Using the Arduino Pro Mini & FTDI

День тому

Today we will work with the Arduino Pro Mini, a small yet powerful Arduino board. We will also build a simple battery-powered robot arm controller.
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The Arduino Pro Mini is proof that good things do indeed come in small packages. It uses the ATMega328 processor chip, giving it all of the power of the Arduino Uno in a tiny package. It even has a couple of extra analog to digital converters and is available in both 3.3-volt and 5-volt models.
Although it has been discontinued from the official Arduino store it is an open source design (originally built by SparkFun) and is readily available.
One thing that the Pro Mini is lacking, however, is a USB port for programming and debugging.
To resolve this you will need to use an FTDI adapter, a small board that allows you to connect a USB port to your Arduino Pro Mini. It’s a simple board to use but be careful of the hookup, as some Pro Minis (and some FTDI boards as well) have their connections reversed.
I’ll show you how to hook up the FTDI board to both a 3.3-volt and 5-volt Pro Mini and how to program it using the Arduino IDE.
We will also build a battery-powered robot arm controller for the MeArm, it can be extended to work with any servo motor based robotic arm. While I will be the first to admit that the design lacks a lot of features it does a good job of illustrating how to work with the 3.3-volt Pro Mini.
Here are the contents of today's video:
00:00 - Introduction
02:35 - Pro Mini Intro
07:26 - Using the FTDI Adapter
11:16 - Programming the Pro Mini
18:48 - Robot Arm Controller
Hopefully, the video and its associated article at dbot.ws/promini will inspire you to build your next project around an Arduino Pro Mini.
I also want to thank everyone who has subscribed to the UKposts channel, we are now over 80,000 strong! If you haven’t subscribed yet please do, I’d love to have you as a subscriber.
Now go and build something small and wonderful with the Arduino Pro Mini!

КОМЕНТАРІ: 126

@jhoserob 4 роки тому

It is so nice to find a UKposts channel where the moderator has a very nice voice and good audio, tidy workplace and clear way to explain everything my thumbs up and the bell is active.

@iandawkins2182 5 років тому

So clear, so concise. New to Arduino, just got into it about a six weeks ago but your videos have helped and taught me so much.Please keep them up as they are so inspiring, can't thank you enough.

@turbofan123 5 років тому

Great video as always Bill. When you map the servo movement to the mechanical borders of the arm will give a smoother movement. e.g. the claw servo need only 45 degrees to close and open the claw. (by the looks of it at 25:18) mapping 0 to 1023 to say 0 to 45 results in a reduced range of the servo with the full wipe of the poti and therefore a more precise control of the claw.

@freeelectron8261 3 роки тому

Wow! That it THE MOST tidy and well organised workshop I have ever seen!

@raymondheath7668 4 роки тому

Very helpful. Years ago I had problems trying to program a mini or a micro, but then I was using WIN 7. I've been solid Linux on all of my desktops and laptops and both servers for 6 years now and everything just works. I decided to break out all the old Arduino stuff and try it out and it worked first time just like you showed. Thanks!

@quintinkruger9103 3 роки тому

Hats off to you, your videos are the best ! You go through everything there is about a topic and you explain it so well. Thank you !! Another great video.

@captainpugwash4100 5 років тому

Been waiting all afternoon for my weekly dose of DroneBot!

@JohnClulow 4 роки тому

Excellent intro to the pro mini !! Thank you !!

@MusicalBox 5 років тому

Couldn't be happier :) I ordered a couple of Pro Minis this morning and there was one or two things I was not sure about them. You answered my questions before I could even start to search for answers :)

@kspnasa5308 3 роки тому

I love this tutorial! Great calm voice without any music. You explain very well!! thank you

@user-yc3tx4vc1n Рік тому

Thanks a lot, you are really grear at explaining all about electronics I've downloaded all your playlist about arduino on my PC and watch them regularly and take them as reference when i need them, Thanks again for the great job ❤️❤️❤️

@mickeyfilmer5551 4 роки тому

So easy to understand and follow- even for a geriatric like me!!

@Botyard 4 роки тому

Thank you. Very well made and easy to follow. Thank you for the effort you put into this.

@sbmuthuraman 3 роки тому

Thank you so much for your clear explanation as always.. Actually the TX and RX pin on both my Arduino Pro Mini and FTDI are swapped in comparison to what you had shown in this video 9:37. But this was fine as the pins are swapped on both the boards.

@Blackmage50 5 років тому

Very clean and straight forward as always. Very helpful and much appreciated! Thank you!

@MrRoyston1953 5 років тому

Very good and concise, learn't a lot about Pro Mini. Keep up the good work.

@Mystic0Dreamer 5 років тому

Another great video Bill. I'll have to build a me arm!

@marcantony7075 3 роки тому

That was Great!!! . Thankyou for well detailed explanations

@MrPetersVideo 4 роки тому

Thank you for this very useful video! It is also very well presented and easy and clear to follow and understand!

@codecage9333 5 років тому

Having a tough time waiting on the ATtiny85 video! Any estimates on when it will be available? I have a project I would like to use one on, and although I think I know what I need to do to proceed, I'd sure like to see how the Workshop suggests it should be done.

@gholiamirza7102 4 роки тому

Very professional as always.

@capistor1 5 років тому

Hey bill, loved the video! Did you make that mi arm? It looked perfect and worked perfect. Is it like from mi company? Need more details on that arm.

@johnberry5339 4 роки тому

Hello this is a great tutorial thanks. Could I use my TTL converter please or is that totally different to the FTDI module? Thanks John 😊

@VanDerLaars 4 роки тому

Jesus!!! You ARE fantastic. I'm a hobbyist and I do a whole bunch of stuff but it's not always I'm 100% sure of what I'm doing. I try to read and while testing stuff I managed to burn some boards and so on but you ALWAYS manage to answer all my questions with your videos!!! I know you said you aren't gonna sell anything but you could have some affiliate links. I'd gladly buy stuff cause well, I buy it at eBay anyway.

@michael147852147 4 роки тому

Thanks for the video, helped me.

@raishul 3 роки тому

Hi, Thank you for sharing your knowledge with this great quality video.By the way, one suggestion, it would have been very helpful for me if you showed an actual picture of the connections between FTDI interface USB board and pro mini you used(without the breadboard).Thanks again

@ATP-Flo 2 роки тому

You are a great teacher! Thank you!

@Mostly.Harmless.86 Рік тому

Thank You. I am a beginner and I was easily able to get the Pro Mini to work with the help of this video :)

@opalprestonshirley1700 4 роки тому

Very cool and quite a bit fun. Thanks.

@hellfishii 5 років тому

Great video! keep it up! but can someone explain to me some important differences betwen UART & FTDI, thanks

@NoahPeeters 5 років тому

Can you please make a video about lipo batteries and how you can power arduinos with it?

@varweg 2 роки тому

tnx for the awesome tutorial!

@patrickmackay741 5 років тому

Great !!! And very well explained !!! When do you make a cat/dog feeder ? :) With open and close door in 2 ou 3 times in a day ...

@artistacielo6492 3 роки тому

-What is my purpose? -you pass butter -oh my god!

@gerthalberg9735 5 років тому

Hi I can see the advantage if you need to drive it via a small batteri pack - but otherwise couldn’t you just as well use the NANO same pinout but also with a mini USB

@PRESTONDAWS 3 роки тому

Bill, I'm curious as to why you used two capacitors across the power lines rather than one? Is there a benefit gained by combining ceramic and electrolytic capacitors in parallel such as this for combating noise?

@Ibloop 9 місяців тому

23:28 I DID NOT KNOW YOU COULD DO THAT AND NEEDED THAT

@aguszhoe7660 3 роки тому

the year 2021 now, still good tutorial and review,

@ulbrich Рік тому

Thank you very much for this high quality content.

@bernym4047 Рік тому

Very useful and very clearly explained (as usual) Thanks.

@ctuhena Рік тому

Thanks for the comment about the mirrored FTDI on some pro-minis. I thought I was going crazy, but, no, it's actually the world!

@gasko2762 4 роки тому

Thank you for this very useful video! I I will be grateful video with ATtiny processor

@qiangchen1171 4 роки тому

so clear for pro mini programing，i have something wrong with my mega，i try to use ftdi programing mega many times did not work，can you give me some advice

@kriszhk6660 4 роки тому

Thanks for your work ......it's too easy to understand 😆😆😆😆

@tohcp9562 2 роки тому

Impressed to me for detail info and guide to me. I love your lesson

@transfer2822 4 роки тому

Sorry for the late comment. Great videos of yours. You are not bad at controlling the arm, the delay is bad. 400ms is too much. Try with 20. With such a big delay (400ms) your feedback is too slow to be able to control is smooth. Great work!

@tinkmarshino 5 років тому

oh Bill, you live an adventurous life, your not authorized but you'll jump right in and take your chances! Oh you wild man! Just throw caution to the wind.. that's why we love you my brother! Man this was something to watch on my new 70" smarter than me tv...I feel like a renaissance man! I think this would be a fun project to do as long as the sketch is not on github.. It is a great place for sure.. But it is just to confusing for this old man.. I have been looking for some young fellow in my area to help walk me through github so I understand how to get what I need and get it into my IDE correctly.. you know getting old is not for the weak.. Well thanks again for the share.. and carry on you rebel you...

@drcemdede Рік тому

Thank you very much !

@freeelectron8261 3 роки тому

Would a joy stick type control be better for robotic arm control?

@josealphonso2848 3 роки тому

Very well explained. Much better than reading books.

@giorgioventurini2856 Рік тому

You are a "must watch" for everybody.

@webslinger2011 5 років тому

Used an FTDI adapter from china. I wouldn't upload the code at first(had some error). Got it working by using a DF robot FTDI adapter. Costly, but it worked. The china one worked as well after that. Note that it was registering two bootloaders. Had to set to old bootloader.

@fabcentnom2990 3 роки тому

you must connect the DTR pin of the FDTI to the reset pin on the arduino with a 100nF capacitor in series. Without this connection, you have to press the reset button at the start of programming, but it is difficult to press precisely at the right time and there is often a programming error. Connections : FDTI Arduino +5 V o--------------------------------------------o +5V GND o--------------------------------------------o GND TX o--------------------------------------------o RX RX o--------------------------------------------o TX DTR o--------------o 100 nF o-------------o DTR / Reset

@azayles 5 років тому

!4:16 someone needs breakfast :P Does the 3.3v Pro-Mini use an external 8MHz crystal, or the internal oscillator? Could be a handy board definition to use for people that wasn't to program their own bare ATMega328s on a breadboard :)

@gerthalberg9735 5 років тому

Maybe potentiometers with a longer traver will make controlling the arm better

@Shadowwand 3 роки тому

I'm still pretty new to all of this, and alot of these videos have been very helpful. But I am still a bit confused about some of the things you can do with Arduino. Is there a video where someone shows a truly BEASTLY Ardunio project? Either a single Board, or a board speaking to multiple boards? I have ideas that I want to try setting up in Arduino, but I keep running across problems with the way I want to do something, and I'm not sure if I just suck at Arduino, or my project is too ambitious for the way I'm trying to do it.

@andarthome142 5 років тому

Can i use a joystick for smoother control in all directions?, great video's i love the r1 robot build :-)

@melkiorwiseman5234 4 роки тому

You can use two joysticks to control movement, since each joystick will contain two pots.

@Mr_Chuckles 4 роки тому

Excellent video thanks

@whitefields5595 3 роки тому

Bill, be aware that the pro mini has a different bootloader on it. This means that some functions (e.g. the watchdog timer) does not work the same way as it does on the UNO. The correct bootloader needs to be installed for full functionality. Unfortunately I'm not sure what the 'correct' one is and how it is identified!

@alexeigopher5458 Рік тому

Thanks a lot.

@billgaytes6845 2 роки тому

Clearly and well explained project for using the Arduino Pro Mini. I didn't have a FTDI board and used a CP2104 which worked great and connects up just the same.

@sergiourquijo4000 3 роки тому

Awesome video man. A bit distracting the two camera thing btw.

@fiandaja2594 Рік тому

thank you sir

@DaruoshAghajaney 5 років тому

It can be done with any serial to USB adapter, not necessarily FTDI adapters. In fact FTDI adapters are more expensive than other alternatives and don't have any major advantages against other cheap ones.

@s4rg380 4 роки тому

Agreed, I have got an el-cheapo USB-TTL programmer that has an aluminum shell and looks somewhat like a thumb drive, and I have used my UNOs and MEGA 2560 successfully too.

@michelpare1975 3 роки тому

very good explanations. Tk u

@aspmos Рік тому

I am going to show this to my kids to make it together. I am sure they will understand it. Would it make any difference if you used the 3.3 or the 5V, I know it is double the Mhz but the code is quite simple and most of the time it just waits

@rochefortpierre 4 роки тому

Great video! Simple question for you: My Arduino PRO Mini doesn't appear to have a DTR pin. It has BLK, GND, VCC, RXI, TXO, GRN. Other than that, the pin seem to align with my FTDI. Where would you hook up the DTR from the FTDI? I'm afraid of getting this wrong and frying something ;-)

@fabcentnom2990 3 роки тому

DTR pin on arduino is RESET

@kurchak 2 роки тому

@@fabcentnom2990 Thank you. This helped me too.

@electronic7979 5 років тому

Very useful video 👍

@sohanurrahman5859 11 місяців тому

Great video ❤

@despiertateymotivate Рік тому

Thanks a lot for your videos and the knowledge you share! I would like to ask you this> I am connecting an active buzzer to an Arduino Pro Mini 3V into pin 8 and I am making it digitalWrite High but it only clicks and doesn't beep...however, if I rub or move the cable coming from pin 8 on the positive side of the buzzer, the buzzer beeps as normal only once, and then starts to click again...may I know please, what could be the issue? I hope you can help me here! Thanks a lot!

@swyntopia 3 роки тому

It should be possible to programm the mini via SPI ( ICSP ) ? With an Arduino as programmer ? The pins MISO, MOSI, SCL and SS are available, I think. ?????

@alibehrouz9833 5 років тому

many thanks

@justinle909 5 місяців тому

Thank you so much. i have 1 question: The output volt value from Pin 9; 6; 5 & 3 is 3.3V from Arduino. But how about our servo input PWM signal? is it effected? maybe we need 5V for servo signal input to make sure working stable, right?

@CurmudgeonExtraordinaire 4 роки тому

I have one of the Pro Minis that a seller on eBay sent me instead of what was pictured in the ad. I don't have a FTDI and for a single unit, it's not worth buying one since the Nano boards (that have a USB connector on them) are about the same price as the FTDI adapter. Maybe if I had a lot of Pro Minis that I needed to be able to use it would be worth it. On the other hand, I do have a USB to DB-9 serial cable / adapter and it probably has a similar controller molded into either the USB plug or the male DB-9 connector. Would it be possible to use that or are the voltages going to be wrong? I believe the voltages on the RS-232 pins are supposed to be +12VDC and -7VDC for the logic levels.

@fabcentnom2990 3 роки тому

The DB-9 serial cable will burn the arduino. An FDTI adapter costs less than an arduino pro mini.

@andreamitchell4758 5 років тому

11:14 probably worth noting here that many mini USB cables are POWER ONLY , make sure you have a mini USB that can can transmit data and not a power only cable

@tepakornk 3 роки тому

This is the greate tutorial.

@mark8664 3 роки тому

Capacitors in parallel add so why the ceramic capacitor?

@taranagnew436 5 років тому

where can you get the FTDI adapter with the switch to switch between 5v and 3.3v?

@michaels3003 5 років тому

ReadyMadeRC web site (and other ones).

@manofmesopotamia7602 5 років тому

another great video

@calvin-7540 4 роки тому

Can we connect FTDI TTL converter to ATmega328PU to program ? I decided to build a circuit with only programable DIP Atmega328PU, as I have watched your previous videos saying that how to shrink the uno to only DIP Atmega328PU chip

@fabcentnom2990 3 роки тому

the FDTI adapter can program the ATmega328PU only if it already contains the arduino bootloader. If it is blank, a microcontroller/eeprom programmer must be used. For the same reason, it is impossible to program a blank ATmega328PU by installing it on an arduino UNO board. It's the bootloader that made Arduino so successful. Before, you had to remove the microcontroller from the card, connect it to a programmer, program it, then reassemble it on the card each time the program is modified. And at the end of the 36th time, at 4h a.m., we broke a leg or plug it in backwards and it was over for him.

@muhammadhamzahrobbani5654 3 роки тому

excuseme, i want to ask can pro mini use external power, and simultaneously connect FTDI to laptop USB? because some of my devices require quite a lot of power, but I also need FTDI to view the Serial Monitor at the same time. I ask like this because on some boards, like the ESP32, it doesn't allow to provide external power when the ESP32 is connected to a USB laptop, because it can cause damage (written in the ESP32 manual)

@l1f374 2 роки тому

So I was trying this setup today and blew the the capacitor (C19, 10microF) on the boards built in voltage regulator. I find this a bit perplexing as the board should be able to comfortably handle 12v. Is there anything special about the 6V lantern battery that would cause this behavior, or did I just get a poorly made board (Sparkfun) ?

@KenJackson_US 2 роки тому

The 3.3V boards have a maximum RAW input voltage of 6v.

@freedymusic9922 3 роки тому

Excelent English. Thanks

@robertlynnkim1 3 роки тому

Have a question. I think my USB port on my Arduino Mega is bad. Can I use a 6 Pin USB 2.0 to TTL UART converter (CH340G) to upload sketches to the Mega? And if so what pins would I use. Thanks like your channel, Robert

@fabcentnom2990 3 роки тому

Yes, it is possible, but you must connect the DTR pin of the CH340G to the reset pin on the arduino with a 100nF capacitor in series. Without this connection, you have to press the reset button at the start of programming, but it is difficult to press precisely at the right time and there is often a programming error. Connections : FDTI / CH340G Arduino +5 V o--------------------------------------------o +5V GND o--------------------------------------------o GND TX o--------------------------------------------o RX RX o--------------------------------------------o TX DTR o--------------o 100 nF o-------------o DTR / Reset

@robertlynnkim1 3 роки тому

@@fabcentnom2990 Thanks I'll give it a try.

@robertlynnkim1 3 роки тому

@@fabcentnom2990 Well tried doing the cap and wiring with no luck. Tried to upload the blink sketch and it just timed out after looking like it was going to work. Think the board may be fried. Thanks for the help.

@arletpaz8010 3 роки тому

what if i want to do this for the nano with a none working usb?

@themecue9732 2 роки тому

How can I program a pro mini via native 9 pin serial cable?

@TheNobitaloveshizuka Рік тому

whatever.... i'm gonna subscribe and watch your every video you upload, your explanations are way beter than my teacher LOL.....

@safwatfouad7392 3 роки тому

Can i use it to make a gps

@mohammadhasanraza4008 Рік тому

Can't we use the FTDI directly to pro mini

@rajarg1490 5 років тому

Could you please make a content with making drones

@MrLeafser 5 років тому

Plz make video about RELAYS!

@mohammadhasanraza4008 Рік тому

Is it necessary to buy a breadboard

@smuglife64gaming21 2 роки тому

Cool

@udith-pz4tv 5 років тому

Thanks...........

@vcetshaistakhanam8707 3 роки тому

If i want to use Arduino uno with FT232 , How to use it. Please guide

@ghz24 Рік тому

Not needed for uno.

@Airachnid6 4 роки тому

I Love your videos!!!

@muhammadbilal2000 3 роки тому

@6:10 hahaha that made me laugh hard :D... An amazing tutorial, like always thank you.

@inferno6012 5 років тому

how to know if your promini is 5 v or 3.3 v

@robatoto 5 років тому

inferno 601 Three options: 1. Check the spec when you buy it. 2. It‘s usually marked on the board‘s bottom side. 3. The 3.3V version has no crystal on the board as it uses the internal one. The crystal is one of the bigger components with a metallic surface.

@inferno6012 5 років тому

thanks man @@robatoto