Categories: Inverter Diagram

4W/12V Fluorescent Lamp Driver

Basically, this 4W/12V fluorescent lamp driver circuit is a small inverter circuit with very small power output that is about 3-5W. This circuit can be used to power up a 4W fluorescent lamp from 12V battery. It uses a normal 120 to 6V stepdown transformer in reverse, to step 12V to about 350V to drive a lamp without the need to warm the filaments. The 555 timer IC is wired as an astable multivibrator. The output signal which generated by multivibrator from the IC are amplified by the power MOSFET IRF510.

IRF510 power MOSFETs is designed for applications such as switching convertors, switching regulators, relay drivers,motor drivers, and drivers for high power bipolar switching transistors requiring high speed and low gate drive power. These component can be operated directly from integrated circuits (IC).

Parts List:

R1 = 1K 1/4W
R2 = 2.7K 1/4W Resistor
C1 = 100uF/25V
C2,C3 = 10nF 25V
C4 = 10nF/1KV
Q1 = IRF510 power MOSFET
U1 = TLC555 Timer IC
T1 = 6V secondary 120V primary / 300mA Transformer
LAMP 4W Fluorescent Lamp
MISC Board, Wire, Heatsink For Q1

4W/12V Fluorescent Lamp Driver Circuit Notes:

Heatsink is required for MOSFET Q1 to prevent over heating and keep the component in good performance
It is better to use transformer with 240V primary and 10V secondary, but that kind of transformer is little hard to find

inverter