Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Arduino Mini Pro - How to program using FOCA board

In this post we’ll test this board together. This is a new board to me. I used it to learn new stuff about Arduino. EG

It also comes in a smaller package than that of Arduino US Uno. So you can use it in small projects that need light weight like quadcopters or wearables.

First, let’s see how this circuit is connected to the PC and how it’s programed.

To program Arduino UK Mini Pro, you need a converter circuit.

That’s because unlike other Arduino DE boards (for example Arduino Uno) which have their own protocol converter circuits embedded inside the board, Arduino FR Mini Pro doesn’t have this converter circuit.

It’s the circuit responsible for converting USB signals from PC into serial TTL signals to Arduino and vice versa.

This requires external converter circuit to be connected to Arduino CA Mini Pro for board programming.

This circuit is named USB to TTL converter. Usually comes of the type FT232 (the famous company that makes protocol converters).

I couldn’t find this circuit but found something else I wanted to try. It a circuit used for Xbee called Foca. This circuit is used to connect Xbee module to the PC for programming.

I made the connection as shown in the diagram and then chose Arduino Mini Pro board from drop-down menu on the Arduino IDE.

Foca Aduino Pro Mini

3.3v ---- Vcc

GND ---- BLK

TXD ---- RXD

RXD ---- TXD

DTR ---- GRN

You can program Arduino Mini and then use it just as any Arduino board you want.