[SOLVED] RX, TX as Normal GPIO pins

Projects General Guidance
1

I am making a multi - tool Tester with my Arduino Uno. My question is, Can I use RX and TX pins on Arduino as normal GPIO pins if I'm not using the Serial Buffer on Arduino ?

2

You can do it but it's a very bad design. On the UNO Rx and Tx are used by the IDE to download code and for debugging serial. print to serial monitor.
Use Software serial instead.

3

  • Yes, remember there are resistors connecting to these pins that might cause problems.

  • You can use A0-5 as digital pins too.

  • There are port expanders that might work for you.

4

What do you mean by Port Expanders. Can you explain about them a little ?

5

You can use I2C port expanders such as MCP23008 or MCP23017, with two pins you can have 8 or 16 I/O.

You could potentially connect eight MCP23008 or MCP23017 to the same bus by properly setting the addresses with A0 A1 A2, which could give you 64 or 128 I/O.

6

Thnx for explaining them. I have a proper plan for my project now.

1 Like
7

This topic was automatically closed 180 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.