I am really struggling to find a basic guide to transistors which puts it in words I can understand. I am really hoping someone here can explain it more clearly and simply!
Q1.
What is it which switches a transistor on? Voltage or current - I understood it to be voltage, but I also see things talking about how you need to limit the current..
Q2.
If the answer is voltage, then does applying the voltage mean the gtransistor is fully on? So what happens if you exceed the minimum voltage? Does it make any difference? I've seen some articles mentioning that a particular transistor needs 0.7 volts to switch it on. But if you had a motor load on the transistor, and you applied 0.7 volts to the base, would this literally mean the motor would be as fully powered as if it were directly connected to the power source? Or would it be 'slightly' on, and as you increase the voltage to the base the voltage to the motor would increase?
Q3. What about transistors as amplifiers? I understand that you need to bias the transistor, but what does this mean? Are you making it slightly switched on, so that every tiny voltage difference fully opens and fully closes the transistor?
Sorry these are such basic questions - I know I can just stick a 1k resistor and muddle through..but I really want to understand what is happening.
Many thanks
Toby
Q1.
What is it which switches a transistor on? Voltage or current - I understood it to be voltage, but I also see things talking about how you need to limit the current..
Q2.
If the answer is voltage, then does applying the voltage mean the gtransistor is fully on? So what happens if you exceed the minimum voltage? Does it make any difference? I've seen some articles mentioning that a particular transistor needs 0.7 volts to switch it on. But if you had a motor load on the transistor, and you applied 0.7 volts to the base, would this literally mean the motor would be as fully powered as if it were directly connected to the power source? Or would it be 'slightly' on, and as you increase the voltage to the base the voltage to the motor would increase?
Q3. What about transistors as amplifiers? I understand that you need to bias the transistor, but what does this mean? Are you making it slightly switched on, so that every tiny voltage difference fully opens and fully closes the transistor?
Sorry these are such basic questions - I know I can just stick a 1k resistor and muddle through..but I really want to understand what is happening.
Many thanks
Toby