In general I am trying to combine a couple of different products here into 1 PCB. I have been an SFE customer for several months, I’ve used several different SFE Arduino boards with success… Namely the Mini Pro 5v, Pro 5v and of course the standard Duel…
I have an LED Project that currently requires an XBee Explorer Regulated, an Arduino Mini Pro, 5v Breadboard power supply and some really ugly wiring slapped into an SFE Project box. While perfectly functional I’m installing these in an child and dog enviro… so I am thinking it would be a good candidate for designing a PCB with all these functions so I just “plug and play”
Basically what I’m looking to do is combine the functions of the 328 5v Arduino uC a 5v regulated power supply, the Xbee socket and trimmings plus some I/O brought out, 6pin header with direct connect to power (not through psu) and 4digitalpins, 6pin header for ftdi…
Shouldn’t be too hard right? My biggest problem so far is my lack of electrical know how… I’m a flat novice with Eagle and EE. My biggest problem so far is (and maybe its my approach) that I cant seem to locate PTH components for some of the SMD components used by SFE… for example “Element: U3, SOT23-5, SparkFun, Value: V_REG_LDOSMD” from the xbee explorer regulated
My Google-Fu no withstanding I couldn’t really find good tutorials online so feel free to point me to articles or tutorials I may have missed (I have read the ones here at SFE regarding eagle)
There sometimes aren’t direct replacements using the same parts. Some manufacturers don’t make PTH parts anymore. Is there some reason you don’t want to do SMD? SOT23s aren’t any harder to solder than TO220s IMO. I believe Sparkfun sells a “learn to solder SMD” kit, it would be a good way to get practice. I prefer SMD, personally.
If you really want to replace them, you’re basically re-designing the circuit. You need to get the datasheets and find replacement PTH parts that same the same specs, or close enough. For example, the voltage regulator you mentioned is easy enough to source in a number of different packages, but some manufactures might use different resistor and capacitor values. If you want to go this route, buy some parts and a breadboard and build the circuits there first to make sure things work as you expect before you design a PCB. I’d start with power, as it’s easy enough to get right and if you don’t do it right, you fry things. You can also test it very easily with a voltmeter.
That is basically what I thought I was going to have to deal with… I’m just not comfy yet with soldering SMD stuff… looks like I’ll just bite the bullet and go SMD. Thanks for the information
You could replace it with any through hole LDO with the same output voltage and input specifications (LM1117 for instance).
However, is there any reason you would be running the Arduino/AVR at 5V? Most modern electronics have shifted to 3.3V logic levels across the board, and if all you are adding is a translation step for logic levels, you might as well run everything at 3.3V.