Hydractive Suspension Ecu Solid State Relays, wholesale job lot of VN05N's

[noz]

Ok I'm going to have to eat humble pie on this one. Last time I went to buy some MOSFET's I had many suppliers to choose from. I need 2 for my Blue 2.5 and the original supplier I got them from has stopped stocking them. No problem I thought and tried several more to no avail. Farnell are the only ones who stock in small quantities bu they have a £20 minimum order quantity and they charge a fortune for postage. The MOSFETS are not cheap either.

To cut a long story short the only people stocking them are the wholesalers. I think I could negotiate a minimum order quantity of 50 - 100. Before I jump in and end up with a bagful I'd like to test the water to see if I could offload them through this venerable organ. Can I have some idea of who would be willing to buy some off me at cost plus postage?

cheers

noz

ps the poll is a bit of an experiment too never having tried it before....here goes

[noz]

Wow,

I'm new to polls so must admit I didn't know how they worked - However, I never thought of the problem associated with 18 post readers and only 2 voters including myself. Surely if you've taken the trouble to open and read the post clicking yes, no or maybe should be fairly effortless? Or has bashfullness taken over?

The votes are anonymous so its not like I'm going to send round the balifs !

c'mon, give me some feedback. If the answer's no then so be it, I won't bother. There's no shame in voting.

cheers

noz

[citroenxm]

Hi Noz

Exscuse my dumb thinkness - whats a MOSFETS???

Regards
citroenxm

[Peter.N.]

A type of transistor - citroenxm

Noz - I have never had one fail in 10 years + of XMs, so the answer from me is 'no'. I only opened it to see what it was about, nosiness I suppose!

Peter.N.

[noz]

Sorry, my fault. I had assumed (wongly) that with all the talk of MOSFETS that everyone knew what they were. The electrovalves for the hydractive suspension are electrically powered by a signal from the suspension ecu. The device inside the ecu which switches the power on or off is called a MOSFET (Metal Oxide Silicon Field Effect Transistor). The little solenoid coil in the electrovalve has a build in diode to provide a safe path for the current induced by the collapsing electromagnetic field when its switched off. The diodes are prone to failure and are unserviceable. When they fail they no longer safely transport the induced curent out of harms way and it finds its way back to the MOSFETs which in turn cooks them. The remedy for this situation is to replace the MOSFETS and install an external diode on each electrovalve circuit to return the whole Hydractive part of the suspension to a working condition.

I should have explained myself a bit more clearly - sorry.

I estimate that given the number of complaints about this problem which are voiced in at least 4 forums that I frequent that most XM's are running about with bust MOSFETs. Peter, I don't doubt what you say but that must put you in the very lucky minority.

Cheers

noz

[xmexclusive]

Hi Noz

The reason I did not reply is that I wanted to do a little more research and be sure there is not a modern equivalent device readily available. In my experience continuing to use obsolete devices can be very difficult, expensive and prone to premature failure. The 'new' devices may well be old stock.
Do you know the specification for the original MOS-FETs as even Maplin list 21 at prices from 9p to £2.99

Regards

XMexc

[kiwi]

Hi Noz,

Any idea what the postage would be to New Zealand for a couple of them? I'm assuming they don't weigh much. I have been trying to find some here without success, and a US website I looked at had them for a few dollars, but with a minimum $US 36.00 postage fee on top.

Regards
Kiwi

[xmexclusive]

Hi Noz and All

Have searched a little for the MOSFETs.
Whilst the current RAPID catalogue does not list them an old one has an entry for:
Fully auto protected power MOSFETs type VNP5N07 at 0.98p each
The manufacturers web site does not list them (www.vishay.com) so I guess they are no longer in production since Vishay took over Siliconex.
The current RS catalogue does list these devices £1.19 each or 0.92 for 25.
Code is 313-3080 cat page 2-1104.

Noz can you confirm that the devices you bought from rapid were VNP5N07's.

I will check to see if the RS stock is real.

I suspect that we would get away with using a VP10N06 or a VP20N07 but need to check this.

Regards

XMexc

[noz]

Hi XMexc,

Because I have limited electronics knowledge I had to follow the 'copy exact' philosophy rather than try to identify equivalents. The orignals had VN05N written on them so thats what I replaced them with. They are made by ST and I have the datasheet pdf at home. I called Rapid and although they are still in their current printed catalogue they no longer stock them.

The VN05N's are still freely available but only in wholesale lots. They would probably only cost me 50p each if I bought a couple of hundred. I might just do it anyway despite the lack of response. I'm sure they'll slowly drift away as word gets around where to buy them in small quantities.


Hi Kiwi,

It costs 92p to send a first class letter from the UK to New Zealand by airmail which takes you up to 63g in weight - more than enough for 2 MOSFET's. Even if they end up being slightly heavier once packaged then you'll still be in the same ball park.

cheers

noz

This post has been edited by noz on July 26, 2006 12:52 pm

[xmexclusive]

Hi Noz

I have looked up the ST spec sheet. Their device is the VNP5N07 which is an eqivalent for the original VN05N that was made by Siliconex.
As far as I can tell ST have their eqivalent still in production and it is quoted on the RS web site as in stock.
If you do buy a batch I suspect you will actually get VNP5N07's
Put me down for 20 if this helps.

Regards

XMexc

[noz]

Hi XMexc,

heres a copy of the ST spec shet for the VN05N's.

Cheers

noz

[xmexclusive]

Hi Noz

Thanks for that.
I will check it out later tonight and find out if I have been generating more crap advice.

Regards

XMexc

[xmexclusive]

Hi Noz and All

Noz thanks for the spec sheet it was very helpful.

THESE DEVICES ARE NOT MOSFET TRANSISTORS but there is a mosfet transistor with a virtually identical index designation.

NOZ IS RIGHT. It is only these latter transistors that are now freely available.

The devices in the Suspension ECU are HIGH SIDE SMART POWER DRIVERS.
They are special integrated solid state circuits for driving resistive or inductive loads with one side grounded.

If they are no longer being stocked by the retailers then demand in the electronics industry has been low for a while.

Regards

XMexc

[kiwi]

Hi Noz,

Thanks for the info - count me in.

Regards,
Kiwi

[jorgy9]

Hi Noz,

put me in for 10 please?

thanks
George