Ok so I just found out Frizting yesterday. And having been an Orcad (MS-DOS era...) user for a long time and feeling so outdated about it, I feel now that this is exactly what I've been needing for YEARS.
Fritzing allows me to design my board (even in protobard format, which I don't need but it's still amazing for beginners!) and get stright away to my board layout. Awesome...!!!
Now my question is, if I want to create a custom PCB based in an Arduino board (instead of starting from the bottom up with an ATMEGA, crystal, regulator, etc...) and then customize the board adding and removing what I need, would I get this fritzing schematic somewhere?
Cause for what I've seen, Fritzing includes the Arduino UNO/Mega/etc components but as a module, not as a board, so it will show there just like any other component and I can't add/remove components.
Does anyone know if I would be able to get this, once it's open hardware?
Never used Fritzing, and the images that come out of it are often so horribly unreadable that I'm not interested to try. Get a real CAD program such as KiCAD or Eagle to design boards - then you can also draw proper, readable circuit diagrams with more than minimal complexity.
Finding the exact layout of the boards should be easy, try Google. It's great. Arduino is open source hardware already, and has been from the get go.
Anyway, if you're trying to design your custom PCB, what is the place of the Arduino board in it? All you really need from the Arduino is the ATmega processor, and depending on your power source a regulator and some bypass caps and so.
Right after I posted my question, I started finding tons of posts telling how cr**y fritzing is, specially for any schematic that's beyond super-low-entry level
Ok I guess I will have to give Eagle a try. I've always heard of Eagle but never wanted to spend the time to learn it, but as I just left my job now this is the time
The only reason I would prefer my custom schematic to be based off an official arduino board schematic is because I don't want to miss anything. I mean, I have the real arduino board for my prototypes, I know it works, if I design my final board without using an Arduino board I may miss something and realize too late (when I've ordered a bunch of boards). Also I would try to keep the USB-Serial chip in my board too, isn't that usual in custom boards? I guess if I am not programming them all the time (which I shouldn't) I could always use an external interface...
Before producing your custom PCB, you normally have two other stages.
use the Arduino or other development board for experiments (my favourite is the NodeMCU as I do a lot with the ESP8266, and the Pro Mini as they fit on a solderless breadboard).
take the processor (DIP packing) and build the circuit around it on a solderless breadboard, making sure you are complete.
solder the whole shebang on protoboard - for a one-off you probably end here.
I found KiCAD (and I guess Eagle as well) helps here greatly as well - setting the grid to 2.54 mm you can lay out your components sensibly, using the leads to make quick connections to other components instead of having to make solder traces.
If you want more of the same:
4) design your PCB, send it to the PCB or PCBA factory, pay them, and get back your completed project a few weeks later. Solder on your components if you didn't have the factory assemble it (in which case you can really shrink your board size using tiny SMD components, easily down to 1/3-1/4 the area your protoboard took).
wvmarle:
Before producing your custom PCB, you normally have two other stages.
use the Arduino or other development board for experiments (my favourite is the NodeMCU as I do a lot with the ESP8266, and the Pro Mini as they fit on a solderless breadboard).
take the processor (DIP packing) and build the circuit around it on a solderless breadboard, making sure you are complete.
solder the whole shebang on protoboard - for a one-off you probably end here.
I found KiCAD (and I guess Eagle as well) helps here greatly as well - setting the grid to 2.54 mm you can lay out your components sensibly, using the leads to make quick connections to other components instead of having to make solder traces.
If you want more of the same:
4) design your PCB, send it to the PCB or PCBA factory, pay them, and get back your completed project a few weeks later. Solder on your components if you didn't have the factory assemble it (in which case you can really shrink your board size using tiny SMD components, easily down to 1/3-1/4 the area your protoboard took).
I like this propossed work flow. I will keep it in mind for my upcoming projects
Would you include the CH340/FT232 chip into your final board? It don't know how much it would increase the price but it would definitely ease the upgrade task in case you develop a newer version that has to be programmed in ALL your boards.
I'm using the ESP8266 so after one time programming over Serial (so I add a three-pin header for that, plus a two-pin header to tie GPIO0 to GND and get into update mode) you can do it over the air (OTA).
The Serial headers are after that the emergency recovery. Just using a USB to TTL adapter for that.
One thing I still have to figure out is security. If selling lots of those devices it's not a good idea to have an identical, fixed password for all of them
I am using Wemos boards right now, and loving them btw...
I read about the OTA uploading capabilities but haven't tried that yet.
BUT yesterday we met a potential client who needs some sensors in the middle of nowhere (no wifi, no GSM) and I JUST found out about SigFox (may not be used yet in the US if you're from there) but here in Spain and Europe in general seems to have a very good coverage, and there is a module MKRFOX1200 that puts together a beefed up Arduino (cortex chip actually) with a SigFox board, and I'm starting to get in love with this idea...It has 100% coverage everywhere here at a low cost (some modules are sold with one free license for 1 year)
It is a french company who started building a network specifically aimed at IoT messaging. It has almost full coverage here in Europe as of today. Planning to extend it worldwide.
It is limited to 140 messages a day, and 12 Bytes of payload on each message
When you buy a MKRFOX1200 (35€) you get 2 years of free license to use it. Normally you would pay 185€ for 10 1-year licenses
Main advante is full country-side coverage where Wifi / GSM is not accesible. So for agricultural solutions (like I'm planning) it fits 200%
I just ordered a MKRFOX1200 and I can't wait to have it here
Also the core is not a regular Atmega but a 32bit Cortex at 60MHz (so more advantages here)
Happy to see Hong Kong is covered No application for it as yet but that may come, sooner or later. I'd love to know more about the technological side but now no time to start browsing much.
Could you provide some details to explain the map you linked to ?
I presume, but could not find an explanation for, that the blue areas in the map are where you might get coverage and the purple areas are where you stand a better chance of getting coverage.
For my area the map of blue coverage looks like a prediction based on the terain and assumong there is an accessible Sigfox somewhere nearby.
So if I pay for a Sigfox subscription, do they guarantee that I get coverage ?
No I haven't had the chance to try it yet. I just ordered one yesterday, looking forward to have it in my hands!
I have ordered the MKRFOX1200 thru the official Arduino Store, it seems China is not providing the usual clones yet
Its cool that a complete Arduino+Sigfox module costs 35€ while a standalone SigFox module runs around 50-60€
So with 35€ I can have an IoT node sending stuff every 10 minutes for the next 2 years at no additional cost.
I contacted a lady who posted some question about sigfox here and she replied that so far she's liking Sogfox, she's happy with it and it keeps it's Thingspeak channel updated so far
Use eagle. Its highly customizable and you could learn how to use it in 1-2 try. Auto route function is a good time saver. You could use protheus but i recommend eagle if you dont want to simulate your circuit.