What is it?

SwitchWing is a FeatherWing for powering high current devices from your Feather. Based around the ST VNE5010AH high side driver, SwitchWing can switch 5-28VDC at up to 20A. The driver itself is protected against common faults, and provides the ability to monitor the output current and faults from a Feather ADC pin. Great for driving loads in automotive and LED lighting.

Standard Kit includes: SwitchWing board, 2x ring terminals, 2x 4-40 screws, and male header pins

Features:

• 5-28V input voltage
• High side driver output
• Recommended for up to 5A for continuous loads, or up to 20A for short duration
• Protected against over-current, over-temperature and short circuit
• Flyback diode to prevent damage from kickback voltage of inductive loads
• FeatherWing compatible form factor
• 4-40 screw terminals for supply voltage and output
• Select pin configuration using solder jumpers
• Monitor output current and faults using Feather ADC pin
• Plated holes for off board ground and input/enable pin connections
• Optional - Onboard status LED’s to indicate supply voltage and output status

Setup Notes:

The power and output connectors are made with #4 screw ring terminals to threaded inserts on the PCB. The load current and wire length should determine the gauge of wire used. For wire runs up to 20ft, 20AWG is suggested for up to 5A, and 14AWG up to 20A. The load should be connected to the supply ground using a similar gauge wire. A properly sized fuse from the supply to the VIN terminal is recommended for all applications. The SwitchWing ground needs to be connected to the same supply ground as the load. See Figure 1 for recommended wiring diagram for SwitchWing.

Figure 1.

As delivered there are three connections on the SwitchWing that can be made using solder jumpers on the backside of the board.

• INPUT - digital input signal to turn on and off the SwitchWing output. Can be connected to pins 5-8 of P1. Compatible with 3.3V, 5V or supply voltage logic. Held low (SwitchWing output off) by default.

• CURRENT SENSE (optional) - analog output current sensing pin and fault output diagnostics. Can be connected to pins 5-10 of P2. Scaled to provide current measurement and faults for a 3.3V ADC. Over-temperature and over-current faults of the VN5E010 result in this pin being driven to 3.2V.

• CS-DIS (optional) - digital input signal to disable CS pin. Available on pins 9-12 of P1. This puts the CS in a high impedance state, allowing multiple SwitchWing boards to be have their CS pins connected to the same ADC pin simultaneously.

Two optional LED’s show the status of the SwitchWing:

• Red indicates the presence of supply voltage to the SwitchWing board
• Blue indicates the output of the SwitchWing is enabled.

The LED’s have constant current drivers to maintain LED brightness at any supply/output voltage level. If using at supply voltages of 16V or greater, replace these constant current regulators with ~3k 1206 resistors to reduce heat dissipation.