This video (

) by Andreas Spiess shows how to use a P-channel MOSFET to design a 'power path' around a TP4056-based charger board. I do not have access to a P-channel MOSFET and want to know whether I can substitute an N-channel MOSFET but on the ground side of the load instead.

(This schematic is from the video, it uses a P-channel mosfet)

 

Some chips behave very badly when their ground is disconnected. Unless you have verified that removing the ground won't damage anything I would be reluctant to do the experiment on an expensive chip.

 

Some chips behave very badly when their ground is disconnected. Unless you have verified that removing the ground won't damage anything I would be reluctant to do the experiment on an expensive chip.

Thank you for your reply. I believe the chip you are mentioning is the ESP32 as the tp4056 is always connected to ground. The objective is to have alternative 'powerpaths' controlled by the MOSFET, so we don't want the ground to be disconnected in the first place, but would that happen if I decide to use a n-channel MOSFET on the ground side? I am unsure if using an n-channel MOSFET to make this 'powerpath' would actually work.
Thanks for the replies.

 

The example I am thinking of is a CAN transceiver where the removal of GROUND from the ground pin causes the CAN data lines to form a return path to the ground of another node on the network. As you can imagine this causes all maner of network disruption and potential destruction in an industrial control environment.