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Transistor KSP44 with Ic(max) 300mA can I use it for 150mA

Electrical Engineering Asked by FrancNovation on February 15, 2021

I have some problems to understand the datasheet of the transistor KSP44 (and transistor in general).

I need to control a LED strip. I want to switch it up through a transistor NPN. My transistor will be triggered by an Arduino, so I can apply maximum 20mA on the BASE of the transistor.

I have looked for a transistor, and I have found the KSP44.

I see on its Maximum Rating values that it can sink max 300mA on the COLLECTOR pin, and to switch, on my LED strip I need 150mA.

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Where I have a doubted is about the Electrical Characteristics table of the datasheet. The maximum current in a saturated state of the transistor is 50mA. So could you tell me?

Can I use this transistor to sink 150mA on the COLLECTOR pin?

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Thank you much.

2 Answers

The maximum current in a saturated state of the transistor is 50mA.

It still has a maximum rating of 300 mA but there's another problem. What the VCE(sat) value is implying is that you have only got a DC gain of 10 (Ic = 50 mA, Ib = 5mA) if you want to saturate the transistor.

I suspect that you want to pretty-much saturate the transistor so to drive 150 mA through the collector you will need at least 15 mA at the base (by implication) and I'm unsure if an Arduino pin is going to like doing this for sustained periods.

Answered by Andy aka on February 15, 2021

Remember that a Bipolar Junction Transistor is an amplifier.

By feeding the Base a current, it allows 40-200x more current to flow from Collector to Emitter (see hFE, Current Gain Characteristic).

To enable this amplification, you must saturate the Collector-Emitter field (Vce) and the Base-Emitter field (Vbe). Looking at the datasheet, we can see a potential difference of 0.75V is needed across the Collector to the Emitter, and also 0.75V across the Base and Emitter. The column labelled "Test Conditions" isn't useful for you.

Now, looking at Figure 1 of the datasheet, 150mA Collector current sets the DC Current Gain (hFE) at around 70x.

150mA / 70 = 2.1428mA is needed at the Base (at 10v Vce).

Answered by MIL-SPEC on February 15, 2021

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