Hi, I am fairly new with electronics and was wondering how I was to go about connecting this 12v vacuum to an Arduino mega. Also wondering what is the external power supply I should be using.
this is the product “https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10398”
I would like to be able to turn the device on and off via the Arduino.
Thx for the help
Hi spiderpro,
To use this vacuum pump with an Arduino Mega, you’re going to need to use something like our [MOSFET Power Control Kit. The I/O pins on an Arduino cannot supply sufficient current or voltage to turn that pump on and off so adding the MOSFET Kit allows you to control higher voltage and amperage components with the 5V system on the Arduino.
[This blog post is a good example tutorial showing how to use the vacuum pump in a circuit with a microcontroller. It is a bit different since it is using the Blynk board and app but the connections and code will functionally be similar since you are just using the I/O pins on the Arduino to turn the MOSFET on and off which, in turn, will power the vacuum pump on and off.
There are also a few helpful Support Tips on the product pages for both the Vacuum Pump and the MOSFET Power Control Kit for wiring the kit to various controllers and loads. Those are in the “Product Help and Resources” section just below the Similar Items product carousel/list.
I hope this helps you understand how to use the vacuum pump with your Mega. If you have any other questions about this project, please reply to this post and we would be happy to help as much as we can.](Hardware Hump Day: Remote Smoke Machine Prank - News - SparkFun Electronics)](SparkFun MOSFET Power Control Kit - COM-12959 - SparkFun Electronics)
