I am a softare programmer just starting with physical electronics so if my questions seem obvious that’s why:-) Please assume I know nothing.
I want to use a microcontroller such as the a* to switch on and off various things that operate on 12v dc such as fans from pc cases, a 10W led light, and some motors that were used to move the seats in an SUV.
I had been told I need something called a mosfet, then I found this “voltage regulators” category.
You could consider using our power switches for switching power for your fans and LEDs by using outputs from A-Star to drive the ON, OFF, or CTRL pins. However, you could also just get by with a simpler single MOSFET. You might find this resource from Electronics Tutorials useful for learning how you could use an n-channel MOSFET as a low-side switch.
If you want bidirectional control of your motors, then you will need an appropriately powerful motor driver or motor controller.
