Permanently incorporating Ardunio into project

Development Boards Arduino
1

Hello!

I have a project that uses a SparkFun Red Board and a Big Easy Driver stepper motor controller. I have heard that there are ways to permanently incorporate the Arduino chip into my project without losing the board. Please let me know what items I need to work such magic. I guess I would need the chip with a bootloader? And then a USB port so I can update the chip in my project? Would I simply attach power and my analog / digital connections to the proper pins on a PCB? Can a similar procedure be followed for the stepper motor controller?

Thank you!

2

Hi G.

The microcontroller on the RedBoard is soldered in place and removing the chip and reusing it would be quite difficult. You could use something like a [ATmega328 DIP chip that has the bootloader already installed and place that on your own board. That plus a few additional components would replicate an Arduino board on your own board. A [tutorial like this one would show you how to connect everything.

Another alternative would be to use a miniaturized version of an Arduino Uno like our [Arduino Pro Mini. That along with a [FTDI Basic Breakout pretty much lets you build an Arduino into your project in less space that the other combined parts would occupy. Check out our [tutorial for the Pro Mini to see how it works.](Using the Arduino Pro Mini 3.3V - SparkFun Learn)](https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9716)](https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11113)](https://www.jameco.com/jameco/workshop/jamecobuilds/arduinocircuit.html)](https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10524)