Kai Klaas wrote:
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Adapted to Mahmoods 180mA lamp, this would result in a peak inrush current of about 1.6A!

I would experiment with the chip that Peter suggested perhaps rather than a 2803, since you get the serial/parallel interface as well, but I would be interested to see just how a 2803 behaves with a 500 usec inrush transient > 600mA. I know we have used several hundred 2803s for 20 years, driving 12V filament lamps, cycling once per second and I have never had a failure of the chip ! That is beyond any limits I'd assign to luck.

Steve