Student/beginner-proof your arduino!

I am using arduino and a serial LCD keypad panel (guess who designed it?) in my electronics class. Two arduinos broke recently and were both the FTDI chip. So I realized that the 3.3V pin needs to be student-proof so they don't keep breaking more arduinos:

Just stick a wooden toothpick into the 3.3 pin and break off flush.

That is a problem with the older arduino boards that used the FTDI's internal 3.3vdc regulator to supply that shield pin, as it has like a 50ma current limit and seems to have no self protection from overcurrent draw.

The current Uno board has a on-board 3.3 voltage regulator which makes it less likely to cause problems as the regulator will shutdown if too much current is attempted to be drawn from it.

Lefty

Thanks Lefty! Yes these are Duemillanove.