INTRODUCTION TO Arduino mega 2560
Posted by Superadmin on August 16 2024 11:02:11

INTRODUCTION TO Arduino mega 2560

 

In this article we are going to discuss briefly about Arduino Mega 2560 board. After reading this article you will get to know that how this board is different from other boards of Arduino, in which condition or under which specifications we should use this board and why we should prefer this board over others. You will also get to know about the specifications of this board, pins configuration, components, software that is used to program this board, memory, power requirements and additional shields that can be used with board. We will also highlight some application and projects that are made from this board and much more.Arduino Mega 2560

INTRODUCTION TO Arduino mega 2560

Arduino MEGA 2560 board is just like a brother of Arduino UNO board. It is way more powerful than Arduino UNO and also twice as long from it. This board is the successor of Arduino MEGA.  It can be named as ATMega2560. It can have more memory space as compared to other boards of Arduino. Arduino MEGA 2560 is different from all other boards of Arduino that came before as they don’t use the FTDI USB-to-serial driver chip. Instead it uses ATmega16U2 programmed as a USB-to-serial converter. It is programmed in Arduino IDE software like all other boards in terms of coding. We don’t need to attach extra components or devices to make this board in running condition to use. As per our requirements we can just plug and play with this board as everything is built in that makes it readily available.

Arduino Mega 2560 is an amazing microcontroller board for the projects that need large amount of input output pins or if high processing power is required. It is designed for more complex projects because as for simple projects large amount of input output pins are useless and a board with less memory fails to achieve our requirements. It can be used as a stand-alone project or in combination with other boards. Mostly it is used for creating a stand-alone project

PINS of Arduino MEGA 2560 Board & Uses

VOLTAGE AND CURRENT SPECIFICATIONS 

MEMORY SPECIFICATIONS 

DIMENSIONS AND WEIGHT 

OTHER SPECIFICATIONS:

POWER SUPPLY for Arduino mega 2560

In order to use this board efficiently and without getting the board burnt / damaged we should be cautious in selecting a power source for our microcontroller board as for any electro mechanical device to work , selecting a power source is a crucial step.

Arduino Mega 2560 can have power supply of two voltages i.e. 3.3 V and 5 V

In short there are 3 ways to power our board. We can use either USB cable to power our board and then transfer our code to board or we can power it up by Vin of board or via power jack. These last two methods to provide power to the board can be used once you built and compile code into board via USB cable.

Software for programming for  Arduino mega 2560

Shield Compatibility of Arduino mega 2560

The first and foremost thing that we should keep in our mind before using any shield is to make assured of its operating voltage. We have to make definite that the operating voltage of that shield is compatible with our board voltage as shields with higher operating voltage i.e. above 3.3 V or 5 V can damage our board. However mostly boards are having operating voltage of 3.3 V or 5 V but we should be careful in selection of shields which we are going to use with our microcontroller board to prevent our board from damage. The second most important thing that we should make sure is that the header distribution of the shield we are going to use should resonate with pin distribution of our board so that we can simply attach the shield with our board to make it ready to use. Arduino mega 2560 is compatible with many shields that are designed for some other version of Arduino board. Some of the shields and their purpose for which they are used are listed below.

APPLICATIONS of Arduino mega 2560

As discussed earlier, usage of Arduino mega board is pretty uncommon because of large number of input output pins. But it’s great for some projects like

That’s all for today. You can ask any question in comment section below if you are unsure about anything related to this article. We will try our best to guide you according to our best expertise.