General purpose mosfet power stage

I think that there would be value in a general purpose mosfet power stage to link to the PWM output’s of products such as the Ardunio.

I’ve hand made a 4 channel one for a project I’m working on and have started fiddling with design of a PCB to replace what I’ve done so far but still some learning to do.

My suggestions

  • 6 channel (to suit Ardunio), alternatively a master board with two or 4 channels and all of the features plus easily connected simpler boards with two channels and the connectors to support them.

  • On board 5V regulator(s to supply power to the micro, sensor’s etc.

  • I’ve used opto isolators between the Ardunio and the Mosfet’s, not sure if that’s necessary but it seemed like a good idea. That gives some electrical isolation between the power stage and the control/sensor components.

  • headers for input signals and led indicators (to show channel state)

  • Provision to allow simple connection of a current sensing module (or include the sensor on the board but not everyone would need it)

  • A voltage divider to allow for supply voltage monitoring

  • Maybe a switchable power supply and dataline (to avoid having to disconnect Serial devices such as a serial LCD during sketch uploads)