Student/beginner-proof your arduino!

[liudr]

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:

[retrolefty]

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

[liudr]

Thanks Lefty! Yes these are Duemillanove.