Driving a mosfet directly?

[passion1]

RussMartin

Please excuse my ignorance but I am a programmer with little electrical background until now!
I do not know what more information I can provide apart from saying that the load is a LC circuit, with only an
inductor and capacitor. The capacitor determines the current usage which is no more than 3 amps.

Correct me if I am wrong, but since I won't be needing more than 3A and taking into consideration what Paul has said earlier,
it seems that I won't be needing a driver after all?
Thanks again for your willingness to help.

[Ioannis]

Hmm, an inductor could be very dangerous to the unprotected semiconductors! Now a new part should be added: a diode, reverse biased parallel to the load (L-C). If not, the first time the MOSFET will switch off, it will probably destroyed by the EMF of the coil.

Also an approximate value of the L and C would be helpful.

Ioannis

[passion1]

Ioannis
I forgot to mention that I have included a 1N4007 diode between the drain of the mosfet and +36VDC as protection.
The inductor is 2.6mH while the capacitor is 6600 pf.

[Ioannis]

Ok. I sure would recommend a faster diode like the 1N5819, MBR360 or similar.

I think with the suggestions found in this thread you will be OK!

Ioannis

[RussMartin]

Please excuse my ignorance but I am a programmer with little electrical background until now! I do not know what more information I can provide apart from saying that the load is a LC circuit, with only an inductor and capacitor. The capacitor determines the current usage which is no more than 3 amps.

My apologies! Generically, what I and others are asking when we ask about the "load" is: "What kind of device or equipment are you turning on and off?" Is it a motor, a refrigerator, lighting equipment, or other device?

I'm sure you're not just turning an LC circuit on and off for the fun of it!