MicroSD and voltage converter

Other Hardware Storage
1

Hi
On one of Sparkfun's product pages says:
'all new microSD shields have a voltage converter chip on-board that converts the Arduino 5V signals to 3.3V signals in accordance with SD specifications. No more 'blown up' SD cards!'

I have a couple of Breakout Boards for microSD Transflash (SparkFun microSD Transflash Breakout - BOB-00544 - SparkFun Electronics) with no voltage converter and I wonder if I am going to burn the microcontroller or the SDs in my projects...
is it always necessary to have such a chip?

2

Yes, use at a minimum a resistor voltage divider for the inputs that are 5v from the arduino.
A better solution is to use a hex buffer and power the outputs of that at 3.3v.
The hex buffer is better as you can drive the spi at full speed, voltage dividers are 'iffy' (google it).

3

thank u for the reply :slight_smile: