulses is not very critical. (I think it is normally about 50 hz) This is how I think they work. There is a potentiometer on the output shaft. I think the duration of the pulse into a voltage and that voltage is compared with the voltage from the wiper on the potentiometer. The polarity and value of that difference drives the motor until the difference is near zero. So it finishes at a position dictated by the by the pulse duration.

2 A mosfet only JUST starts conducting at the threshold voltage. The gate voltage needs to be somewhat higher to get it conduct a significant current. So even with 5 volts on the gate both the IRF540 or the IRF520 may not provide enough current. (And as no tests have been done we don't even know what "enough current" actually is.)
3 Has the TS done any tests on HIS CAR with an oscilloscope to verify which protocol is being used, (PWM or LIN.)
4 The information on the actuator does not make it clear if there are two different versions, if there is a switch or jumper to set which protocol is being used or can it automatically decide which protocol is being used.

Les.

I gave servo motor some thought but moved away from it since the motor appears to be geared. My guess is the butterfly valve has 90 degree rotation from full closed to wide open. That would normally be a 1.0 m/Sec to 1.5 m/Sec pulse width. The typical PRT (Pulse Repetition Time) is 20 m/Sec (50 Hz.). From what little I have read these units look to come with a driver box, everything that is needed. The data I could find through the provided links was not very technically informative.

Ron

 

On the level shifter, the "A" side is for the low logic level and the "B" for the high, so VA should be connected to a 3.3V supply (from the Arduino) and VB should be connected to a +5V source. The GND should be connected to the negative side of the 3.3V and 5V sources. The PWM signal from the Arduino should be connected to an input on the "A" side and the respective output on the "B" side should go to the MOSFET gate,

 

Hello Kit, i've removed the post because I saw it was wrong, so I still need to get +5v from somewhere? So this could be a problem because I don't have any +5V source

is this wiring correct? Except that the arduino is 3v
The level shifter goes inside the relay, isn't it? Because the signal coming from the car is already +12v
The only doubt I still have is, can the Input on the mosfet be 12v when the car is driving it?

 

In the end I purchased an Arduino Uno to have the 5v. If that works I may be use a 5v Nano Board with 433mhz receiver instead of BLE for the final version

 

In the end I purchased an Arduino Uno to have the 5v. If that works I may be use a 5v Nano Board with 433mhz receiver instead of BLE for the final version

That will solve the problem of driving the MOSFET gate without a shifter. It will also provide the 5V needed for the relay coil.

 

Today I was thinking about this circuit

If the car is controlling the valve using LIN bus the when the signal gets inside the mosfet it will break, isn't it? The best to me would be to bypass the mosfet when the car is controlling it, there's no way to do that?

 

Have you looked at the signal to the actuator with an oscilloscope when the car is controlling it to confirm if it is using LIN or PWM protocol ? Have you tried the actuator using the PWM signal from the Arduino to check that it works ?
There is no point in building the hardware until you know for certain which protocol will work.

Les.