Hi guys, does the Uno R3 have other RX/TX pins other than pins 2 and 3? I'm planning on using the Atlas Scientific pH Sensor and an LCD. Both devices will be using the pins 2 and 3. I tried connecting the pH Sensor to 0 and 1 but it did not display data in the serial monitor. Thanks for the help guys!
The UNO only has one hardware serial port. You can generally add one serial port using SoftwareSerial.
If you need three serial ports you should try the Arduino Mega. It isn't much larger than the UNO and has three serial ports.
It's possible to configure another port into a hardware serial port using the SoftwareSerial? Did I understand that correctly? Would I be able to use that port as an alternative for the pH Sensor?
Hawhaw:
It's possible to configure another port into a hardware serial port using the SoftwareSerial? Did I understand that correctly? Would I be able to use that port as an alternative for the pH Sensor?
No, you can use SoftwareSerial to create a second serial port, but it is all software based. That means it does all of the delays, etc. in software, which may impact the speed other code runs on your Uno. The SoftwareSerial library does say that you can only read from a single software serial port at a time.
ATMega2560 has 4 serial ports. Pretty sure Mega2560 board makes them all available.
Serial, Serial1, Serial2, Serial3
Serial is connected to USB adapter chip.
So I won't be able to use the sensor and LCD on an Uno then. Is the Mega the next best thing?
LCD is fairly slow to update - if you try too fast, they become non-readable. Software serial is a good application for that.
Yes but the pins that the sensor will use will also be used by the LCD so the only option I have if I want to use the sensor and LCD is to use a Mega instead of an Uno am I right?
You have 20 IO pins, 6 of which may analog inputs.
Doesn't sound like you are using all 20. Why not seperate the devices and tweak the software a little so both are not using 2 & 3?
But I thought that I needed hardware serial ports in order for them to work? And by software do you mean the sensor's software? Could you please explain this to me? I'm a total beginner in Arduino and even programming itself. Thanks!
Post some links for what you are connecting.
Keep in mind that you have a single "thread" microcontroller - only one thing at a time will happen.
So: read the sensor, process the data, send it to the LCD screen.
This is the sensor I will be using.
https://www.atlas-scientific.com/product_pages/sensors/ph-sensor.html
The LCD I will be using will be the LCD included in the Arduino Starter Set. I will also be using the Uno that comes with the Starter Set.