Another N channel enhancement mode MOSFET driven directly by a PIC12F629

[vintagecarguy]

I have been told (by an electronics engineer that I know) that, along with the 10K pull down resistor, you should have something in series with it. His explanation was that a MOSFET can occasionally 'run wild' and the gate essentially shorts to source and will draw amazing amounts of current.

His suggestion was 1K to 5K or so, try it, if it works, great. Since then, I've used a 2.2K and have never had any problems.

Just my 2 cents

The series resistor is between the I/O line from the PIC and the gate of the MOSFET? That makes
sense but I'm thinking it shouldn't be too large because that would limit the charge current to the gate. A 220 ohm
limits the current to 23mA which shouldn't be a problem for the PIC.

Thanks for your comments.