[TriEmbed] MOSFET or Relay

[Adam Haile]

A FET is going to be WAY faster at switching than a relay. Multiple orders
of magnitude faster. Relays will often carry far more current for less
cost. Then there is the weird in between of the two... the Solid State
Relay. Also, not that a mechanical relay is true on/off. Whereas a FET or
SSR (which is usually just an opto isolated FET in a nice package) are
*generally* on/off, but there's fancy things you can do to actually have
the output voltage vary... or if you supply way to much voltage in it will
just allow it through and short out. I don't really understand that part...
I just ensure I read the datasheet and stay within the specs.

here's a good comparison of mechanical relays vs SSRs:
http://electronicdesign.com/components/electromechanical-relays-versus-solid-state-each-has-its-place

On Mon, Dec 7, 2015 at 8:41 AM, Grawburg via TriEmbed <triembed at triembed.org
> wrote:

> Just for my future information. Presuming that current draw is not an
> issue, given the choice between using a MOSFET or a suitably opto-isolated
> relay to switch 12V, is there any significant advantage of one over the
> other? The MOSFET seems more 'elegant', but that hardly seems like a good
> answer.
>
> BTW, there should be some kind of law against so many people helping guys
> like me. :-)  Imagine if the Manhattan Project had a group like TriEmbed.
>
>
> Thanks,
> Brian Grawburg
>
>
>
>
>
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