I am doing a project where i would like to make a portable device that vibrates at set time intervals...
I am going to use 2 NRF24L01 modules to comunicate wirelessly between 2 arduinos, one is an arduino uno and the other i cannot decide if it should be a pro mini or nano...
The Nano is only slightly larger than the mini yet, from my point of view, the mini looks much harder to set up and is less documented...
Which do you recommend to a complete newbie?
I want the final project to work with a coin vibration motor that goes off every hour and when a button is pressed on the transmitter circuit (connected to the uno), the vibration motor skips going off for an hour (hence the need for wireless)
For the mini to process this change, would an FTDI have to be permanently attached... or is this purely for uploading code from a computer?
Do you recomment this over the mini because it is easier?
I am so confused about connecting/setting them up... i would like the project to be without a breadboard (more portable), and will solder the final connections... but for practicing i think i will need to use a breadboard temporarily
Lower cost when you have multiple uses for the USB-TTL serial adapter or if you are using an ISP programmer to program the board and have no need for the USB-TTL serial chip.
If you destroy the Pro Mini, you can still use your USB-TTL serial adapter, or vice versa.
Smaller size.
I believe it has lower power usage since you don't need to power the USB-TTL serial adapter chip when it's not being used.
Amy0406:
the mini looks much harder to set up
I wouldn't go so far as "much harder". The trick is to get a USB-TTL serial adapter that has the "FTDI header" pinout, which is the pinout of header on the Pro Mini. If you get that and make sure the header on the Pro Mini corresponds to the gender on the adapter then you only need to make sure you plug the adapter in the right way. At that point there is essentially no difference between Pro Mini and Nano. In fact there is now an extra complication of the Nano in that you need to figure out which bootloader your Nano has on it make the correct Tools > Processor menu selection accordingly. And of course if you have the new bootloader then you need to make sure you have Arduino AVR Boards 1.6.21 installed. There is no such confusion with Pro Mini because they all have the same bootloader. Of course that complexity is far from insurmountable but certainly some people have been having a surprisingly hard time dealing with it.
That said, I do think the Nano is the best board for a beginner unless you are going to be using multiple boards and are on a very tight budget, in which case the Pro Mini takes the lead.
Amy0406:
The Nano is only slightly larger than the mini yet, from my point of view, the mini looks much harder to set up and is less documented...
This is not really right. Amongst all as described above, a fundamental difference between Pro Mini and Nano that the former requires conditioned power and programming through a USB adapter, while you can just plug a USB cable into a nano, just like Uno. This means Nano is 5v only.
An important consideration is that, by virtue of those NRF24s, you are clearly interested in remote operations. So note that Pro Mini is available in a 3.3v version and therefore eminently more suitable for running off batteries. The NRF is also 3.3v - which rather simplifies matters.
You might find Pro Mini worth the little extra effort.
Nick_Pyner:
Pro Mini is available in a 3.3v version and therefore eminently more suitable for running off batteries.
Makes interfacing with many sensors also easy.
One important point to note: the 3.3V version runs at 8 MHz (can't do 16 MHz at that voltage). Though that again is positive for battery powered operations as the lower clock speed means less power consumption.
