Seeeduino v4.2

Seeeduino v4.2 is an Open Source, Arduino-compatible ATmega328 MCU development board. We think Seeeduino v4.2 is one of the best Arduino derivatives/compatibles available. Seeeduino v4.2 is feature rich, much more stable, easy-to-use and even good looking.

Seeeduino v4.2 is based the Arduino UNO bootloader, an ATmega16U2 as a UART-to-USB converter (basically work like an FTDI USB2UART chip). The board comes with an additional set of through-hole pads for all pins. These pads are aligned to 0.1" grid. This makes it easy to solder additional pin-headers to plug into breadboard or create your own attachment/shield with 0.1" dot-matrix general purpose PCBs.

You can program the board via a micro-USB cable. Also, you can power the board via a DC Jack input (7 to 15V DC) is acceptable. There is a switch to choose the system's supply voltage either 3.3V or 5V, which is very useful if you want to set the system to 3.3V to interact with low voltage sensors.

Finally, the three on-board Grove interfaces can make your board connect to Grove modules easily. Want to make something awesome, maybe just a Seeeduino v4.2 and some Groves is enough.



Version Tracker

Product version Release date Support status Notes
Seeeduino v4.2 (v1.0, latest version) May 2015 Supported None
wiki for Seeeduino V4.0 Sept 2014 Not Supported None
wiki for Seeeduino V3.0 Jan 2012 Not Supported None
Seeeduino v2.21 Jan 2011 Not Supported None



Features


Specification

Item Value
DC Input Jack 7V-12V
DC output current
5V Pin / With Micro USB 500mA Max
5V Pin / With DC Jack Power 2000mA Max
3V3 Pin 500mA Max
DC Current per I/O Pin 40mA
Other specifications
Flash Memory 32 KB
RAM 2 KB
EEPROM 1 KB
Clock Speed 16 MHz
Dimension 68.6mm x 53.4mm
Weight 26g


Hardware Overview

The images below shows an overview of Seeeduino v4.2 hardware features. The pin-out and alternate functions of various pins of Seeeduino v4.2 are shown in the pin-out diagram. This could be used as a quick reference.

An LED is connected to D13 pin of the board. This can be used as an on-board LED indicator for programs/sketches.
USB Port is used to connect the board to your PC for programming and for powering up. Micro USB is the ubiquitous version of USB, found in most Android phones, and other devices. You probably have dozens of these cables laying around your house.
The TX and RX LED indicators are connected to Txd and Rxd of USB-to-UART chip. They work automatically, they let you know when the board is sending or receiving data respectively.
Slide switch is used to change the logic level and operating voltage of the board to either 5V or 3.3V. Nowadays, many new and great sensors are being developed to work only with 3.3V, with other *duino boards you would need to place a logic level converter between the board and these sensor(s). With the Seeeduino V4.2 board all you have to do is slide the switch!
The DC power jack allows your Seeeduino board to be powered from a wall adapter so that you can supply more power to your project if needed. For example when using DC motors or other high power devices. The DC input can be 7V-15V.
This button is conveniently placed on the side to allow you to reset the Seeeduino board even when a shield is placed on top. This is not the case in other -duino boards where the button is placed on top making it hard to access.
Just like the extra Digital header pads, these extra connections are something we have personally come to realize people need in their projects, especially the power connections if you want to power more than one sensor/device without the use of a breadboard.
SeeedStudio has a variety of sensors/devices that can make use of this I2C or UART connection. In addition, we sell independent Grove connectors to help you make our own sensor connections. The I2C Grove connector is also connected to analog pin A4 and A5 for SDA and SCL respectively if you would like to use those pins instead. The UART Grove connector is connected to digital pins 0 and 1 for RX and TX respectively.
This is the ICSP connection for the ATmega328P, it is located in the standard ICSP/SPI position for Arduino Uno, Due, Mega, and Leonardo compatible hardware (e.g. shields) that may use this connector. The SPI pins in this port: MISO, SCK, and MOSI, are also connected to digital pins 12, 13, and 11 respectively just like those of the Arduino Uno.
Pinout of USB-2-Uart. These pads can be used to interact with other UART devices by putting the on-board ATmega328 in reset mode. This makes Seeeduino V4.2 to be used a USB2UART utility board.
Sometimes it is very convenient to connect a sensor/device to your board directly instead of going through a breadboard, or perhaps you want to solder the sensor directly to the board once you've completed your project, or maybe you want to monitor the output of the pins while they're been used by other devices. In any cases we have added these extra pads to help you along the way. These pads are aligned in 0.1" grid and can conveniently work with general purpose dot-matrix PCBs .

Note: Take gentle care in handling micro USB socket, or you might break the socket off.

Getting Started

The general steps in using Seeeduino v4.2 are

  1. Download Arduino IDE software (for your platform)
  2. Install Drivers based on OS platform
  3. Compile and run your first sketch

Let us see how to get started in detail based on OS platform.

Getting Started on Windows

This part is based on the Getting Started with Arduino on Windows, click to view the original page.

Get a Micro-USB cable

You need a Micro-USB cable first, the data cable of an Android Phone will do fine.

If you can't find one, you can buy one here.

Download the Arduino Software (IDE)

Get the latest version from the download page. When the download finishes, unzip the downloaded file.

Connect the board

The Seeeduino V4.2 automatically draw power from either the USB connection to the computer or an external power supply.

Connect the Arduino board to your computer using the USB cable. The green power LED (labelled PWR) should go on.

Install the drivers

Installing drivers for the Seeeduino V4.2 with Windows 7, Vista, or XP

Installing drivers for the Seeeduino V4.2 with Windows 8/8.1

Firstly, you should disable the digital signature verification of your system. Follow the steps listed below:

You should save these files which you are editing before installing driver in Window 8,because there will several power off/on during the operation.

  • Press “Windows Key” +”R”
  • Enter shutdown.exe /r /o /f /t 00
  • Click the "OK" button.
  • System will restart to a "Choose an option" screen
  • Select "Troubleshoot" from "Choose an option" screen
  • Select "Advanced options" from "Troubleshoot" screen
  • Select "Windows Startup Settings" from "Advanced options" screen
  • Click "Restart" button
  • System will restart to "Advanced Boot Options" screen
  • Select "Disable Driver Signature Enforcement"
  • Once the system starts, you can install the Seeeduino driver.

And the rest of the steps are same as Win7.

Launch the Arduino application

Double-click the Arduino application (arduino.exe) you have previously downloaded. (Note: if the Arduino Software loads in a different language, you can change it in the preferences dialog. See the Arduino Software (IDE) page for details.)

Open the Blink example

Open the LED blink example sketch: File > Examples >01.Basics > Blink.

Select your board

You'll need to select the entry in the Tools > Board menu that corresponds to your Arduino.

Selecting an Arduino Uno:


Select your serial port

Select the serial device of the Arduino board from the Tools | Serial Port menu. This is likely to be COM3 or higher (COM1 and COM2 are usually reserved for hardware serial ports). To find out, you can disconnect your Arduino board and re-open the menu; the entry that disappears should be the Arduino board. Reconnect the board and select that serial port.


Upload the program

Now, simply click the "Upload" button in the environment. Wait a few seconds - you should see the RX and TX LED indicators on the board flashing. If the upload is successful, the message "Done uploading." will appear in the status bar.

A few seconds after the upload finishes, you should see the pin 13 (L) LED on the board start to blink (in orange). If it does, congratulations! You've gotten Arduino up-and-running. If you have problems, please see the troubleshooting suggestions.


Getting Started on Mac OS X

This part is base on the Getting Started w/ Arduino on Mac OS X, click to view the original page.

Download the Arduino environment

Get the latest version from the download page. When the download is finished, double-click the *.zip file. This will expand the Arduino application.


Install the Software

Copy the Arduino application into the Applications folder (or elsewhere on your computer).


Connect the board

The Seeeduino V4.2 automatically draw power from either the USB connection to the computer or an external power supply. Connect the Arduino board to your computer using the USB cable. The green power LED (labelled PWR) should go on.


Launch the Arduino application

Double-click the Arduino application.

Note: if the Arduino software loads in the wrong language, you can change it in the preferences dialog. See the environment page for details.


Open the blink example

Open the LED blink example sketch: File > Examples > 01.Basics > Blink.


Select your board

You'll need to select the entry in the Tools > Board menu that corresponds to your Arduino.

Selecting an Arduino Uno

Details of the board menu entries are available on the environment page.)


Select your Serial Port

Select the serial device of the Arduino board from the Tools > Serial Port menu. On the Mac, this should be something with /dev/tty.USBmodem (for the Uno or Mega 2560) or /dev/tty.USBserial (for older boards) in it.

Selecting an Uno


Upload the program

Now, simply click the "Upload" button in the environment. Wait a few seconds - you should see the RX and TX LED indicators on the board flashing. If the upload is successful, the message "Done uploading." will appear in the status bar.

A few seconds after the upload finishes, you should see the pin 13 (L) LED on the board start to blink (in orange). If it does, congratulations! You've gotten Arduino up-and-running. If you have problems, please see the troubleshooting suggestions.


Getting Started on Linux

For using on Linux, please go to Installing Arduino on Linux


Demo

Let us see three different simple projects using Seeeduino v4.2 and Grove modules.

1. Grove LED Blinking: digitalWrite() Tutorial

  1. Connect Grove - LED to UART Grove of Seeeduino v4.2. Apart from the UART functionality, UART Grove connector pins can be used for Digital functionality as well.
  2. In this project, Digital Pin 0 of Seeeduino v4.2 is connected to Grove - LED .

  1. Compile and upload the following sketch.
void setup() {
  // initialize digital pin 0 as an output.
  pinMode(0, OUTPUT);
}
 
// the loop function runs over and over again forever
void loop() {
  digitalWrite(0, HIGH);   // switch the LED on (HIGH is the voltage level)
  delay(500);              // wait for a half a second
  digitalWrite(0, LOW);    // switch the LED off by making the voltage LOW
  delay(500);              // wait for a half a second
}

2.Grove - Rotary Angle Sensor: analogRead() Tutorial

  1. Connect Grove - Rotary Angle Sensor to I2C Grove of Seeeduino v4.2. Apart from I2C functionality, I2C Grove connector pins can be used for Analog input functionality as well.
  2. In this project, Analog Pin 5 of Seeeduino v4.2 is connected to Grove - Rotary Angle Sensor.

  1. Compile and upload the following sketch.
unsigned int sensorValue;
 
void setup() {
  // initialize serial communications at 9600 bps:
  Serial.begin(9600);
}
 
void loop() {
  // read the analog in value:
  sensorValue = analogRead(A5);
 
  Serial.println(sensorValue);
 
  delay(1000);
}

Resources/References

Resources

References


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