I just built the HEXFET Power switch from EddieB and when I plugged it into the ssc board and executed and nothing happened. I was wondering if someone could explain to me exactly how to solder everything together. Here is a picture of what it looks like. So if someone could please explain in what order or rather the sequence in which to hook stuff up.
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Alright, sorry about the bad link. Thanks innerbreed for the help. Here should be the working url for the image. Please help.
what experience do you have with soldering?
do you have a picture of your board?
this may help:
I hope your questions can be answered here.
sorry i see you have already been there. do you still have a pic?
well i was drawing my board in paint to show the sequence and my computer gave me the blue screen of death for some reason. basically it is the same as eddie b’s post but i added a led to allow me to see when voltage is being applied. i have the signal and ground leads on the servo cable going into the circuit board and the only thing i have coming out is one positive and one negative wire. do i need to have some sort of voltage source coming in or are the two servo wires supplying the needed voltage? the new url i posted above should take you to the picture of my board.
power?
i would have thought you would get this from the leads on the servo cable going into the circuit board?
i understand the configuration so, im guessing that c3 (red) and d24 (black) will be were the power supply is need. im not sure as i have never built one and i dont want to waste your time or mess up your board so please get a secondary answer from some one who knows. maybe EddieB?
but i would guess you have tried that!!
ya i tried that. Getting ready to run to radio shack and buy another mini board so I can just try from scratch. I noticed some spots on my board were kind of burnt from the soldering stick as i was a little careless in trying to do it quickly. Gonna redo the board and see if it works. I do have one question though. When I am writing the program so that this electromagnet works, how can i control when it turns on and when it turns off. To help you understand if im not clear, when i pick something up with teh magnet, have the arm move to a new position, and relese the object by turning the magnet off. How do I send the information to tell it to supply voltage and then not to supply voltage. Thanks.
that wouldnt be a bad thing to do. we all learn best from our own mistakes so yeah try and rebuild the baord, start again and see what happens.
i would still say that c3 (red) and d24 (black) will be were the power supply is need! 
good luck.
You should test your switch just using the battery to make sure it works prior to trying to operate it with the servo controller. Makes figuring out problems easier.
alright so here is a paint version of the switch. Excuse my very poor drawing capabilities and probably my notation as well(this is my first time drawing one). I made this board using an extra servo lead I bought from lynxmotion so I dont know how to test it without using the ssc. Any help with that would be appreciated. Also, if this configuration is wrong please let me know because when I hooked up to the ssc and opened lynxterm. I clicked “All 1500” and the board didn’t respond. I honestly dont know, but when I click that all servos go to tha position and the board continues to send the voltage and pulse for the servos to maintain that position right?? If so, that should be sufficient to power my magnet?? Please help with this and let me know if the board is configured the right way. Thanks everyone.
Here is the configuration:
kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.j … 4iwks&Ux=0
If you are turning on and off the electromagnet then you need to send a logic high or logic low from the SSC32. This is done by discrete output:
# where ch is the channel (one of 32) and lvl is either H for high (+5V) or L for low (0V).
lynxmotion.com/images/html/build136.htm#discout
You don’t want to set to 1500 as that just sends a PWM servo signal out the channel. The electromagnet will just pulse and will probably not give you the desired results. I don’t think the circuit you drew will do what you want but I could be mistaken. It only seems to pass in signal but does not use +VS for anything. Look at the diagram you referenced earlier:
Below are the two schematics where they can be compared. You need to connect your electromagnet at the two connection dots on the ends of the diode instead of across the battery. To test, connect the battery + to the sig input (you can test with the electromagnet disconnected and see if the led lights). To turn the magnet on and off, you need to send “discrete output” to the servo pin as explained in the ssc-2 users manual instead of a pulsed servo signal.
edit: your site apparently blocks linking your image in this post unless it has been previously viewed on the pix site.
so do i need to connect a battery to the positive and negative terminal or is the ssc supplying the required voltage?
You should be able to eliminate the battery from the circuit if desired. Connect the wire connected to the battery + to the VS pin on the ssc-32.
alright so this isnt going very smoothly at all. i know i could have bought the battle switch and be done but i really want to do this on my own. here’s the problem:
so i connected the resistor across the signal and ground wires coming from a servo lead. not sure if this is correct because i do not understand how it is resisting. then from there i connected the signal side leaving the resistor to the lead labeled “G” on the IRF510 and the ground side leaving the resistor to the lead labeled “S” on the IRF510. From there I connected the diode to the middle lead labeled “D”. At that connection point a placed on the wires from my simple electromagnet.(by simple i mean a basic nail tightly coiled with wire) and on the other end of the diode i placed the other wire from my electromagnet. From this point i attached a wire(which i am calling my ‘vs’ wire) and ran it to the “VS” pin on the servo lead to supply my voltage. I then executed the discrete ouput command as specified in the ssc-32 manual and tested to see if the nail was magnetic. it wasn’t. However, the IRF510 became very very hot very fast.
My setup looked much likes yours “zoomkat” with the exception that i had no bottom wire going to negative, only the top wire which i soldered to the “VS” servo lead as mentioned above. Am I doing something wrong? I am concerned with the resistor as I do not see how it is resisting. Don’t mean to keep bothering you all with this but if yall would please help me again i would really appreciate it. thanks.
For what it’s worth. This sounds like a grade school science project for electromagnets, normally a short piece of wire wrapped around a nail and connected to a 6vdc lantern battery. The fact is this results in a huge amount of current draw. If I were you I would look for a commercial small electromagnet for inspiration. Consider making one with lots and lots of wraps. You need to have enough windings to get the resistance up enough to lower the current to a manageable level.
Here is a lot f useful information.
coolmagnetman.com/magelect.htm
For an easy way to make an electromagnet, buy a 12vdc solenoid. Put a small nail inside and you should be good to go. 
I have many coils. The simple magnet was only for temporary use as I am waiting for the one I will be using to arrive in the mail. I am just trying to figure why my switch is not working. I appreciate your concern and help(this board is very friendly) I just need a little more help to get my switch working for when my electromagnet comes in. Thanks again.
What I’ve been trying to get across is your circuit is probably working just fine. But the coil has too low a resistance so the FET gets hot.
Oh and about the resistor. It’s job is to pull the FET gate low, make sure it’s off, when nothing is connected.