Hi everyone.
I need help.
I’m making a PCB for a personal project and I’ve read that WLEDs have the possibility with the Control Relay to be able to save “energy” when the LEDs are off by dilimenting them right from the power supply through the use of a Relay.
Only that I don’t want to use a relay both for the “click” noise, but mainly for the consumption due to the coil and for the excessive size. So I’m oriented towards using a mosfet instead of a relay.
I’m not very familiar with addressable leds (ws2812, ws2811 etc) I know them but not from the point of view of their behavior; however, watching videos on the web of people using WLED+ Relay, I noticed that they position the arrival of power from the power supply on the COM of the relay, while on the pin on which the relay must close, they connect the power supply of the strips.
Taking for example the case of the WS2812 they put the +5v on the common of the relay and then on the closure of the relay the power that goes to the + of the strip of the ws2812.
However, does this always keep the DATA track powered? Or this does not happen because the DATA track and the PIN to which they connect the Relay are activated simultaneously by the ESP8266 and therefore until the ESP8266 has the command to turn on the strips both pins remain in HIGH IMPEDANCE and therefore have no consumption ?
As for the mosfet, how could I position it? Because if I placed it high side how would I place it?
Which mosfet would you recommend to be used as an ON/OFF switch with a gate driven at max 3.3V and which supports a through current of at least 3A? (better SMD than THT)
Thank you