How to program a Pro Mini with another Arduino

Forum 2005-2010 (read only) General Exhibition
1

Here is a simple way to program an Arduino Pro Mini without the use of a USB/FTDI programmer. All you need is another Arduino! Simply pull the cpu out of the board, and wire the following pins between the Arduino and Arduino Mini

RX -> RX
TX -> TX
+5v (or +3.3v) -> VCC
GND -> GND
Reset -> GRN (Reset/DTR)

That's it! Plug it in an program :slight_smile: You could also use this method to add serial/usb communications to your Pro Mini for debugging purposes (just don't wire up VCC if it's being powered from another source).

I used an Arduino Serial, but you could use a USB Arduino too.

It's pretty straightforward, but here are pictures anyways:



2

Reset -> GRN ?

Shouldn't that be reset to reset, so the auto-reset issued from the IDE will sync up the Pro Mini?

Lefty

3

GRN is reset/DTR :slight_smile: It's easiest to use all of the pins on the 6-pin header at the end of the Mini. There are many different ways to wire it up, but this is one of the simpler methods.

However... if you are using the Mini on a breadboard then it would make more sense to use the pins on the side... either way works.

4

Thanks for posting this, huge help
-A