Messages

1

New Product Ideas / How to deal with VCC on Tiny Shields

« on: April 24, 2013, 03:57:22 AM »

Hello everyone,
I was studying the schematics of the TinyDuino and the programming adapter last weekend.
I want to create a temeprature shield as initial project to deal with TinyDuino.

What if a part on the Shield does not support 5V? If the USB Programming Shield is connected to TinyDuino, the uC and all other shields
are powered with +5v from USB. When the uC Board is powered by a battery VCC is VBAT ~3V.

Now what? Do I need to add DC/DC converters and level shifters on 2x2cm in order not to blow my shield, or should I design it to work with VBAT on VCC only and tell the users not to connect the shield while programming or debugging?

I'm just interested how TinyCircuits will design future shields which are providing more functionality compared to the breakout boards and the 16 LED Shield. How do you do that?

Thanks for your advice,
Michael.

2

New Product Ideas / Re: Modification of the USB + ICP shield to 3.3V

« on: April 24, 2013, 03:52:03 AM »

I totally agree. I was wondering why VCC is tied to the USB voltage and not the 3V3 pin of the FTDI adapter, which supplies 3.3v without and additional parts. This would make it much easier to develop tiny shields.
Not I have to add a voltage regulator and a level shifter to a small shield in order to not burn it by the user while having a 3.3V shield attached during the programming cycle.