DIY Single-Transistor Digital Load Guide

If you're interested in DIY digital single-transistor electronic loads, this article is worth a read.

You can make a super simple single-transistor digital electronic load, but it's only suitable for testing low-power power supplies. You can set the maximum current to 10A, which will handle loads under 50W—enough for small power supplies.

The PCB assembly layout is shown in the picture above.

Next, you need to solder the surface-mount components onto the board. The PCB with the components soldered is shown in the picture above.

After that, you can solder on the connectors, as shown above.

You can use a CPU heatsink for cooling and simply attach it with four screws to serve as the base, as shown above.

Then, you need to fix the load MOSFET with a screw and connect the fan and the voltage/current meter, as shown in the picture above.

Once everything is assembled, you can start testing it, as shown above.

And that's it—you're done!