Does Arduino Shield take all the pins?

Development Boards Arduino
1

I am confused, and quite new to all this. But it looks like the Arduino shield (MyoWare 2.0 Arduino Shield - DEV-18426 - SparkFun Electronics) is meant to plug into an Arduino shaped like the Redboard (SparkFun RedBoard Qwiic - DEV-15123 - SparkFun Electronics). But, it looks like it takes up every single pin to do this. Am I missing something? It looks like your only options are running it to a computer or wirelessly transmitting to a second Arduino.

What do I do if I want the Arduino to also output to some servos?

2

Normally you would check the schematic to see which pins are actually connected but there is no schematic listed on the product page.

I see 6 connectors on the board, myoware sends an analog signal. The shield very likely only uses the 6 analog in pins labeled A0 through A5.

Looking at the code for the shield should verify this.

3

If the MyoWare shield is using up most of the PWM pins, you can use software libraries like the Servo library in Arduino, which allows you to control servos on non-PWM pins.

4

That’s the thing, it’s not just using most of the pins, there seem to be literally no pins left. You can see in the product demonstration video (https://youtu.be/d1oUHqPa35I?si=nksnhgfOMvov3lUD&t=560) that even if it didn’t plug into the pins, it still covers them up so nothing else could use them.

Again, unless I’m missing something because I’m a real newbie and haven’t purchased the devices, and don’t have them in front of me.

They go over a little about how they got the project to work in this video (https://youtu.be/s1eWe2vy184?si=Ql5ZAw_6uGUPchdu&t=14) but it seems to involve two or three Arduino boards and wireless transmission.

5

You can always install more shields with double headers and whatnot…I believe they used so many pins because just having 6 is incredibly weak for stability and they needed to use a large shield for those sizable connectors

You can also just solder stuff to those pins and use them as-is…they’re just really short lol

1 Like
6

As mentioned, there is no schematic. So get your multimeter out and check (shield disconnected) which pins are in use. Looking at the image at the top of the board, it’s only A0…A5. So you can follow the advice above with one caveat: A4 and A5 are also the I2C bus so you must choose to use the connectors on the Myo board for their purpose or don’t use them so you can use the I2C bus.

@TS-Russell mentioned a shield with double headers. Below is an example and has convenient screw terminals.

IM120417013 - Main-500x500