This 2xAA battery holder puts a nice finishing touch on your battery powered project. This holder features a removable, sliding cover, which is secured with a small phillips head screw. Another bonus is the ON/OFF switch which can be used to control power to your project.

The leads are about 150mm, and the last 5mm of them are tinned.

Features

67.9 x 32.8 x 18.25mm

Brand new and better than ever, we've replaced our Adafruit GPS shield kit with this assembled shield that comes with an Ultimate GPS module. This GPS shield works great with either UNO or Leonardo Arduinos and is designed to log data to an SD card. Or you can leave the SD card out and use the GPS for a geocaching project, or maybe a music player that changes tunes depending on where you are in the city. 

-165 dBm sensitivity, 10 Hz updates, 66 channels

Low power module - only 20mA current draw, half of most GPS's

Assembled & tested shield for Arduino Uno/Duemilanove/Diecimila/Leonardo (not for use with Mega/ADK/Due)

MicroSD card slot for datalogging onto a removable card

RTC battery included, for up to 7 years backup

Built-in datalogging to flash

PPS output on fix

Internal patch antenna + u.FL connector for external active antenna

Power, Pin #13 and Fix status LED

Big prototyping area

Each order comes with one assembled and tested shield, a stick of 0.1" male header and a 12mm coin cell. Some light soldering is required to attach the header to the shield in order to plug it into your Arduino. if you want to stack a shield on top, be sure to pick up a set of stacking headers to use instead. MicroSD card not included either, but we do stock them in the shop!If your project is going to be inside an enclosure, you'll love this shield as it has external antenna support. Simply connect an external active GPS antenna via a uFL/SMA cable to the shield and the module will automatically switch over to use the antenna. You can then place the antenna wherever you wish.We think this is the Ultimate GPS shield and we also think you'll agree! For more details, tutorials and example code check out our comprehensive tutorial

Adafruit Ultimate GPS Logger Shield - Includes GPS Module (0:55)

It's 10PM, do you know where your Raspberry Pi is? If you had this GPS HAT, you would! This new HAT from Adafruit adds our celebrated Ultimate GPS on it, so you can add precision time and location to your Raspberry Pi Model Pi 3, Pi Zero, A+, B+, or Pi 2

Here's the low-down on the GPS module:

-165 dBm sensitivity, 10 Hz updates, 66 channels

Only 20mA current draw

Built in Real Time Clock (RTC) - slot in a CR1220 backup battery for 7-years or more of timekeeping even if the Raspberry Pi is off!

PPS output on fix, by default connected to pin #4

Internal patch antenna which works quite well when used outdoors + u.FL connector for external active antenna for when used indoors or in locations without a clear sky view

Fix status LED blinks to let you know when the GPS has determined the current coordinates

We spun up a HAT based on our Ultimate GPS, added a coin-cell holder for RTC usage, break-outs for all the Raspberry Pi's extra pins, and plenty of prototyping area for adding LEDs, sensors, and more.

Please note, this HAT takes over the Raspberry Pi's hardware UART to send/receive data to and from the GPS module. So, if you need to use the RX/TX pins with a console cable, you cannot also use this HAT. Instead, you'll have to use a composite or HDMI monitor and keyboard to log in, or use ssh to connect over the network to your Pi. Read up on our tutorial for more information on how to use this fine HAT

Comes as a fully assembled GPS + PCB and an additional 2x20 GPIO header. Some light soldering is required to attach the 2x20 GPIO header to the HAT but it's fast and easy for anyone with a soldering iron and solder. You can also swap the plain female header we have with a 'stacky' type that lets you plug in a hat or GPIO cable on top or a slim ultra-low-profile header.

To make air-shipping eaiser, this HAT does not come with a 12mm coin battery! A CR1220 will let you use the real-time-clock capability of the GPS HAT, you can pick one up locally or order one from us.

This programmable module combines with a Raspberry Pi to serve as the control center of a small robot or electronics project. Its ATmega32U4 AVR microcontroller comes preloaded with an Arduino-compatible bootloader, and the board includes dual motor drivers that can deliver 1.8 A per channel to two brushed DC motors. An efficient voltage regulator (2.7 V to 11 V input) and level shifters enable it to power and communicate with a Raspberry Pi. This version (item #3117) is assembled with selected through-hole connectors and components installed for use as a Raspberry Pi add-on.

A-Star 32U4 Robot Controller LV with Raspberry Pi Bridge, bottom view with dimensions.

The A-Star 32U4 Robot Controller LV with Raspberry Pi Bridge is a programmable module well-suited for robotics applications, designed to work either as an auxiliary controller mounted to a Raspberry Pi or as a standalone control solution for a small robot. This A-Star (abbreviated A*) is based on the ATmega32U4 AVR microcontroller from Microchip (formerly Atmel), which has built-in USB functionality, and it ships with a preloaded Arduino-compatible bootloader. Its complement of peripheral hardware includes dual motor drivers capable of delivering a continuous 1.8 A per channel, along with pushbuttons, LEDs, and an optional buzzer for building a user interface. An efficient switching voltage regulator allows the controller to work over a wide range of input voltages (2.7 V to 11 V).

The robot controller board conforms to the Raspberry Pi HAT specification, allowing it to be used as an add-on for a Raspberry Pi with a 40-pin GPIO header (Model B+ or newer, including Pi 3 Model B and Model A+) . On-board level shifters make it easy to set up I²C communication and interface other signals between the two controllers, and the A-Star automatically supplies 5 V power to an attached Raspberry Pi. In this setup, the Raspberry Pi can handle the high-level robot control while relying on the A-Star for low-level tasks like reading analog sensors and controlling timing-sensitive devices (e.g. servos).

We provide a library that helps establish communication between the A-Star and a Raspberry Pi, as well as a tutorial that demonstrates how to use the library and its included example code to build such a robot.

Our comprehensive user’s guide provides the basics you need to get started with the A-Star as well as detailed technical information for advanced users.

This product requires a USB A to Micro-B cable (not included) to connect to a computer.

Driving motors with an A-Star 32U4 Robot Controller LV with Raspberry Pi Bridge on a Raspberry Pi Model B+ or Pi 2 Model B.

A-Star 32U4 Robot Controller LV (2.7 V to 11 V) configurations:

Item #3116: Surface mount components only (no through-hole components or mounting hardware)

Item #3117: Assembled with selected through-hole components for use as a Raspberry Pi add-on (Raspberry Pi mounting hardware included)

A-Star 32U4 Robot Controller SV (5.5 V to 36 V) configurations:

Item #3118: Surface mount components only (no through-hole components or mounting hardware)

Item #3119: Assembled with selected through-hole components for use as a Raspberry Pi add-on (Raspberry Pi mounting hardware included)

Dimensions: 65 mm × 56 mm (2.6″ × 2.2″)

Programmable ATmega32U4 MCU with 32 KB flash, 2.5 KB SRAM, 1 KB EEPROM, and native full-speed USB (clocked by precision 16 MHz crystal oscillator)

Preloaded with Arduino-compatible bootloader (no external programmer required)

All 26 general-purpose I/O lines from the ATmega32U4 are broken out (including PB0, PD5, and PE2); 7 of these can be used as hardware PWM outputs and 12 of these can be used as analog inputs (some I/O lines are used by on-board hardware)

Convenient 0.1″-spaced power, ground, and signal connection points

Dual bidirectional DRV8838 motor drivers (1.8 A per channel)

Buzzer option for simple sounds and music

3 user-controllable LEDs

3 user pushbuttons

Reset button

Level shifters for interfacing 5 V logic to 3.3 V Raspberry Pi

Power features:

5 V power can be sourced from USB or from a 2.7 V to 11 V external supply through on-board regulator (with several access points for connecting external power)

Switching 5 V regulator enables efficient operation

Power switch for external power inputs

Reverse-voltage protection on external power inputs

Power selection circuit allows for seamless switching between power sources while providing overcurrent protection, and feedback about which power source is selected

Provides 5 V power to Raspberry Pi

5 V power can be sourced from USB or from a 2.7 V to 11 V external supply through on-board regulator (with several access points for connecting external power)

Switching 5 V regulator enables efficient operation

Power switch for external power inputs

Reverse-voltage protection on external power inputs

Power selection circuit allows for seamless switching between power sources while providing overcurrent protection, and feedback about which power source is selected

Provides 5 V power to Raspberry Pi

6-pin ISP header for use with an external programmer

Comprehensive user’s guide

A-Star 32U4 Robot Controller LV with Raspberry Pi Bridge with included hardware.

This version of the A-Star 32U4 Robot Controller LV with Raspberry Pi Bridge (2.7 V to 11 V input voltage) is assembled with selected through-hole connectors and components for use as a Raspberry Pi expansion board, as shown in the picture above. A 2×20-pin 0.1″ female header is preinstalled to serve as a Raspberry Pi GPIO connector, and a 6-pin strip of terminal blocks and a DC power jack are mounted for motor and power connections. A buzzer is also installed, along with two 2×1-pin male headers and shorting blocks for the buzzer and battery level jumpers.

This version ships with a set of four M2.5 standoffs (11 mm length), screws, and nuts that can be used to secure the board to the Raspberry Pi at the proper height for the GPIO connector.

For a version with SMT components only, making it more suitable for standalone use and allowing customization of through-hole components, see item #3116. For example, if you want to continue to have access to the Raspberry Pi’s 40 GPIO pins while the A-Star is plugged in, you can get the SMT-only version and install a stackable 2×20-pin female header.

A major feature of the A* Robot Controller LV is its power system, which allows it to efficiently operate from a 2.7 V to 11 V external source and provide power to an attached Raspberry Pi. The input voltage is regulated to 5 V by a TPS63061 switching step-up/step-down (buck-boost) converter from Texas Instruments. (We also make a standalone regulator based on this integrated circuit.) The regulator’s flexibility in input voltage is especially well-suited for battery-powered applications in which the battery voltage begins above 5 V and drops below 5 V as the battery discharges. Without the typical restriction on the battery voltage staying above 5 V throughout its life, a wider range of battery types can be considered. For example:

A 4-cell battery holder, which might have a 6 V output with fresh alkalines or a 4.0 V output with partially discharged NiMH cells, can be used to power this A*.

A disposable 9 V battery powering the board can be discharged to under 3 V instead of cutting out at 6 V, as with typical linear or step-down regulators.

As shown in the left graph below, the LV’s 5 V switching regulator has an efficiency – defined as (Power out)/(Power in) – of 80% to 90% for most combinations of input voltage and load.

The A-Star’s components, including the microcontroller and LEDs, draw 30 mA to 40 mA in typical applications (without the buzzer). The rest of the regulator’s achievable output current, which depends on input voltage as well as ambient conditions, can be used to power other devices; this can include an attached Raspberry Pi (which typically draws a few hundred milliamps). The blue line in the right graph above shows output currents at which the voltage regulator’s over-temperature protection typically kicks in after a few seconds. These currents represent the limit of the regulator’s capability and cannot be sustained for long periods; under typical operating conditions, a safe limit for the maximum continuous regulator output current is 60% to 70% of the values shown in the graph.

Like our other A-Star 32U4 programmable controllers, the A-Star 32U4 Robot Controller ships with a preloaded Arduino-compatible bootloader (which uses 4 KB of flash memory, leaving 28 KB available for the user program). We provide a software add-on that enables the board to be easily programmed from the Arduino environment and an Arduino library to make it easy to use the additional on-board hardware.

The A-Star 32U4 Robot Controller has the same microcontroller as the Arduino Leonardo and Arduino Micro, and it runs at the same frequency, so most code examples intended for those boards should also work on the A-Star.

The A-Star 32U4 Robot Controller is a part of our larger A-Star 32U4 family, all of whose members are based on the same ATmega32U4 microcontroller, feature native USB interfaces, and are preloaded with Arduino-compatible bootloaders. The table below shows some key features and specifications of our A-Star microcontroller boards to help you choose the right one for your application.

People often buy this product together with:

Having a discrete, slick, and tidy power supply is always tricky when taking a project on the go...but get ready to roam the earth worry free with the tiny little Pimoroni LiPo Shim! It aims to give you the most compact power supply possible for all versions of Raspberry Pi.

You can either solder the 0.8mm thick PCB directly to the bottom of your GPIO header for a permanent solution or solder on the provided 2x6 0.1" female header which will allow you to remove your LiPo Shim at any time (but will block the GPIO pins).

It uses the TPS61232 Step-Up Boost Converter from Texas Instruments which offers up to 96% efficiency. The board includes power on and battery low indicator LEDs. During shutdown (due to undervoltage or external selection) the quiescent current is just 15uA sip.

Please note: This is not a charger, you will need a separate charger to keep your LiPo/LiIon batteries juiced up! We recommend using our Micro Lipo to top up your battery.

Features:

0.8mm thick PCB

Shaped to sit as low as possible on the Raspberry Pi 3, 2, Zero, A+, B+

2-pole JST connector ideal for most LiPo/LiIon batteries

Power and low battery LED indicators

Supplies up to 1.5A continuous current

Low battery warning at 3.4V (assets GPIO #4 high)

Automatic shutdown at 3.0V to protect your battery

VBAT+, GND, and EN pins available to break out

15uA quiescent current

Locate your stuff! The Asset Tracker Kit from Particle contains all of the pieces you need to build a GSM + GPS location tracker for your most prized possessions. In addition to a GPS Shield, the Asset Tracker Kit comes with a weatherproof enclosure, so it’ll keep your electronics safe from the dust, dirt, and moisture of the great outdoors. Keep your bicycle, baby, and backpack safe--satellite lock onto this bargain project kit today!

The Asset Tracker Kit comes with a Particle SIM card with service in more than 100 countries worldwide, and includes 3 months of Particle's 1MB monthly data plan for IoT devices. All Electrons also include Particle's development tools, access to a cloud platform with messaging, and a SIM dashboard for managing and updating your new connected hardware.

The Electron is a GSM-only device, and does not support CDMA networks. Some US carriers are planning to sunset their 2G networks beginning in 2017, so the Electron 3G (Americas) is recommended for customers in the US.

This is the 2G Global version. Particle also offers two types of Electron 3G Kits—the aforementioned one for North and South America (850/1900 MHz) and one for Europe/Asia/Africa (900/1800 MHz). Check the full list of compatible countries for the location in which your product will be deployed.

Contents:

Electron

USB Micro B Cable

Particle SIM Card

Cellular Antenna

2000mAh LiPo Battery

Particle Sticker

Resistor 220-Ohm

Breadboard

Photoresistor

Bright LED - White

Basic Data Charges*:

Particle's 1MB monthly data plan: - 3 months included with kit- $2.99/month for 1MB (thousands of messages) - No contracts, cancel anytime

$0.99/each additional MB

3G Global and 3G Americas/Aus versions also available.

*Data rates vary by country and by data usage, see here for full pricing and bulk discounts.

** Continent compatibility is simplified and exceptions exist. Please be sure to check the full list of compatible countries for the location in which your product will be deployed.

The Particle Power Shield is the best way to—you guessed it—provide power to your mobile Particle projects. Based around the MCP73871 battery management controller, this shield allows you to simultaneously power a Photon and charge a connected Li-Ion or Li-Po battery. You'll also be able to monitor battery levels using the Photon itself, which makes the Power Shield the best way to untether your wireless project.

Besides the on-board USB port, you can also use an external DC power supply or solar-cell to charge the battery.

This shield ships with a 3.7V, 2000mAh Li-Po battery and headers. Plug & Play - No soldering required!

Designed for use with the Photon, backwards compatible with the Core.

This is the PurpleTooth Jamboree a full-function board, designed to provide audio bridge support through the A2DP, HFP, and AVRCP Bluetooth Classic profiles. The module is also dual mode which means it can operate as Bluetooth 2.1 or Bluetooth 4.0 (BLE). It includes circuitry for converting single-ended audio inputs and microphones to balanced inputs for the module, and converting the module’s balanced audio output to an amplified single-ended signal suitable for line-input and headphones. The PurpleTooth also includes buttons for pairing and sending audio commands to remote devices, battery charge circuitry, and six-pin serial headers pinned out for connecting to either FTDI basic boards or boards like the Arduino Pro, Pro Mini, and LilyPad.

Each PurpleTooth Jamboree comes standard with a BC127 Bluetooth module, an extremely competent and easy-to-use dual-mode Bluetooth radio. In command mode, any data coming in on the serial port is treated as commands and will be parsed accordingly by the module’s command interpreter. In data mode, any data arriving over the serial port will be directly piped out over the Bluetooth link, assuming that the module is connected to another device using the Serial Port Protocol.

The PurpleTooth is equipped with one Mic in / LINE in 3.5mm jack (with additional 4-pin through-hole mic adapters), one Headphone / LINE out 3.5mm jack (with additional 4-pin through-hole L/R speaker adapters), seven button volume, track, play and pair control, serial to micro and FTDI support, and a USB micro port for power and updating the firmware (you will need a 5V FTDI for serial commands).

The SparkFun H2OhNo! is a water sensor alarm kit that you build yourself. When water is detected across the sense pins an alarm goes off and an LED starts blinking. If you’ve ever had a water heater explode or tried to create submersible electronics you know how important it is to be able to detect when water is around!

Underneath the default function of H2OhNo! is a small but powerful development board for the ATtiny85 microcontroller. The board includes a buzzer, LED, a coin cell battery, and the ability to detect analog and digital sensors. This mixture of parts creates a great low-cost tool to learn how to program and sense things!

This board can be re-programmed to be an Annoy-A-Tron (originally made by Think Geek). Please annoy respectfully, otherwise your board may get demolished.

Note: Please check the hookup guide below for helpful tips and assembly instructions.

Note: Due to the requirements of shipping the battery in this kit, orders may take longer to process and therefore do not qualify for same-day shipping. Additionally, these batteries can not be shipped via Ground or Economy methods to Alaska or Hawaii. Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.

Get Started with the H2OhNo! Guide

Includes

1x H2OhNo! PCB

1x ATtiny85 (Pre-Programmed)

1x 20mm Coin Cell Battery Holder

1x CR2032 Coin Cell Battery

1x Slide Switch

1x 2kHz Piezo Speaker

1x 8-pin DIP Socket

1x Super Bright Red LED

2x Jumper Wire

1x Capacitor 0.1uF

Features

22.86mm x 52.07mm (0.90" x 2.05")

Use this motor driver and power distribution board to get your Romi chassis running quickly. It offers all of the same features as the smaller Power Distribution board for Romi Chassis — battery contact slots, reverse voltage protection, several power switching options, and easy access to the various power busses — and adds a two-channel motor driver and powerful switching step-down regulator that can supply a continuous 2.5 A at 5 V or 3.3 V. Just add a microcontroller and sensors to complete your Romi robot.

This motor driver and power distribution board is designed specifically for the Romi chassis as a convenient way to drive the chassis’s motors and power the rest of the electronics that make up your robot. It features two DRV8838 motor drivers, one for each of the chassis’s motors, and a powerful switching step-down regulator that can supply a continuous 2.5 A at 5 V or 3.3 V. The board has slots for soldering in the Romi chassis battery contact tabs, and it incorporates the power switching and distribution functionality from the Power Distribution Board for Romi Chassis, so it offers all of the same features: reverse voltage protection, several power switching options based on the patented latching circuit from the Pololu pushbutton power switch, and easy access to the various power buses.

The board has a small pushbutton already installed for controlling power (one push turns power on and another push turns it off) and offers convenient points for connecting external pushbutton or tactile switches in parallel. It also offers several alternate pushbutton connection options that result in push-on-only or push-off-only operation, and additional inputs enable further power control options like allowing your robot to turn off its own power. Alternatively, the board can be reconfigured to disable the pushbutton circuit and give control to the small installed slide switch.

The board’s control pins and power buses are accessible through a set of 0.1″-spaced pins that are compatible with standard 0.1″ male and 0.1″ female headers, and the power buses are also accessible through a larger set of holes that are compatible with 3.5mm-pitch terminal blocks (you can combine a 2-pin block and a 3-pin block into a single 5-pin block that spans the three power holes and two ground holes).

Two 1/4″ #2-56 screws and two #2-56 nuts are included for mounting the board to the Romi chassis, and two low-profile female headers are included for connecting the motors to the board.

Installation

Motor Driver and Power Distribution Board for Romi Chassis with included hardware.

Motor Driver and Power Distribution Board for Romi Chassis mounted on a chassis prior to motor installation.

Before installing the motor driver and power distribution board on a Romi chassis, you should solder any headers, terminal blocks, wires, or other connectors you plan to use on the board. You have a few options for connecting the Romi chassis’s motors to the board:

If you plan on using the Romi Encoder Pair Kit with your motors, we recommend you solder these included female headers into the outer sets of holes (closest to the edges of the board) directly below where the motors will be. With the Romi encoders mounted on your motors and their included male header pins installed facing down, they will plug directly into these female headers when you push the motors into the motor clips.

The Romi Encoder can plug directly into the Motor Driver and Power Distribution Board for Romi Chassis.

Alternatively, if you do not intend to use Romi encoders, we recommend soldering wires to your motor leads and installing 3.5mm-pitch terminal blocks to the motor driver output holes along the front edge of the board. These terminal blocks will let you make temporary connections between your motors and the motor driver board. We suggest connecting the forward lead of each motor to the + (positive) motor output so that the motor directions will match the behavior described below.

Please read the rest of this page carefully to determine what additional connectors you might want and where they should be installed.

It is possible to remove the board from the chassis later to solder additional connections, and some of the through holes can be soldered through the slots in the chassis while the board is mounted, but soldering beforehand is easier and avoids the risk of inadvertently melting the chassis with your soldering iron.

The four battery terminals should be soldered to the board after it is mounted on the chassis, as described in the chassis assembly instructions. You will be able to remove the board and battery contacts from the chassis as a single piece after soldering.

Once your you have soldered your through-hole connections to the motor driver and power distribution board, please follow the instructions given in the Pololu Romi Chassis User’s Guide to finish assembling the chassis, mounting the control board, and soldering in the battery contacts. (The diagrams in those instructions show assembly with the larger Romi 32U4 Control Board, but the same steps apply for the smaller motor driver and power distribution board.)

Motor drivers

The motor driver and power distribution board has two Texas Instruments DRV8838 motor drivers that can power the Romi chassis’s motors. We recommend careful reading of the DRV8838 datasheet (1MB pdf) for information about the drivers.

By default, the drivers’ motor voltage (VM) is supplied by the board’s switched battery voltage, VSW, and their logic voltage (VCCMD) is supplied by the on-board regulator output, VREG (5 V by default). If you want to customize these voltages, you can cut the jumpers labeled VM = VSW and VCCMD = VREG and connect appropriate supplies to the VM and VCCMD pins.

The DRV8838 offers a simple two-pin PHASE/ENABLE control interface, which this board makes available for each motor as DIR and PWM, respectively. The DIR pin determines the motor direction (low drives the motor forward, high drives it in reverse) and the PWM pin can be supplied with a PWM signal to control the motor speed. The DIR and PWM control inputs are pulled low through weak internal pull-down resistors (approximately 100 kΩ). When the PWM pin is low, the motor outputs are both shorted to ground, which results in dynamic braking of a connected motor.

The two drivers’ SLEEP pins (labeled SLP) are connected together by default and can be driven low to put the drivers into a low-power sleep mode and turn off the motor outputs, which is useful if you want to let the motors coast. The SLEEP pins are pulled high through 10 kΩ pull-up resistors on the board so that the drivers are awake by default. In most applications, these pins can be left disconnected; if you want independent control of SLEEP on each side, you can cut the jumper labeled SLP L = R. The two SLEEP pins should not be driven separately without cutting this jumper.

The following simplified truth table shows how each driver operates:

Encoder connections

The motor driver and power distribution board is designed to allow the Romi Encoder Pair Kit to plug directly into the encoder headers. The encoders can be used to track the rotational speed and direction of the robot’s drive wheels. They provide a resolution of 12 counts per revolution of the motor shaft when counting both edges of both channels, which corresponds to approximately 1440 counts per revolution of the Romi’s wheels. For more information about the specifications of the Romi encoders, please see the Romi Encoder Pair Kit product page.

For typical use, one set of through holes on each side of the motor power and distribution board will be populated with the female header for the encoder board; we recommend using the outer set on each side for this purpose. The remaining set of through holes can be used to make connections to the encoder signals.

For both encoders, channel B leads channel A when the motor is rotating in the forward direction; that is, B rises before A rises and B falls before A falls. Note that this description designates the A and B signals as labeled on the motor driver and power distribution board itself, which puts A in front on both sides.

By default, both the logic voltage for the encoders (VCCENC) and the pull-up voltage for the open-drain encoder outputs (VPU) are supplied by the on-board regulator output, VREG (5 V by default). If you want to customize these voltages, you can cut the jumpers labeled VCCENC = VREG and VPU = VREG and connect appropriate supplies to the VCCENC and VPU pins.

Power switch circuit

By default, the on-board pushbutton can be used to toggle power: one push turns on power and another turns it off. Alternatively, a separate pushbutton can be connected to the BTNA and BTNB pins and used instead. Multiple pushbuttons can be wired in parallel for multiple control points, and each of the parallel pushbuttons, including the one on the board itself, will be able to turn the switch on or off. The latching circuit performs some button debouncing, but pushbuttons with excessive bouncing (several ms) might not function well with it.

For proper pushbutton operation, the board’s slide switch should be left in its Off position. (Sliding the switch to the On position will cause the board power to latch on, and the switch must be returned to the Off position before the board can be turned off with the pushbutton.)

Alternatively, to disable the pushbutton, you can cut the button jumper labeled Btn Jmp; this transfers control of the board’s power to the on-board slide switch instead. A separate slide or toggle switch can be connected to the GATE pin and used instead.

More advanced control options are available through the button connection pins and four control inputs:

Power distribution

The diagram below shows the layout of the power distribution buses and access points on the board.

VBAT is connected to the battery contact labeled BAT1+ and provides a direct connection to the battery supply. By default, VBAT is the high side of all six of the chassis’s AA battery cells in series, although this can be reconfigured with the battery jumper (see below).

VRP provides access to the battery voltage after reverse-voltage protection.

VSW is the battery voltage after reverse protection and the power switch circuit. By default, it provides power to the motors (VM) through the on-board motor drivers.

VREG is the output of the on-board step-down voltage regulator (see the “Voltage regulator” section below). By default, it is 5 V and provides logic power to the motor drivers (VCCMD) and encoder connectors (VCCENC and VPU).

BAT2+ provides access to the high side of two AA cells in series. This can be useful if you reconfigure the board to provide two separate battery supplies as described below.

Voltage regulator

An MP4423H switching buck converter regulates the switched battery voltage (VSW) to provide a regulated output, VREG. The regulated output is 5 V by default, but it can be changed to 3.3 V by cutting the jumper labeled VREG Select. Under typical conditions, up to 2 A of current is available from the VREG output. (We also make a standalone regulator based on this integrated circuit.)

Battery supply configuration

The motor driver and power distribution board’s default configuration provides battery power, VBAT, from all six of the chassis’s AA cells in series (nominally about 7.2 V with rechargeable batteries or 9 V with alkaline batteries). However, the board’s battery jumper, labeled Bat Jmp, allows you to reconfigure the battery connections to provide two independent supplies: BAT1, with 4 cells in series (nominally 4.8 V rechargeable or 6 V alkaline), and BAT2, with 2 cells in series (nominally 2.4 V rechargeable or 3 V alkaline). Cutting the connection between the BAT1− and BAT2+ pads separates the two sets of batteries, and using solder to bridge the BAT1− and GND pads establishes a common ground between the two new supplies.

Warning: Do not bridge the BAT1− and GND pads without first disconnecting BAT1− from BAT2+. Failing to do so could create a short circuit across the BAT2 batteries.

Note that the onboard regulator might not be able to supply 5 V as reliably if VBAT is reconfigured to come from a 4-cell supply, especially if you are using rechargeable batteries.

Schematic

A simplified schematic diagram of this board is available for download: Schematic diagram of the Motor Driver and Power Distribution Board for Romi Chassis (272k pdf)

In addition to the motor driver and power distribution board, we have a few other boards designed to mount onto a Romi chassis:

The Romi 32U4 Control Board turns the Romi chassis into an integrated robot platform. In addition to the same motor drivers and power circuit (including 5 V regulator) found on this board, the Romi 32U4 board includes an on-board ATmega32U4 microcontroller, a number of other peripherals and sensors, and interfaces for an optional LCD or Raspberry Pi.

The Power Distribution Board for Romi Chassis is a more basic board that only includes reverse voltage protection and a pushbutton power switch circuit; it is intended to be a convenient way to access the chassis’s battery power and pass it on to the rest of your electronics.

People often buy this product together with:

This battery holder connects 3 AA batteries together in series for powering all kinds of projects. We spec'd these out because the box is compact, and 3 AA's add up to about 3.3-4.5V, a very similar range to Lithium Ion/polymer (Li-Ion) batteries, plus it has a nifty on-off switch. That makes them ideal for use with 3.3V projects that have a 2-pin JST connector meant for one of our Li-Ion/Poly batteries. (Of course, you can't recharge them like Li-Ion/Polys, so don't try to plug this into one of our Li-Ion/Poly charger boards!). It also features an ergonomic belt clip for taking your power on the go!Fits any standard AA battery. When using rechargeable NiMH the output voltage will range from about 3.7V with charged batteries to 2.7V at the end of life with a nominal voltage of 3.6V. When using alkalines, the output will range from 4.5V with new batteries to 3.3V at the end of life with a nominal voltage of about 4.5V.The polarity matches that of our 2-pin JST cable and Li-Ion/Poly batteries. Uses a genuine JST connector so it wont 'catch and tear' in JST connectors.

This battery holder connects 3 AAA batteries together in series for powering all kinds of projects. We spec'd these out because the box is slim, and 3 AAA's add up to about 3.3-4.5V, a very similar range to Lithium Ion/polymer (Li-Ion) batteries, plus it has a nifty on-off switch. That makes them ideal for use with 3.3V projects that have a 2-pin JST connector meant for one of our Li-Ion/Poly batteries. (Of course, you can't recharge them like Li-Ion/Polys, so don't try to plug this into one of our Li-Ion/Poly charger boards!) It also features an ergonomic belt clip for taking your power on the go.Fits any standard AAA battery. When using rechargeable NiMH the output voltage will range from about 3.7V with charged batteries to 2.7V at the end of life with a nominal voltage of 3.6V. When using alkalines, the output will range from 4.6V with new batteries to 3.3V at the end of life with a nominal voltage of about 4.5V.The polarity matches that of our 2-pin JST cable and Li-Ion/Poly batteries. Uses a genuine JST connector so it wont 'catch and tear' in JST connectors.

The Intel® Edison is an ultra small computing platform that will change the way you look at embedded electronics. Each Edison is packed with a huge amount of tech goodies into a tiny package while still providing the same robust strength of your go-to single board computer. Powered by the Intel® Atom™ SoC dual-core CPU and including an integrated WiFi, Bluetooth LE, and a 70-pin connector to attach a veritable slew of shield-like “Blocks” which can be stacked on top of each other. It’s no wonder how this little guy is lowering the barrier of entry on the world of electronics!

The Battery Block brings a single cell LiPo Charger and 400mAh battery to power an Intel® Edision and expansion blocks. The Battery board can be used with an external battery to increase runtime of your Edison which can be plugged in with a micro USB cable to deliver a 500mA charge current. Additionally, the power switch removes the battery from the Edison while allowing it to charge via the microUSB cable. If you need more battery life, it is possible to gently peel the battery off, de-solder the wires, and replace it with a larger cell. If you remove the battery, it is also possible to expose the expansion header to continue stacking blocks. It may be necessary to find an alternative mounting point for your battery in this case. Go wireless with Edison!

If you are looking to add a little more stability to your Intel® Edison stack, check out this Hardware Pack. It will provide you with increased mechanical strength for stacking Blocks on your Edison!

Note: This Block requires specific stacking considerations when attaching it to other SparkFun Edison Blocks. Check the Hookup Guide in the Documents section below for more information.

Note: This item may take longer to process due to battery installed in the equipment and therefore does not qualify for same-day shipping policy. Additionally, these batteries can not be shipped via Ground or Economy methods to Alaska or Hawaii. Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.

Includes

1x Battery Block

1x 400mAh LiPo Battery

If you need to charge LiPo batteries, this simple charger will do just that, and do it fast! The SparkFun USB LiPo Charger is a basic charging circuit that allows you to charge 3.7V LiPo cells at a rate of 500mA or 100mA. It is designed to charge single-cell Li-Ion or Li-Polymer batteries.

The board incorporates a charging circuit, status LED, selectable solder jumper for 500mA or 100mA charging current, external LED footprint, USB input, two pre-installed JST connectors for SYS OUT and BATT IN, and (back by popular demand) a barrel jack connector.

There is also a ‘SYS OUT’ with a pre-installed JST connector which allows you to connect the charging circuit directly to your project so you don’t need to disconnect the charger each time you want to use it.

This power distribution board is designed specifically for the Romi chassis as a convenient way to access the chassis’s battery power and pass that on the rest of the electronics that make up your robot. It has slots for soldering directly to the chassis’s battery contacts offers reverse voltage protection, several power switching options, and easy access to the various power busses. Just add your own motor drivers, microcontroller, and sensors to complete your Romi robot.

This power distribution board is designed specifically for the Romi chassis as a convenient way to access the chassis’s battery power and pass that on to the rest of the electronics that make up your robot. The board features reverse voltage protection and the patented latching circuit from the Pololu pushbutton power switch, providing a compact, solid-state power switch for your robot that can be controlled with a momentary pushbutton: one push turns on power and another push turns it off.

The board has a small pushbutton already installed and offers convenient points for connecting external pushbutton or tactile switches in parallel. It also offers several alternate pushbutton connection options that result in push-on-only or push-off-only operation, and additional inputs enable further power control options like allowing your robot to turn off its own power. Alternatively, the board can be reconfigured to disable the pushbutton circuit and give control to the small installed slide switch.

The board’s power buses are accessible through a set of 0.1″-spaced pins that are compatible with standard 0.1″ male and 0.1″ female headers, and also through a larger set of holes that are compatible with 3.5mm-pitch terminal blocks (you can combine a 2-pin block and a 3-pin block into a single 5-pin block that spans the three power holes and two ground holes).

Two 1/4″ #2-56 screws and two #2-56 nuts are included for mounting the board to the Romi chassis.

Power Distribution Board for Romi Chassis.

Motor Driver and Power Distribution Board for Romi Chassis.

Installation

Power Distribution Board for Romi Chassis with included hardware.

Power Distribution Board for Romi Chassis on a black chassis.

Before installing the power distribution board on a Romi chassis, you should solder any headers, terminal blocks, wires, or other connectors you plan to use on the board (not included). Please read the rest of this page carefully to determine what additional connectors you might want and where they should be installed.

It is possible to remove the board from the chassis later to solder additional connections, and some of the through holes can be soldered through the slots in the chassis while the board is mounted, but soldering beforehand is easier and avoids the risk of inadvertently melting the chassis with your soldering iron.

The four battery terminals should be soldered to the board after it is mounted on the chassis, as described in the chassis assembly instructions. You will be able to remove the board and battery contacts from the chassis as a single piece after soldering.

Once your you have soldered your through-hole connections to the power distribution board, please follow the instructions given in the Pololu Romi Chassis User’s Guide to finish assembling the chassis, mounting the control board, and soldering in the battery contacts. (The diagrams in those instructions show assembly with the larger Romi 32U4 Control Board, but the same steps apply for the smaller power distribution board.)

Power switch circuit

By default, the on-board pushbutton can be used to toggle power: one push turns on power and another turns it off. Alternatively, a separate pushbutton can be connected to the BTNA and BTNB pins and used instead. Multiple pushbuttons can be wired in parallel for multiple control points, and each of the parallel pushbuttons, including the one on the board itself, will be able to turn the switch on or off. The latching circuit performs some button debouncing, but pushbuttons with excessive bouncing (several ms) might not function well with it.

For proper pushbutton operation, the board’s slide switch should be left in its Off position. (Sliding the switch to the On position will cause the board power to latch on, and the switch must be returned to the Off position before the board can be turned off with the pushbutton.)

Alternatively, to disable the pushbutton, you can cut the button jumper labeled Btn Jmp; this transfers control of the board’s power to the on-board slide switch instead. A separate slide or toggle switch can be connected to the GATE pin and used instead.

More advanced control options are available through the button connection pins and four control inputs:

Power distribution

The diagram below shows the layout of the power distribution buses and access points on the board.

VBAT is connected to the battery contact labeled BAT1+ and provides a direct connection to the battery supply. By default, VBAT is the high side of all six of the chassis’s AA battery cells in series, although this can be reconfigured with the battery jumper (see below).

VRP provides access to the battery voltage after reverse-voltage protection.

VSW is the battery voltage after reverse protection and the power switch circuit.

VREG is not connected to anything by default, but along with the adjacent ground and VSW pins, the VREG pins provide a good place to connect an optional voltage regulator. For example, adding a D24V5F5 step-down regulator would make a regulated 5 V supply available for a microcontroller and other electronics on your chassis.

BAT2+ provides access to the high side of two AA cells in series. This can be useful if you reconfigure the board to provide two separate battery supplies as described below.

Battery supply configuration

The power distribution board’s default configuration provides battery power, VBAT, from all six of the chassis’s AA cells in series (nominally about 7.2 V with rechargeable batteries or 9 V with alkaline batteries). However, the board’s battery jumper, labeled Bat Jmp, allows you to reconfigure the battery connections to provide two independent supplies: BAT1, with 4 cells in series (nominally 4.8 V rechargeable or 6 V alkaline), and BAT2, with 2 cells in series (nominally 2.4 V rechargeable or 3 V alkaline). Cutting the connection between the BAT1− and BAT2+ pads separates the two sets of batteries, and using solder to bridge the BAT1− and GND pads establishes a common ground between the two new supplies.

Warning: Do not bridge the BAT1− and GND pads without first disconnecting BAT1− from BAT2+. Failing to do so could create a short circuit across the BAT2 batteries.

Simplified schematic diagram

This schematic is also available as a downloadable pdf (110k pdf).

In addition to the power distribution board, we have a few other boards designed to mount onto a Romi chassis:

The Motor Driver and Power Distribution Board for Romi Chassis adds motor drivers and a more versatile power circuit (including a 5 V switching regulator); just add a microcontroller and sensors to build a Romi robot.

The Romi 32U4 Control Board turns the Romi chassis into an integrated robot platform. In addition to the same motor drivers and power circuit found on the motor driver and power distribution board, the Romi 32U4 board includes an on-board ATmega32U4 microcontroller, a number of other peripherals and sensors, and interfaces for an optional LCD or Raspberry Pi.

People often buy this product together with:

Convert just about any battery pack to 5V with VERTER - our fresh new Buck-Boost power converter. VERTER can take battery voltages from 3-12VDC and output a nice 5V DC, which makes it a perfect universal power supply for your portable project! Where Verter really shines is when you have a battery or power range that can fluctuate a lot, or you don't know what you'll end up using.

It operates smoothly over the 3-12V range, moving from a boost converter (3-5V in) to a buck converter (5-12V in) on the fly. Please note! This chip can do both, but it really works better as a buck converter than a boost. If you need a full 500mA out, it will struggle as it gets down to 3V and the output will sag to about 4.8V (which is still within standard USB power specs). If you only need something to boost a voltage up to 5V and you want it to be really good at it, check out our PowerBoost series, which excel at that.

Like our popular 5V 1A USB wall adapter, we tweaked the output to be 5.2V instead of a straight-up 5.0V so that there's a little bit of 'headroom' long cables, high draw, the addition of a diode on the output if you wish, etc. The 5.2V is safe for all 5V-powered electronics like Arduino, Raspberry Pi, or Beagle Bone while preventing icky brown-outs during high current draw because of USB cable resistance.The VERTER has at the heart a TPS63060 boost converter from TI. This buck-boost converter chip can handle a wide range of voltages (3-12V) and has some really nice extras such as power good output, 2A internal switch, synchronous conversion, excellent efficiency, and 2.2MHz high-frequency operation. Check out these specs!

Synchronous operation means you can disconnect the output completely by connecting the ENable pin to ground. This will completely turn off the output

2A internal switch means you can get out 500mA from as low as 3V, and at least 1000mA from inputs as high 12V

On-board 500mA charge-rate 'Apple/iOS' data resistors. Solder in the included USB connector and you can plug in any iPhone or iPod for 500mA charge rate. Not suggested for iPad (which really needs 1A charge rate).

Full breakout for battery in, control pins and power out

90%+ operating efficiency in most cases (see datasheet for efficiency graphs), and low quiescent current: 5mA when enabled and power LED is on, 20uA when disabled (power and low batt LED are off)

Great for powering your robot, Arduino project, single-board-computer such as Raspberry Pi or BeagleBone from a wide variety of inputs. We especially like it for use with 4 x AA batteries, which can range from 7V for fresh alkalines down to 4V for nearly-dead rechargeables. If you're only going to be using voltages higher than 6V, we recommend our UBEC step-down. If you're only going to be using voltages under 5V, check out the PowerBoost 500 which has much better boosting capability

Each order comes with one fully assembled and tested PCB, 2 pin terminal block, and a loose USB A jack. If you are powering your project from USB, solder the USB A jack in (a 3-minute soldering task). If you would like to use a terminal block, pick up a 3.5mm 2pin block here and solder to the output spot where the USB jack would go. The terminal block goes on the input side, so  you can easily connect and disconnect a battery pack. Or don't solder anything in for a more compact power pack. 

Note: The terminal block included with your product may be blue or black.

PowerBoost 500C is the perfect power supply for your portable project! With a built-in battery charger circuit, you'll be able to keep your project running even while recharging the battery! This little DC/DC boost converter module can be powered by any 3.7V LiIon/LiPoly battery, and convert the battery output to 5.2V DC for running your 5V projects.

If you need a 1A battery charger, smart load-sharing, and 1A iOS resistors, check out the Powerboost 1000C

Like our popular 5V 1A USB wall adapter, we tweaked the output to be 5.2V instead of a straight-up 5.0V so that there's a little bit of 'headroom' for long cables, high draw, the addition of a diode on the output if you wish, etc. The 5.2V is safe for all 5V-powered electronics like Arduino, Raspberry Pi, or Beagle Bone while preventing icky brown-outs during high current draw because of USB cable resistance.

The PowerBoost 500C has at the heart a TPS61090 boost converter from TI. This boost converter chip has some really nice extras such as low battery detection, 2A internal switch, synchronous conversion, excellent efficiency, and 700KHz high-frequency operation. Check out these specs!

Synchronous operation means you can disconnect the output completely by connecting the ENable pin to ground. This will completely turn off the output

2A internal switch (~2.5A peak limiting) means you can get 500mA+ from a 3.7V LiPoly/LiIon battery. We had no problem drawing 1000mA, just make sure your battery can handle it!

Low battery indicator LED lights up red when the voltage dips below 3.2V, optimized for LiPo/LiIon battery usage

Onboard 500mA charge-rate 'iOS' data resistors. Solder in the USB connector and you can plug in any iPhone or iPod for 500mA charge rate. Not suggested for large iPads.

Full breakout for battery in, control pins and power out

90%+ operating efficiency in most cases (see datasheet for efficiency graphs), and low quiescent current: 5mA when enabled and power LED is on, 20uA when disabled (power and low batt LED are off)

To make this even more useful, we stuck a MicroLipo charger on the other side. The charger circuitry is powered from a microUSB jack, and will recharge any 3.7V/4.2V LiIon or LiPoly battery at 500mA max rate. There's two LEDs for monitoring the charge rate, a yellow one tells you its working, a green one lights up when its done. You can charge and boost at the same time no problem, without any interruption on the output so its fine for use as a "UPS" (un-interruptable power supply) for a low-current draw device. Just be aware that the charge rate is 500mA max, so if you're drawing more than ~300mA continuously from the 5V output side, the battery will slowly drain since the charge rate is less than the dis-charge rate.

Great for powering your robot, Arduino project, single-board-computer such as Raspberry Pi or BeagleBone! Each order comes with one fully assembled and tested PCB and a loose USB A jack. If you are powering your project from USB, solder the USB A jack in (a 3-minute soldering task). If you would like to use a terminal block, pick up a 3.5mm 2pin block here and solder to the output spot where the USB jack would go. Or don't solder anything in for a more compact power pack.

Each order comes with a fully assembled and tested PowerBoost 500C + USB jack. Does not come with a Lipoly or LiIon battery, but we have tons in the shop, just pick one with more than 500mAh of capacity. Also doesn't come with the nice iPhone or charger cable. You can also grab a switch that can be soldered in to create an output on/off switch. Be sure to read our lovely tutorial for details, schematics, and more!

If you're trying to figure out how much current your project is using, check out the CHARGER DOCTOR!

PowerBoost is the perfect power supply for your power-hungry portable project! This little DC/DC boost converter module can run from 1.8V batteries or higher, and convert that voltage to 5.2V DC for running your 5V projects. With a beefy 4A DC/DC converter, it can give you 1A+ from as low as 2V. Like our popular 5V 1A USB wall adapter, we tweaked the output to be 5.2V instead of a straight-up 5.0V so that there's a little bit of 'headroom' long cables, high draw, the addition of a diode on the output if you wish, etc. The 5.2V is safe for all 5V-powered electronics like Arduino, Raspberry Pi, or Beagle Bone while preventing icky brown-outs during high current draw because of USB cable resistance.

The PowerBoost 1000 has at the heart a TPS61030 boost converter from TI. This boost converter chip has some really nice extras such as low battery detection, 4A internal switch, synchronous conversion, excellent efficiency, and 700KHz high-frequency operation. Check out these specs!

Synchronous operation means you can disconnect the output completely by connecting the ENable pin to ground. This will completely turn off the output

4A internal switch means you can get 1000mA+ from as low as 1.8V, 1500mA+ from 2 NiMH or Alkaline batteries, and at least 2000mA from a 3.7V LiPoly/LiIon battery or 3 NiMH/Alkalines. Just make sure your batteries can actually supply the required 2-4A, OK?

Low battery indicator LED lights up red when the voltage dips below 3.2V, optimized for the most common usage of LiPo/LiIon battery usage

On-board 1000mA charge-rate 'Apple/iOS' data resistors. Solder in the included USB connector and you can plug in any iPhone or iPod for a speedy 1000mA charge rate. Works with iPads, both mini and 'classic' type.

Full breakout for battery in, control pins and power out

90%+ operating efficiency in most cases (see datasheet for efficiency graphs), and low quiescent current: 5mA when enabled and power LED is on, 20uA when disabled (power and low batt LED are off)

Great for powering your robot, Arduino project, single-board-computer such as Raspberry Pi or BeagleBone! Each order comes with one fully assembled and tested PCB, a loose 2-PH JST jack, a 2-pin Terminal block and a loose USB A jack.

If you are powering your project from USB, solder the USB A jack in (a 3-minute soldering task). Then choose either JST for input (JST is often used for our LiIon batteries, but the connector is only rated for 2A) or a terminal block. 

The 1000 version comes with a 2-pin terminal block so you can solder it to the output spot where the USB jack would go. Or don't solder any connectors in for a more compact power pack and go with 22AWG wires soldered directly in.

Note: The terminal blocks included with your product may be blue or black.

PowerBoost 1000C is the perfect power supply for your portable project! With a built-in load-sharing battery charger circuit, you'll be able to keep your power-hungry project running even while recharging the battery! This little DC/DC boost converter module can be powered by any 3.7V LiIon/LiPoly battery, and convert the battery output to 5.2V DC for running your 5V projects.

If you dont need the 1A battery charger, smart load-sharing, or 1A iOS resistors, check out the Powerboost 500CLike our popular 5V 1A USB wall adapter, we tweaked the output to be 5.2V instead of a straight-up 5.0V so that there's a little bit of 'headroom' for long cables, high draw, the addition of a diode on the output if you wish, etc. The 5.2V is safe for all 5V-powered electronics like Arduino, Raspberry Pi, or Beagle Bone while preventing icky brown-outs during high current draw because of USB cable resistance.

The PowerBoost 1000C has at the heart a TPS61090 boost converter from TI. This boost converter chip has some really nice extras such as low battery detection, 2A internal switch, synchronous conversion, excellent efficiency, and 700KHz high-frequency operation. Check out these specs!

Synchronous operation means you can disconnect the output completely by connecting the ENable pin to ground. This will completely turn off the output

2A internal switch (~2.5A peak limiting) means you can get 1000mA+ from a 3.7V LiPoly/LiIon battery. Just make sure your battery can handle it!

Low battery indicator LED lights up red when the voltage dips below 3.2V, optimized for LiPo/LiIon battery usage

Onboard 1000mA charge-rate 'iOS' data resistors. Solder in the USB connector and you can plug in any iPad, iPhone or iPod for 1000mA charge rate.

Full breakout for battery in, control pins and power out

90%+ operating efficiency in most cases (see datasheet for efficiency graphs), and low quiescent current: 5mA when enabled and power LED is on, 20uA when disabled (power and low batt LED are off)

To make this even more useful, we stuck a smart load-sharing Lipoly charger on the other side. The charger circuitry is powered from a microUSB jack, and will recharge any 3.7V/4.2V LiIon or LiPoly battery at 1000mA max rate. There's two LEDs for monitoring the charge rate, a yellow one tells you its working, a green one lights up when its done.

Since the built-in battery charger has load-sharing, it will automatically switch over to the USB power when available, instead of continuously charging/draining the battery. This is more efficient, and lets you charge-and-boost at the same time without any interruption on the output so its fine for use as a "UPS" (un-interruptable power supply).

Just be aware that the charge rate is 1000mA max, and there's some inefficiency during the boosting stage, so make super sure that the USB adapter you're using to charge with is high quality, can supply 2A and has thick power wires. This one from Adafruit is ideal and has been tested, lower quality ones will not act well due to the voltage drop on the wires or droop on the power supply. This is especially true if you're actually drawing 1000mA out of the PowerBoost 1000C, the MCP73871 maxes out at 1.8A.You do have to always have a LiPo plugged into manage the load spikes, it's not optional!

This charger-booster is great for powering your robot, Arduino project, single-board-computer such as Raspberry Pi or BeagleBone! Each order comes with one fully assembled and tested PCB and a loose USB A jack. If you are powering your project from USB, solder the USB A jack in (a 3-minute soldering task). If you would like to use a terminal block, pick up a 3.5mm 2pin block here and solder to the output spot where the USB jack would go. Or dont solder anything in for a more compact power pack.

If you're trying to figure out how much current your project is using, check out the CHARGER DOCTOR!

You may get an off-white or black JST connector.

Your power supply problems just got SUPER SOLVED! This 3.3V Buck Converter Breakout board is great for supplying power to low voltage circuits from a single Li-Ion cell battery or USB power.  This chip provides up to 600-mA load current across the entire input voltage range of 3.5 to 5.5V.  Great for your portable project, we made this "pin compatible" with the LM1117-3.3V TO-220 chip so you can swap it in for better performance (90-95% efficiency!) There's also an ENable pin, tie it low to shut down the output completely.

There's a 2-MHz fixed-frequency in PWM mode and PFM mode extends the battery life by reducing the current during light load or standby operation.

Comes with a fully assembled and tested breakout board.  We also include header to plug it into a breadboard.

This tiny audio amplifier is based on the Texas Instruments TPA2005D1. Its efficient class-D operation means low heat and long battery life. It can drive an 8-Ohm speaker at up to 1.4 Watts; it won’t shake a stadium, but it will provide plenty of volume for your audio projects.

The fully-differential inputs are safe for floating audio signals such as from our MP3 Shield, and can also be connected to ground-referenced signals as well. A shutdown input is provided to save power when the amplifier is not being used, and a solder jumper and header are provided to connect a volume-control potentiometer (not included).

Note: The amplifier’s class-D design outputs a 250kHz PWM-like signal that is restored to an analog voltage in the speaker’s coil. This is what makes the amplifier so efficient, but because of the switching frequency, you should keep the amplifier as close to the speaker as possible to minimize possible interference.

Features

Extremely efficient class-D amplifier

1.4W into 8 Ohms

2.5V to 5.5V supply

Fully differential audio inputs, can be ground-referenced as well

Shutdown input with pullup and LED-follows-shutdown circuitry

PTH pads provided to change gain resistors if desired (see datasheet for details)

Solder jumper and header allow addition of a 10k volume control potentiometer (not included)

Feather is the new development board from Adafruit, and like its namesake it is thin, light, and lets you fly! We designed Feather to be a new standard for portable microcontroller cores.

This is the Adafruit Feather 32u4 Adalogger - our take on an 'all-in-one' datalogger (or data-reader) with built in USB and battery charging. Its an Adafruit Feather 32u4 with a microSD holder ready to rock! We have other boards in the Feather family, check'em out here

At the Feather 32u4's heart is at ATmega32u4 clocked at 8 MHz and at 3.3V logic, a chip setup we've had tons of experience with as it's the same as the Flora. This chip has 32K of flash and 2K of RAM, with built in USB so not only does it have a USB-to-Serial program & debug capability built in with no need for an FTDI-like chip, it can also act like a mouse, keyboard, USB MIDI device, etc.

To make it easy to use for portable projects, we added a connector for any of our 3.7V Lithium polymer batteries and built in battery charging. You don't need a battery, it will run just fine straight from the micro USB connector. But, if you do have a battery, you can take it on the go, then plug in the USB to recharge. The Feather will automatically switch over to USB power when its available. We also tied the battery thru a divider to an analog pin, so you can measure and monitor the battery voltage to detect when you need a recharge.

Here's some handy specs! Like all Feather 32u4's you get:

Measures 2.0" x 0.9" x 0.28" (51mm x 23mm x 8mm) without headers soldered in

Light as a (large?) feather - 5.1 grams

ATmega32u4 @ 8MHz with 3.3V logic/power

3.3V regulator with 500mA peak current output

USB native support, comes with USB bootloader and serial port debugging

You also get tons of pins - 20 GPIO pins

Hardware Serial, hardware I2C, hardware SPI support

7 x PWM pins

10 x analog inputs

Built in 100mA lipoly charger with charging status indicator LED

Pin #13 red LED for general purpose blinking

Power/enable pin

4 mounting holes

Reset button

The Feather 32u4 Adalogger uses the extra space left over to add MicroSD + a green LED:

Pin #8 green LED for your blinking pleasure

MicroSD card holder for adding as much storage as you could possibly want, for reading or writing.

Comes fully assembled and tested, with a USB bootloader that lets you quickly use it with the Arduino IDE. We also toss in some header so you can solder it in and plug into a solderless breadboard. Lipoly battery, MicroSD card and USB cable not included (but we do have lots of options in the shop if you'd like!)

Check out our tutorial for all sorts of details, including schematics, files, IDE instructions, and more!

Feather is the new development board from Adafruit, and like its namesake it is thin, light, and lets you fly! We designed Feather to be a new standard for portable microcontroller cores. This is the Adafruit Feather M0 WiFi w/ATWINC1500 - our take on an 'all-in-one' Arduino-compatible + high speed, reliable WiFi with built in USB and battery charging. Its an Adafruit Feather M0 with a WiFi module, ready to rock! We have other boards in the Feather family, check'em out here.

Connect your Feather to the Internet with this fine new FCC-certified WiFi module from Atmel. This 802.11bgn-capable WiFi module is the best new thing for networking your devices, with built-in low-power management capabilites, Soft-AP, SSL TLS 1.2 support and rock solid performance. We were running our adafruit.io MQTT demo for a full weekend straight with no hiccups (it would have run longer but we had to go to work, so we unplugged it). This module is very fast & easy to use in comparison to other WiFi modules we've used in the past.

This module works with 802.11b, g, or n networks & supports WEP, WPA and WPA2 encryption.  You can connect to your own WiFi networks or create your own with "Soft AP" mode, where it becomes its own access point (we have an example of it creating a webserver that you can then control the Arduino's pins). You can clock it as fast as 12MHz for speedy, reliable packet streaming. And scanning/connecting to networks is very fast, just a second or two.

You might be wondering why use this when you can get a HUZZAH Feather? Well, you get:

A highly-capable Cortex M0+ processor with ton more I/O pins, lots of 12-bit ADCs, a 10-bit DAC, 6 total SERCOMs that can each do SPI, I2C or UART (3 are used by the existing interfaces, leaving you 3), plenty of timers, PWMs, DMA, native USB, and more (check out the Datasheet)

The ATWINC has much lower power usage, about 12mA for the WINC & 10mA for the ATSAMD21 with auto-powermanagement on for the WiFi and no power management for the ARM. With manual power management, you can get the WiFi module to down to ~2mA by putting it to sleep.

This is compared to the ESP's ~70mA average current draw, and whose deep sleep mode requires a WDT reset.

We also found that we could stream more reliably (less 'bursty') with the ATWINC, although altogether the ESP has higher throughput.

You also dont have to 'yield' all the time to the WiFi core, since its a separate chip. You get full reign of the processor and timing

Of course, both WiFi-capable Feathers have their strengths and tradeoffs, & we love both equally!

At the Feather M0's heart is an ATSAMD21G18 ARM Cortex M0 processor, clocked at 48 MHz and at 3.3V logic, the same one used in the new Arduino Zero. This chip has a whopping 256K of FLASH (8x more than the Atmega328 or 32u4) and 32K of RAM (16x as much)! This chip comes with built in USB so it has USB-to-Serial program & debug capability built in with no need for an FTDI-like chip. For advanced users who are comfortable with ASF, the SWDIO/SWCLK pins are available on the bottom, and when connected to a CMSIS-DAP debugger can be used to use Atmel Studio for debugging.

To make it easy to use for portable projects, we added a connector for any of our 3.7V Lithium polymer batteries and built in battery charging. You don't need to use a battery, it will run just fine straight from the micro USB connector. But, if you do have a battery, you can take it on the go, then plug in the USB to recharge. The Feather will automatically switch over to USB power when its available. We also tied the battery through a divider to an analog pin, so you can measure and monitor the battery voltage to detect when you need a recharge.

Here's some handy specs! Like all Feather M0's you get:

Measures 2.1" x 0.9" x 0.3" (53.65mm x 23mm x 8mm) without headers soldered in. Note it is 0.1" longer than most Feathers

Light as a (large?) feather - 6.1 grams

ATSAMD21G18 @ 48MHz with 3.3V logic/power

256KB FLASH, 32KB SRAM, No EEPROM

3.3V regulator (AP2112K-3.3) with 600mA peak current output, WiFi can draw 300mA peak during xmit

USB native support, comes with USB bootloader and serial port debugging

You also get tons of pins - 20 GPIO pins

Hardware Serial, hardware I2C, hardware SPI support

8 x PWM pins

10 x analog inputs

1 x analog output

Built in 200mA lipoly charger with charging status indicator LED

Pin #13 red LED for general purpose blinking

Power/enable pin

4 mounting holes

Reset button

Comes fully assembled and tested, with a USB bootloader that lets you quickly use it with the Arduino IDE. We also toss in some header so you can solder it in and plug into a solderless breadboard. Lipoly battery and MicroUSB cable not included (but we do have lots of options in the shop if you'd like!)

Note: This version does not come with an onboard antenna, you will need a uFL connector antenna such as 2.4GHz Mini Flexible WiFi Antenna - not included! We have a version with on-board antenna as well

Check out our tutorial for all sorts of details, including pinouts, power management, Arduino IDE setup and more!

This is the Adafruit Feather M0 RFM95 LoRa Radio (900MHz). We call these RadioFruits, our take on an microcontroller with a "Long Range (LoRa)" packet radio transceiver with built in USB and battery charging. Its an Adafruit Feather M0 with a 900MHz radio module cooked in! Great for making wireless networks that are more flexible than Bluetooth LE and without the high power requirements of WiFi.

Feather is the new development board from Adafruit, and like its namesake it is thin, light, and lets you fly! We designed Feather to be a new standard for portable microcontroller cores.We have other boards in the Feather family, check'em out here.

This is the 900 MHz radio version, which can be used for either 868MHz or 915MHz transmission/reception - the exact radio frequency is determined when you load the software since it can be tuned around dynamically. We also sell a 433MHz version of the same radio chipset!

At the Feather M0's heart is an ATSAMD21G18 ARM Cortex M0 processor, clocked at 48 MHz and at 3.3V logic, the same one used in the new Arduino Zero. This chip has a whopping 256K of FLASH (8x more than the Atmega328 or 32u4) and 32K of RAM (16x as much)! This chip comes with built in USB so it has USB-to-Serial program & debug capability built in with no need for an FTDI-like chip.

To make it easy to use for portable projects, we added a connector for any of our 3.7V Lithium polymer batteries and built in battery charging. You don't need a battery, it will run just fine straight from the micro USB connector. But, if you do have a battery, you can take it on the go, then plug in the USB to recharge. The Feather will automatically switch over to USB power when its available. We also tied the battery thru a divider to an analog pin, so you can measure and monitor the battery voltage to detect when you need a recharge.

Here's some handy specs! Like all Feather M0's you get:

Measures 2.0" x 0.9" x 0.3" (51mm x 23mm x 8mm) without headers soldered in

Light as a (large?) feather - 5.8 grams

ATSAMD21G18 @ 48MHz with 3.3V logic/power

No EEPROM

3.3V regulator with 500mA peak current output

USB native support, comes with USB bootloader and serial port debugging

You also get tons of pins - 20 GPIO pins

Hardware Serial, hardware I2C, hardware SPI support

8 x PWM pins

10 x analog inputs

1 x analog output

Built in 100mA lipoly charger with charging status indicator LED

Pin #13 red LED for general purpose blinking

Power/enable pin

4 mounting holes

Reset button

This Feather M0 LoRa Radio uses the extra space left over to add an RFM9x LoRa 868/915 MHz radio module. These radios are not good for transmitting audio or video, but they do work quite well for small data packet transmission when you need more range than 2.4 GHz (BT, BLE, WiFi, ZigBee).

SX127x LoRa® based module with SPI interface

Packet radio with ready-to-go Arduino libraries

Uses the license-free ISM bands (ITU "Europe" @ 433MHz and ITU "Americas" @ 900MHz)

+5 to +20 dBm up to 100 mW Power Output Capability (power output selectable in software)

~300uA during full sleep, ~120mA peak during +20dBm transmit, ~40mA during active radio listening.

Simple wire antenna or spot for uFL connector

Our initial tests with default library settings: over 1.2mi/2Km line-of-sight with wire quarter-wave antennas. (With setting tweaking and directional antennas, 20Km is possible).

Comes fully assembled and tested, with a USB bootloader that lets you quickly use it with the Arduino IDE. We also toss in some headers so you can solder it in and plug into a solderless breadboard. You will need to cut and solder on a small piece of wire (any solid or stranded core is fine) in order to create your antenna. Lipoly battery and USB cable not included but we do have lots of options in the shop if you'd like!

Feather is the new development board from Adafruit, and like its namesake it is thin, light, and lets you fly! We designed Feather to be a new standard for portable microcontroller cores.

This is the Adafruit Feather 32u4 Bluefruit - our take on an 'all-in-one' Arduino-compatible + Bluetooth Low Energy with built in USB and battery charging. Its an Adafruit Feather 32u4 with a BTLE module, ready to rock! We have other boards in the Feather family, check'em out here.

Bluetooth Low Energy is the hottest new low-power, 2.4GHz spectrum wireless protocol. In particular, its the only wireless protocol that you can use with iOS without needing special certification and it's supported by all modern smart phones. This makes it excellent for use in portable projects that will make use of an iOS or Android phone or tablet. It also is supported in Mac OS X and Windows 8+.

We have quite a few BTLE-capable Feathers (it's a popular protocol!) so check out our BT Feather guide for some comparison information.

At the Feather 32u4's heart is at ATmega32u4 clocked at 8 MHz and at 3.3V logic, a chip setup we've had tons of experience with as it's the same as the Flora. This chip has 32K of flash and 2K of RAM, with built in USB so not only does it have a USB-to-Serial program & debug capability built in with no need for an FTDI-like chip, it can also act like a mouse, keyboard, USB MIDI device, etc.

To make it easy to use for portable projects, we added a connector for any of our 3.7V Lithium polymer batteries and built in battery charging. You don't need a battery, it will run just fine straight from the micro USB connector. But, if you do have a battery, you can take it on the go, then plug in the USB to recharge. The Feather will automatically switch over to USB power when its available. We also tied the battery thru a divider to an analog pin, so you can measure and monitor the battery voltage to detect when you need a recharge.

Here's some handy specs! Like all Feather 32u4's you get:

Measures 2.0" x 0.9" x 0.28" (51mm x 23mm x 8mm) without headers soldered in

Light as a (large?) feather - 5.7 grams

ATmega32u4 @ 8MHz with 3.3V logic/power

3.3V regulator with 500mA peak current output

USB native support, comes with USB bootloader and serial port debugging

You also get tons of pins - 20 GPIO pins

Hardware Serial, hardware I2C, hardware SPI support

7 x PWM pins

10 x analog inputs

Built in 100mA lipoly charger with charging status indicator LED

Pin #13 red LED for general purpose blinking

Power/enable pin

4 mounting holes

Reset button

The Feather 32u4 Bluefruit LE uses the extra space left over to add our excellent Bluefruit BTLE module + two status indicator LEDs.

The Power of Bluefruit LE

The Bluefruit LE module is an nRF51822 chipset from Nordic, programmed with multi-function code that can do quite a lot! For most people, they'll be very happy to use the standard Nordic UART RX/TX connection profile. In this profile, the Bluefruit acts as a data pipe, that can 'transparently' transmit back and forth from your iOS or Android device. You can use our iOS App or Android App, or write your own to communicate with the UART service.

The board is capable of much more than just sending strings over the air!  Thanks to an easy to learn AT command set, you have full control over how the device behaves, including the ability to define and manipulate your own GATT Services and Characteristics, or change the way that the device advertises itself for other Bluetooth Low Energy devices to see. You can also use the AT commands  to query the die temperature, check the battery voltage, and more, check the connection RSSI or MAC address, and tons more. Really, way too long to list here!

Use the Bluefruit App to get your project started

Using our Bluefruit iOS App or Android App, you can quickly get your project prototyped by using your iOS or Android phone/tablet as a controller. We have a color picker, quaternion/accelerometer/gyro/magnetometer or location (GPS), and an 8-button control game pad. This data can be read over BLE and piped into the ATmega32u4 chip for processing & control

You can do a lot more too!

The Bluefruit can also act like an HID Keyboard (for devices that support BLE HID)

Can become a BLE Heart Rate Monitor (a standard profile for BLE) - you just need to add the pulse-detection circuitry

Turn it into a UriBeacon, the Google standard for Bluetooth LE beacons. Just power it and the 'Friend will bleep out a URL to any nearby devices with the UriBeacon app installed.

Built in over-the-air bootloading capability so we can keep you updated with the hottest new firmware. Use any Android or iOS device to get updates and install them. This will update the native code on the BLE module, to add new wireless capabilities, not program the ATmega chip.

Comes fully assembled and tested, with a USB bootloader that lets you quickly use it with the Arduino IDE. We also toss in some header so you can solder it in and plug into a solderless breadboard. Lipoly battery and MicroUSB cable not included (but we do have lots of options in the shop if you'd like!)

Check out our tutorial for all sorts of details, including schematics, files, IDE instructions, and more!

Feather is the new development board from Adafruit, and like its namesake it is thin, light, and lets you fly! We designed Feather to be a new standard for portable microcontroller cores.

This is the Adafruit Feather M0 Bluefruit LE - our take on an 'all-in-one' Arduino-compatible + Bluetooth Low Energy with built in USB and battery charging. It's an Adafruit Feather M0 with a BTLE module, ready to rock! We have other boards in the Feather family, check'em out here.

Bluetooth Low Energy is a hot, low-power, 2.4GHz spectrum wireless protocol. In particular, it's the only wireless protocol that you can use with iOS without needing special certification, and it's supported by all modern smart phones. This makes it excellent for use in portable projects that will make use of an iOS or Android phone or tablet. It also is supported in Mac OS X and Windows 8+.

We have quite a few BTLE-capable Feathers (it's a popular protocol!) so check out our BT Feather guide for some comparison information.

At the Feather M0's heart is an ATSAMD21G18 ARM Cortex M0 processor, clocked at 48 MHz and at 3.3V logic, the same one used in the new Arduino Zero. This chip has a whopping 256K of FLASH (8x more than the Atmega328 or 32u4) and 32K of RAM (16x as much)! This chip comes with built in USB so it has USB-to-Serial program & debug capability built in with no need for an FTDI-like chip.

To make it easy to use for portable projects, we added a connector for any of our 3.7V Lithium polymer batteries and built in battery charging. You don't need a battery, it will run just fine straight from the micro USB connector. But, if you do have a battery, you can take it on the go, then plug in the USB to recharge. The Feather will automatically switch over to USB power when its available. We also tied the battery thru a divider to an analog pin, so you can measure and monitor the battery voltage to detect when you need a recharge.

Here's some handy specs! Like all Feather M0's you get:

Measures 2.0" x 0.9" x 0.28" (51mm x 23mm x 8mm) without headers soldered in

Light as a (large?) feather - 5.7 grams

ATSAMD21G18 @ 48MHz with 3.3V logic/power

No EEPROM

3.3V regulator with 500mA peak current output

USB native support, comes with USB bootloader and serial port debugging

You also get tons of pins - 20 GPIO pins

Hardware Serial, hardware I2C, hardware SPI support

8 x PWM pins

10 x analog inputs

1 x analog output

Built in 100mA lipoly charger with charging status indicator LED

Pin #13 red LED for general purpose blinking

Power/enable pin

4 mounting holes

Reset button

The Feather M0 Bluefruit LE uses the extra space left over to add our excellent Bluefruit BTLE module + two status indicator LEDs.

The Power of Bluefruit LE

The Bluefruit LE module is an nRF51822 chipset from Nordic, programmed with multi-function code that can do quite a lot! For most people, they'll be very happy to use the standard Nordic UART RX/TX connection profile. In this profile, the Bluefruit acts as a data pipe, that can 'transparently' transmit back and forth from your iOS or Android device. You can use our iOS App or Android App, or write your own to communicate with the UART service.

The board is capable of much more than just sending strings over the air!  Thanks to an easy to learn AT command set, you have full control over how the device behaves, including the ability to define and manipulate your own GATT Services and Characteristics, or change the way that the device advertises itself for other Bluetooth Low Energy devices to see. You can also use the AT commands  to query the die temperature, check the battery voltage, and more, check the connection RSSI or MAC address, and tons more. Really, way too long to list here!

Use the Bluefruit App to get your project started

Using our Bluefruit iOS App or Android App, you can quickly get your project prototyped by using your iOS or Android phone/tablet as a controller. We have a color picker, quaternion/accelerometer/gyro/magnetometer or location (GPS), and an 8-button control game pad. This data can be read over BLE and piped into the ATSAMD21G18 chip for processing & control

You can do a lot more too!

The Bluefruit can also act like an HID Keyboard (for devices that support BLE HID)

Can become a BLE Heart Rate Monitor (a standard profile for BLE) - you just need to add the pulse-detection circuitry

Turn it into a UriBeacon, the Google standard for Bluetooth LE beacons. Just power it and the 'Friend will bleep out a URL to any nearby devices with the UriBeacon app installed.

Built in over-the-air bootloading capability so we can keep you updated with the hottest new firmware. Use any Android or iOS device to get updates and install them. This will update the native code on the BLE module, to add new wireless capabilities, not program the ATmega chip.

Comes fully assembled and tested, with a USB bootloader that lets you quickly use it with the Arduino IDE. We also toss in some header so you can solder it in and plug into a solderless breadboard. Lipoly battery and MicroUSB cable not included (but we do have lots of options in the shop if you'd like!)

Check out our tutorial for all sorts of details, including schematics, files, IDE instructions, and more!

Feather is the new development board from Adafruit, and like its namesake it is thin, light, and lets you fly! We designed Feather to be a new standard for portable microcontroller cores.

This is the Adafruit Feather M0 Adalogger - our take on an 'all-in-one' Cortex M0 datalogger (or data-reader) with built in USB and battery charging. Its an Adafruit Feather M0 with a microSD holder ready to rock! We have other boards in the Feather family, check'em out here

At the Feather M0's heart is an ATSAMD21G18 ARM Cortex M0 processor, clocked at 48 MHz and at 3.3V logic, the same one used in the new Arduino Zero. This chip has a whopping 256K of FLASH (8x more than the Atmega328 or 32u4) and 32K of RAM (16x as much)! This chip comes with built in USB so it has USB-to-Serial program & debug capability built in with no need for an FTDI-like chip.

To make it easy to use for portable projects, we added a connector for any of our 3.7V Lithium polymer batteries and built in battery charging. You don't need a battery, it will run just fine straight from the micro USB connector. But, if you do have a battery, you can take it on the go, then plug in the USB to recharge. The Feather will automatically switch over to USB power when its available. We also tied the battery thru a divider to an analog pin, so you can measure and monitor the battery voltage to detect when you need a recharge.

Here's some handy specs! Like all Feather M0's you get:

Measures 2.0" x 0.9" x 0.28" (51mm x 23mm x 8mm) without headers soldered in

Light as a (large?) feather - 5.3 grams

ATSAMD21G18 @ 48MHz with 3.3V logic/power

256KB of FLASH + 32KB of RAM

No EEPROM

3.3V regulator with 500mA peak current output

USB native support, comes with USB bootloader and serial port debugging

You also get tons of pins - 20 GPIO pins

Hardware Serial, hardware I2C, hardware SPI support

8 x PWM pins

10 x analog inputs

Built in 100mA lipoly charger with charging status indicator LED

Pin #13 red LED for general purpose blinking

Power/enable pin

4 mounting holes

Reset button

The Feather M0 Adalogger uses the extra space left over to add MicroSD + a green LED:

Pin #8 green LED for your blinking pleasure

MicroSD card holder for adding as much storage as you could possibly want, for reading or writing.

Comes fully assembled and tested, with a USB bootloader that lets you quickly use it with the Arduino IDE. We also toss in some header so you can solder it in and plug into a solderless breadboard. Lipoly battery, MicroSD card and USB cable not included (but we do have lots of options in the shop if you'd like!)

Check out our tutorial for all sorts of details, including schematics, files, IDE instructions, and more!

Have you ever wanted your project to just “hibernate” until someone picks it up or moves it? It’s a great strategy for dramatically extending the battery life of a widget that doesn’t need to be active all the time. The SparkFun Wake-on-Shake board is designed to make it really simple to do just that!

The Wake-on-Shake, based on a concept by Nitzan Gadish of Analog Devices, combines the ATTiny2313A with the ADXL362 low-power MEMS accelerometer to cut power to your project for long periods of time, all the while waiting for a shake or a bump and sipping < 2uA @ 3.7V! With power consumption that low, the limiting factor for lifespan in most devices will be aging-related self-discharge of the batteries.

The board is easy to use, you basically connect it as a power switch between your device and a power source (2.0-5.5V). By default, the board will activate the load when it experiences a mild bump or tilt; the load will be powered for 5 seconds after that. Using a serial data connection, the sensitivity can be increased or decreased, as can the delay time. Additionally, the “WAKE” pin allows the load to control when it goes back to sleep. By pulling the wake signal high (to at least 2.7V), the load will remain energized until it releases the pin.

Note: While it is possible to connect the load to the on-board serial port, allowing the load to access the ADXL362 and EEPROM storage of the ATTiny2313A, caution must be exercised when doing this to avoid sourcing current to the load through the serial port data lines on the ATTiny2313A, which could damage the ATTiny2313A as well as causing excessive off-state power dissipation.

Features

Supply Voltage: 2.0 - 5.5VDC

Power Consumption in Hibernation: < 2uA @ 3.7V

Wake Signal: 2.7 - 15V

Serial Header for Configuration is FTDI Basic Breakout Compatible

ISP Header for ATTiny2313A is Broken Out, No Bootloader is Available

2mm JST Connector for LiPo Battery Input

*BZZZZZZZZZZ* Feel that? That's your little buzzing motor, and for any haptic feedback project you'll want to pick up a few of them. These vibe motors are tiny discs, completely sealed up so they're easy to use and embed.Two wires are used to control/power the vibe. Simply provide power from a battery or microcontroller pin (red is positive, blue is negative) and it will buzz away. Works from 2V up to 5V, higher voltages result in more current draw but also a stronger vibration.If you want to reduce the current draw/strength (for example, to control it directly from an Arduino pin) try putting a resistor (100 to 1000 ohms) in series. For full power control, a small PN2222 transistor can control a motor easily, some experimentation may be required!

Vibrating Mini Motor Disc (6:47)

Long gone are the days of parallel ports and serial ports. Now the USB port reigns supreme! But USB is hard, and you just want to transfer your every-day serial data from a microcontroller to computer. What now? Enter the Adafruit CP2104 Friend!

This is a high-quality CP2104 USB-Serial chip that can upload code at a blistering 2Mbit/s for fast development time. It also has auto-reset for Arduino/ATmega328 boards so no noodling with pins and reset button pressings. The CP2104 has better driver support than the CH340 and can do very high speeds, and variable speeds without stability issues. Compared to the FT232RL and FT231X, the CP2104 has the same capabilities or better, at a great price! It even has the RX/TX LEDs to help you debug your data, they'll blink when the chip receives/transmits data.

By default, we've set it up so that it matches our FTDI cables. The 6th pin is RTS, the power wire is +5V and the signal levels are 3.3V (they are 5V compliant, and should work in the vast majority of 3.3V and 5V signal systems). Works excellently with any Arduino, ESP8266, ESP32 or any other microcontroller that uses an 'FTDI port' for communications and upload. You can also purchase a 6-pin extension cable from us, which will let you rearrange the wire order.

There's also a full collection of all the modem control pins you may need on the side, in case you need the DTR, RI, DSR, etc. pins.

Each order comes with a fully assembled and tested board. We give you a right-angle socket header and some male header strip. You can solder in the socket header on the edge to make it 'FTDI-like' or solder the male headers in to plug it into a breadboard and get access to all the pins.

For Linux you won't need a driver. For Windows, it will automatically grab the driver from Windows Update. For Mac OS X you can check out SiLabs driver page for the latest and greatest.

THIS IS THE LATEST VERSION 2.1The ChronoDot RTC is an extremely accurate real time clock module, based on the DS3231 temperature compensated RTC (TCXO). It includes a CR1632 battery, which should last at least 8 years if the I2C interface is only used while the device has 5V power available. No external crystal or tuning capacitors are required.The top side of the Chronodot now features a battery holder for 16mm 3V lithium coin cells. It pairs particularly well with CR1632 batteries.Click here for documentation and example code.The DS3231 has an internal crystal and a switched bank of tuning capacitors. The temperature of the crystal is continously monitored, and the capacitors are adjusted to maintain a stable frequency. Other RTC solutions may drift minutes per month, especially in extreme temperature ranges...the ChronoDot will drift less than a minute per year. This makes the ChronoDot very well suited for time critical applications that cannot be regularly synchronized to an external clock.The ChronoDot will plug into a standard solderless breadboard and also has mounting holes for chassis installation.The I2C interface is very straightforward and virtually identical to the register addresses of the popular DS1337 and DS1307 RTCs, which means that existing code for the Arduino, Basic Stamp, Cubloc, and other controllers should work with no modification. This new version has a battery holder, no soldering required!

This is a great battery-backed real time clock (RTC) that allows your microcontroller project to keep track of time even if it is reprogrammed, or if the power is lost. Perfect for datalogging, clock-building, time stamping, timers and alarms, etc. The DS1307 is the most popular RTC - but it requires 5V power to work (although we've used it with 5V power and 3.3V logic successfully)

Works great with an Arduino using our RTC library or with a Raspberry Pi (or similar single board linux computer)

PCB & header are included

Plugs into any breadboard, or you can use wires

Two mounting holes

Will keep time for 5 years or more

Note: This product does not come with a CR1220 coin cell battery. We recommend you purchase a coin cell battery to use with this product.

The DS1307 is simple and inexpensive but not a high precision device. It may lose or gain up to 2 seconds a day. For a high-precision, temperature compensated alternative, please check out the DS3231 precision RTC. If you do not need a DS1307, or you need a 3.3V-power/logic capable RTC please check out our affordable PCF8523 RTC breakout

Check out our detailed guide for wiring diagrams, schematics, fritzing objects, library code and more!

The MaKey MaKey is really cool, but wouldn’t it be cooler if it wasn’t tethered to your computer? There’s only one way to find out: Go wireless.

Our Bluetooth & LiPo Add-On for MaKey MaKey frees your MaKey invention from the bonds of USB wired connection. Data is passed over a Bluetooth HID connection to your Bluetooth enabled computer which will recognize it as a Bluetooth wireless keyboard. Power is handled through a 2-pin JST connector, simply connect any of our 3.7V lithium-polymer batteries. If the MaKey MaKey is plugged in using USB, the Bluetooth & LiPo Add-On will use that source to charge any connected LiPo battery!

To get this thing up and running, you will need to upload some special code to your MaKey MaKey so some Arduino knowledge is recommended. Check out the wiki below for more information.

Note: This Add-On board does not include a LiPo battery, check the related items below for compatible batteries! If your computer doesn’t have Bluetooth, no worries, check out the Bluetooth USB Module in the related items!

Add some dazzle to your Spark Core or Photon with this custom-made NeoPixel ring kit! 24 ultra bright smart LED NeoPixels are arranged in a circle with 2.6" (66mm) outer diameter. Snap in your Spark and upload the NeoPixel library code to light up the LEDs, make an Internet of Blinky! Each LED is addressable as the driver chip is inside the LED. Each one has ~18mA constant current drive so the color will be very consistent even if the voltage varies, and no external choke resistors are required making the design slim. Power the whole thing with about 3.5-5.5 VDC battery pack and you're ready to rock.

To make your project portable, we have a JST connector for attaching an external battery. Power with 3.5 - 5.5V DC, a rechargeable LiPoly or LiIon cell battery works great, or 3xAAA or 3xAA battery pack. The JST included is so you can make your own battery connection. Use pin D6 for the NeoPixel library code, all other pins are availale to use and have two breakouts on either side so you can wire up other sensors or devices.

Comes as a single round PCB with 24 individually addressable RGB LEDs assembled and tested, two 12 pin 0.1" socket headers and a bonus JST cable. Some light soldering is required, you can solder the two sockets in place to allow unplugging of the Spark, or just solder it directly in place for a slimmer look.

Please Note: Particle (Spark) Core/Photon and Battery not included (but we do have them in the shop!)

Solenoids are basically electromagnets: they are made of a big coil of copper wire with an armature (a slug of metal) in the middle. When the coil is energized, the slug is pulled into the center of the coil. This makes the solenoid able to pull (from one end) or push (from the other)This solenoid in particular is fairly small, with a 30mm long body and a 'captive' armature with a return spring. This means that when activated with up to 12VDC, the solenoid moves and then the voltage is removed it springs back to the original position, which is quite handy. Many lower cost solenoids are only push type or only pull type and may not have a captive armature (it'll fall out!) or don't have a return spring. This one even has nice mounting tabs, its a great all-purpose solenoid.To drive a solenoid you will need a power transistor and a diode, check this diagram for how to wire it to an Arduino or other microcontroller. You will need a fairly good power supply to drive a solenoid, as a lot of current will rush into the solenoid to charge up the electro-magnet, about 250mA, so don't try to power it with a 9V battery!