Hey TomKatt! That's a really good question - after reading your question, I realized I had a difficult time finding the search as well. For some reason, the search system is very easy to miss.

Thankfully, the forum does have a searching system! If you're on a computer, the search button is located on the very top black bar, right next to the Home tab!

Great find on the 5-pin screw terminals! That Amazon bundle from Cermant is a steal at $0.45/piece. Definitely beats the Adafruit/Digi-Key price.

Thank you so much! I appreciate the compliments! I double-checked that Amazon Cermant link, and strangely enough, that product page seems to only sell 2-pin screw terminals now. Plus, as a fair warning to any interested buyers, a lot of the reviews for that product are quite negative.

These screw terminals may work well! From my experience, as I have used these terminals myself, the screws are quite small, and the screws are also flathead instead of Phillips. But these terminals do function well in terms of conducting current, even after soldering! These terminals work best under low mechanical strain (don't pull any attached wires very hard). Still, I suppose less mechanical strength is to be expected since the terminals are so small.

Thank you for the additional info! So the MKR Zero board defines (as a macro) the term ADC_BATTERY, while the TinyZero does not.

Fix it by checking the TinyZero schematic to find the ADC pin used for battery sense...

I double-checked the schematic again, but I couldn't find any analog pins for the circuits with the following headings:

• Lithium Battery Charger
• Battery Connections
• Power

However, at this time, there is what appears to be a voltage divider next to the circuit "BMA250 Accelerometer". This voltage divider seems to output to pin AD4. Is this the correct analog pin? If so, how do I translate AD4 to the proper input term for analogRead()?

TinyZero's variant does not expose ADC_BATTERY so the symbol is undefined.

After searching on GitHub, I was able to find the variant for the MKR Zero, but not the TinyZero. Does the TinyZero not have a variant on GitHub? Could that be why ADC_BATTERY was not defined for the TinyZero?

@bekeanloinse56 Thank you for your support! Like you said, the compact size of these Wireling breakout boards is definitely an advantage the terminal shield just can't match. I'm glad to hear a screw-terminal 0.1 breakout board would be such a useful product for several developers in this forum!

While pre-soldered screw terminals are not yet an option, there are other ways to solve this problem. In the case of your workshop, you could buy 0.1 breakout boards and screw terminals in bulk, then solder them before your class. Then your students don't have to solder any wires!

I've never used the Tinyduino, but I can say the TinyZero board has worked very well in my experience! The TinyZero has proved very stable and works well with the Arduino IDE (even version 2 of the IDE). From experience, there are a few subtle differences between a TinyZero and an MKR Zero, but these differences should be negligible for a prototype.

I don't know a lot about Bluetooth shields, but TinyCircuits does offer a shield compatibility sheet to evaluate which TinyCircuits shields can be combined together. This may prove helpful for your prototype!

I hope it helps!

Thank you for your reply! I took a look at the TinyZero schematic posted on the product page, but the only pins I see connected to the charging circuit are +5V, VBATT and GND.

How can I identify on the schematic which analog pin is connected to the battery charging circuit? I'd like to learn so I really understand!

Hi there!

I have a TinyZero connected to a small LiPo battery. I would like to read the current capacity of the battery to the Serial Monitor. Since the board is based off of the Arduino Zero (and by extension, the MKR Zero), I sought to read the value of ADC_BATTERY and convert this value to my voltage reading. The following tutorial shows how to measure battery voltage using an MKR Zero. (https://projecthub.arduino.cc/Arduino_Genuino/mkr-zero-read-battery-voltage-e31f42)

When verifying the code for the TinyZero, I receive an error that tells me that ADC_BATTERY is not defined in this scope. However, if I verify the exact same code for an MKR Zero, I receive no compilation errors. Since they use the same processor (SAMD21), wouldn't both boards have an ADC_BATTERY pin, and potentially be able to use ADC_BATTERY the same way?

Thank you for any help!

Thank you both for your feedback!

I would still love to have a 0.1 Wireling breakout with screw terminals! There are so many advantages:

• Rapid prototyping. The screw terminals on the 0.1 Wireling breakout would make it easier to plug and unplug wires during the early stages of creating an electronic design.
• Smaller size. Not every project has room for the larger size of the Screw Terminal shield.
• Ease of use. Screw terminals are far easier to use than soldering, meaning more developers can use those 0.1 Wireling breakouts for their projects. And that means the 0.1 Wireling breakout with screw terminals can sell to more people!

Welcome to TinyCircuits! To best help out, we'll need a bit more info so we know what we're working with

• What pre-made code are you trying to upload? What's the project?
• Is this from TinyCircuits or somewhere else? (Could you please post a pic of your code?)
• I'll assume your accelerometer is the one built into the TinyZero board, anything else connected to it?

I'm noticing this too, the forum wasn't like this last year when I posted a feature suggestion (https://forum.tinycircuits.com/index.php?topic=2557.0). I haven't been back for a while, but something does seem different. I haven't seen mods post for a while.

In addition, I'm getting 503 errors like crazy when I use this site. Might just be for today, but we'll see.

What was your question about a TinyCircuits product? I've used them for a project and they work well for me.

TinyCircuits has a Discord server? I didn't know they had a server, but that sounds very useful! Where did you find it originally?

Hello there,

I'm working on a small project using a TinyZero - essentially a data-storage unit that I can connect to my computer and read data from. However, I would like to utilize it on-the-go thanks to it's small size. One solution is using an equally-portable USB Host device that can read and display my data-storage TinyZero's signals, in place of my computer. I know there is a USB shield, but it normally is used for programming Tinyduinos that did not have a built-in USB port.

Though, since it refers to "add[ing] USB communication capabilities to your projects" in the description (and that it mentions this as a separate, distinct function from programming the board), and also that the "entire USB protocol [is] handled on the chip" in the Tech Specs, I'm wondering: can this shield also be used as a USB Host? If so, that would be super helpful for my project!

If it cannot be used as a USB Host, is there at least a way to read data sent from the TinyZero's USB port without using a computer?

I did consider the proto screw-terminal shield for my design, and while it would enable me to directly access many of the microcontroller's pins (which is a very appealing option), I'd still opt for a 0.1" wireling breakout with screw terminals for a different design reason.

My project is very small, a handheld data storage unit, so I'm designing it to be as space-efficient as possible. The proto screw-terminal shield might not fit in the enclosure for my project, whereas the Wireling shield is much smaller.

After doing some searching, I found two sellers that sell the needed 5-pin screw terminals. Screw terminals are my preference, but 5-pin headers (the style used on Arduino shields) will work as well.

The first seller is Adafruit/Digi-Key. I'll provide both links here - Adafruit is currently out of stock, but their page references to purchase it from Digi-Key, which appears to have the part in-stock. From both Adafruit and Digi-Key, a single 5-pin screw terminal is $1.85.

https://www.adafruit.com/product/2139
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/adafruit-industries-llc/2139/6827102

The second seller is on Amazon, sold by Cermant. I've had good experience with Amazon-bought products before. A particular advantage for cost-efficiency is that Cermant offers the terminals in a bundle, which results in significantly cheaper costs per piece (the bundle of 10 pieces is $8.99, but per piece is $0.45).

(https://www.amazon.com/Cermant-XK128-2-54MM-Terminal-Connector-2-54MM-5P-10Pcs/dp/B09BVFT6MN/ref=sr_1_6?crid=1XWPYJFVLVE2T&keywords=5-pin%2Bscrew%2Bterminal&qid=1681835160&sprefix=5-pin%2Bscrew%2Btermin%2Caps%2C596&sr=8-6&th=1)

Both options are rated for very high voltages and high currents. The first option handles 5A, the second, 6A.

For new developers getting started with electronics, it's often preferable to avoid soldering to take advantage of being able to change designs as needed. While the existing 0.1 Breakout Wirelings are excellent for the purpose of turning sensors or accessories into Wirelings, they require soldering, which can limit their marketable audience to only engineers who know soldering. And even if some of them would be willing to learn soldering, not everyone has the needed resources to solder components together.

To help new developers easily prototype and design, and to market to a wider audience, I suggest a 0.1" Breakout Wireling with either pre-soldered screw terminals or pre-soldered headers. Though it is an investment to pre-solder, the returns can be quite viable. The ease of buying and plugging in a pre-soldered system cannot be overstated, and having a pre-soldered option may prove the difference between selling a product or losing the sale.