Arduino Nano Board Input power Losses Com port

Development Tools IDE 1.x
1

I have a project on an arduino nano board. It runs fine on the usb input power.
When I run the unit on 10 volts DC to the vin pin it seems I have damaged the unit . It no longer
lets me up load programs to it. The software says can not connect though com port.
I have read that I can put 6 -20 DC. volts to the unit so I should be safe Correct?
Has happened to 2 units so far . Is there a problem with 10 volts to the vin pin ?

I have tried power cycle the unit and pushing the reset button . Neither fixes the com port issue.
Program still runs on the unit . Seems weird.

Ron

2

Clone or TRUE arduino ?

Could you also take a few moments to Learn How To Use The Forum.

Other general help and troubleshooting advice can be found here.
It will help you get the best out of the forum in the future.

3

Sorry did not know there was a difference other than maker.
Amazon Purchase

Emakefun Nano V3.0, Nano Board ATmega328P 5V 16M Micro-Controller Board with USB Cable for Arduino (Pre-soldered Nano 5pcs)

4

I have read that I can put 6 -20 DC. volts to the unit so I should be safe Correct?

From the tech specs on Arduino Nano — Arduino Official Store

Input Voltage 7-12 V

Is there a problem with 10 volts to the vin pin ?

Depends what else is connected to the Nano and how that is powered.

What does your OS think about the faulty board?

5

It is a CLONE.

They require a different driver to start with as mentioned in the links I provided.
First install the drivers.

Ensure that when you connect the board to the USB that it shows up in device manager under COM & LPT ports ?

Next remove any other items connected to the board.

I presume you have the IDE properly installed ?
If so continue and open the IDE and selects the dollowing, board AND the correct COM port AND the correct flavour (OLD BOOTLOADER)

Then try send an example sketch such as BLINK to the board.

Use the links I already gave to to provide any additional information.

6

The input voltage range you use depends greatly on what you have connected to your Arduino . The spec gives a survivable voltage range but ....

The little on board regulator takes whatever input voltage you connect and reduces it to 5v for the processor (etc) . The more you connect to the Arduino the more current passes through that regulator .
The current that passes multiplied by the voltage across the regulator gives the power in watts it must dissipate . So higher voltages and lots of current can easily over heat the regulator . Genuine Arduinos are likely to be better in this respect ,as they will have good quality voltage regulators, than many clones .
The specifications for genuine boards shouldn’t be considered as applicable for clones .

The best tip is to minimise load on the Arduino if using Vin.... and buy good boards !

7

So I found that if I lowered the input voltage to 7 volts the processor worked . The com port
issue which happened at the same time was a computer issue that may have been caused by the higher voltage.
I am not positive on that but after a reboot of the PC the com port worked again.
Restating the Arduino program did nothing to fix the com port issue . Thanks for the help ! I wonder how much of my issue is related to the device which is a clone Nano . I have to try a original Arduino and see if they are more reliable .