Thursday, 19 May 2016

current - Harmful to NPN transistor if collector circuit is broken?


Is there any harm to having a conventional switch that can open the circuit between the collector and +V with an NPN transistor? While the base is still being excited by a pin of my controller?



I am using a simple circuit to allow a micro controller to switch a light on and off. If it matters, the transistor in question is a TIP31 I found at Radio Shack.



Answer



No problem at all. The transistor 'degrades' to being a simple diode which receives some modest (I assume!) current from your controller.


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