Have I destroyed my Mini Pro and FTDI basic breakout boards?

I have an Arduino Mini Pro 3.3V and before soldering right angle male headers onto it, I scrubbed the terminals with a fiberglass pencil. I'm worried this may have damaged it because the multimeter I have shows the GND and BLK pins are connected to each other. Is this supposed to be the case or is this an indication that I have ruined it?

I have had a similar problem with my 3.3V FTDI basic breakout board as the multimeter shows the GND and CTS pins are both connected in the same way. Is this meant to be the case?

I can't get the things to work so I'm wondering whether my soldering job may be the problem!

Thanks, I'll be so grateful if you guys could help as things just are not going well for me at the moment and it's causing me a hell of a lot of grief.

1 .Download the eagle files from the sparkfun.

2. After you take a look in the board file, at the wirings, check them with the multimeter your Arduino.
3. If something doesn't seem to be there, resolder carefully, and if it doesn't still work, rewire the Arduino wirings with some thin wire to the closest part.
4. Yes. GND and CTS are both the ground.
5. Why did you scrubbed with a fiberglass pencil?

CTS and GND are shorted on the MiniPro IIRC - In fact GND is black, CTS is the second pin. Having CTS grounded means the computer can always send serial even if nothing's listening.

My Sparkfun 5V Basic breakout has CTS going to the chip, not ground. Perhaps there is a different design or yours is shorted - it should still work if CTS is grounded as that's how it would be if plugged into the Mini Pro anyway.

MarkT:
CTS and GND are shorted on the MiniPro IIRC - In fact GND is black, CTS is the second pin. Having CTS grounded means the computer can always send serial even if nothing's listening.

My Sparkfun 5V Basic breakout has CTS going to the chip, not ground. Perhaps there is a different design or yours is shorted - it should still work if CTS is grounded as that's how it would be if plugged into the Mini Pro anyway.

I scrubbed it to get the solder to stick better.

This is worrying, I can't seem to get it to work.

You might have to press reset when uploading. Just as the message about how many bytes compiled pops up.

I tried that but it didn't seem to work.

I've ordered a new Arduino Mini Pro and one of the newer 3.3V FTDI basic breakout boards so hopefully this time round it'll work if I avoid scrubbing it with the abrasive fiberglass pen. I'll clean it with isopropyl alcohol instead I think.

Seriously, I have never programmed a '328 at 3v3. I am not sure what the point of a 3v3 TTL porgramer is, unless you are programming a 3v3 device like an XBee or you do not have a 3v3 regulator on the device for serial communications.

My recommendation is get a 5v0 FTDI breakout and check that out. I will test the 3v3 upload tomorrow on a 8MHz Arduino, but I know that my Seeed Stalker uses 5v0 upload (Board files are 3v3/8MHz) but it operates at 3v3/8MHz. Yes, the 5v0 pin is alive when the FTDI is hooked up.

Bearlover:
I tried that but it didn't seem to work.

I've ordered a new Arduino Mini Pro and one of the newer 3.3V FTDI basic breakout boards so hopefully this time round it'll work if I avoid scrubbing it with the abrasive fiberglass pen. I'll clean it with isopropyl alcohol instead I think.

I didn't clean mine before soldering and it worked just fine.

Bearlover:
I can't get the things to work so I'm wondering whether my soldering job may be the problem!

From what you've described, I seriously doubt think you've damaged anything physically.

All the same, just to simplify things, forget the abrasives and alcohol to get the solder to stick better. It'll stick just fine all by itself. The only time you need to clean things up is if they are seriously corroded or contaminated with gunk. In that case, a light abrasive and something like isopropyl would probably be fine.

I'd look for your problem elsewhere. These are very robust components, and difficult to damage.

I used a fiberglass "Brush" for many years to clean corroded connectors, Like the 37 pin Centronics Printer cable from old school printers. The Brush I used was the one used for cleaning photographic film emulsion from Movie Film for splicing. They can be purchased in any camera store and are great for cleaning the green (nickle plating) crystals form poorly plated "Gold" connectors. They are however not real friendly to people unfamiliar with them as the tool WILL remove most anything if you scrub hard enough, a very light touch should be used and the tool is not usually required for plated copper but very good on unplated copper. Use with great caution.

Bob

Hiya guys I want to thank you for your help. I got one of the newer 3.3V FTDI basic breakout boards with the female connection already soldered on. I tried it with the new Mini Pro board I bought and it worked! I also tried it with the older one and it also worked, so the old FTDI basic breakout board was the culprit.

For some reason I just could not do a decent job of soldering the ftdi basic breakout board even though I did a perfect job on both Mini Pros.

Thanks for the insight into soldering though by the way. I've still got a lot to learn!

I've still got a lot to learn!

That is a comment that fits many of us, Me in particular. I learned to solder at a young age because I was interested and my mother worked in the late '50's in the defense industry... I could do what was at that time was called Mil Spec soldering. So I am not commenting on your ability to solder. I've found it is an Art that requires much practice to be competent. My area of ignorance or lack of learning is the language... But I started with an Arduino in March and last night in less than an hour had a GLCD reporting Date, Time, Temperature, Barometric Pressure and tonight R.H. In late April it took me 4 day's to make the first BMP085 sketch work on an Uno with a 4 X 20 line LCD Display, Last night was all on a Mega, Not an UNO and by friday it will have Radio and X10 scheduled by the GPS Receiver and the Time Library for internal control and for external weather conditions. Keep on Working at it, IT will become better as time goes by.

Bob

Well I don't know about you, but I certainly find soldering to be quite therapeutic and satisfying, so I am sure with a bit of practice I will get as good as you some day. I do dread dealing with SMT components though, although it's not an impossible task I hear.