Which arduino?

Projects General Guidance
1

Hi,
I'm rather new to Arduino. Have done some project on the old ones years ago. However, there is more models now and if I ask questions here I can get more information quicker then reading and testing myself.

I looking for a suitable Arduino that most of the time is in sleep and saves battery. The only thing this Arduino are going to do is to blink a LED a part of a day and detect one digital input. I hope for a arduino that are fed by 3.3V and have low sleep current. Is this possible? Is it any Arduino that have this spec? 3.3V and sleep.
Why 3v3? I hope that I can use a Litihum battery 3.3V as power source.

Please give me a hint.

2

Google will give you LOTS of hints.... like the Arduino Pro Mini which runns at 3.3V

3

Arduino Pro Mini is maybe a good choice.

But describe the actual project, in particular whats connected to this Arduino and specifically why you need a 3.3V supply.

Also say what you mean by 'saves battery'.

How big a battery are you using and how long should it last, a day, a week, a month, 10 years ?

4

You confirm my thoughts about Mini. About battery. I hope for one year battery life time. I have not decided what battery to use. It depends on the Arduino sleep current. In a rather big project I work with we use CRP2 battery (1300mAh). If that capacity are needed to fulfill one-year battery lifttime I can place the whole construction in som small box.
On the other hand, If I can use a Mini with 3V and a CR2032 (coin battery) It would be very nice. Perhaps I can get rid of some regulator and LED:s on the PCB to get the current down.
I just looked at the Pro Mini 3V3....that should be the one. The regulator can be removed.

5

Well, for starters unless you have a "shield" in mind, you do not want to get a UNO. The Nano is much better for development.

But it contains the USB to serial converter which will waste current, and only runs on 5 V. Separate the USB to serial converter from it and you have the Pro Mini, of which there is a 3.3 V 8 MHz version. It still has a useless voltage regulator which will also waste a small amount of current and should be disabled, along with the "pilot" power LED.

An even more compact version is the "Digispark" but it also contains a regulator which is unnecessary for your purpose and programming is somewhat tedious.

6

Nano or Mini 3V? Hmm..... Nano have a Nordic processor and Mini have an Atmel. I'm used to Atmel but curious about the NRF-processor. The Mini needs a USB->serial converter that I can disconnect after development.
Perhaps the NRF-processor has less sleep current? I will check this!

7

There are many types of Nano these days, based on several different MCU chips, the one you mentioned, for example. Paul__B meant the original Nano, which is based on same AVR chip as Uno, Pro Mini, but would not be a good choice for your project for the reasons he mentioned.

As for the newer types of Nano, I'm not sure how easy it would be to get those down to get low power, and from what you say, they would be overkill for your project.

8

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