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Arduino Turn Signals

Arduino Asked on February 22, 2021

Could I use an Arduino to power run the following lights? Here I have a project in mind, and although I am new to electronics, I am a computer programmer (C, C++, C#, Java) by profession so the coding side doesn’t worry me, what I am confused about is what power supply I need etc.

2 Answers

If you look at the specs of those lights, they draw 1 watt at 12 volts. That is both too much current and too much voltage for an Arduino. (You're only supposed to draw about 20 mA from a single pin, and somewhere between 500 mA and 1 amp from the 5V regulator. (It is heat limited, and typically not very well heat-sinked. Er, heat-sunk?)

An Arduino only puts out 3.3v and 5V.

If you're looking to drive these from a car/motorcycle, you should be able to power them directly from the 12V battery of the vehicle. Failing that, get a 12V power supply that can put out as much current as you need for ALL of the lights you need, plus 10%-20% extra, for "slop".

What you should do is to buy a MOSFET power transistor designed for switching logic level signals for each turn signal you need to control. These would work well: https://www.adafruit.com/product/355

You'd then use logic lines from the Arduino to control the gates of the transistors, and each transistor would switch the power for one of your turn signal lights.

Answered by Duncan C on February 22, 2021

If you mean you want to power it directly from a GPIO pin from an Arduino: no, for two reasons:

  • It doesn't show the current needed, but it's likely more than 20 or 40 mA which is maximum for a GPIO pin. So you need to use a transistor, which can be used to turn on something with higher current, with the current of a GPIO pin. Search for 'Transistor as a switch' for more info.
  • Also, it's 12 V and the Arduino delivers 5 V.

What you need is a separate 12V adapter, with a current capability MORE than what that light needs. I cannot find the current (mA) in the link, so you might need to measure it (e.g. with a digital multimeter). If you don't have a digital multimeter, buy one, you need one anyway if you will do electronics. You can even buy a 3 euro one from China if you want (for now).

Answered by Michel Keijzers on February 22, 2021

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