Compatible Arduino Mega 2560 R3 with USB Cable

Compatible Arduino Mega

The Arduino Mega 2560 is a microcontroller based on the ATmega2560, suitable for anyone looking to create more elaborate projects that need a greater number of inputs and outputs than the Arduino Uno. It has 54 digital input / output pins, 16 analog inputs, 4 UARTs (serial hardware ports), a 16 MHz crystal oscillator, a USB connection, a power input, an ICSP connection and a reset button.

Contains everything needed to support the microcontroller. Just connect to a computer with a USB cable or a power supply and you're ready to go!

The Arduino Mega 2560 board is open-source, can be connected to a computer's USB port and programmed with the Arduino-Arduino IDE development environment. There are many examples and libraries ready to use with Arduino, because it is an open project.

The Arduino Mega 2560 is compatible with most shields designed for the Arduino. This board is the latest version available (also known as R3) brings several improvements over previous ones. It also has twice the memory of the old Arduino Mega.

Arduino Mega Technical Specifications:
• Microcontroller: ATmega2560;
• Operating voltage: 5V;
• Input voltage (recommended): 7-12V;
• Input voltage (limits): 6-20V;
• Digital ports: 54 (of which 14 can be used as PWM);
• Analog ports: 16;
• Current I/O pins: 40mA;
• 3.3V pin current: 50mA;
• Memory: 256KB (8KB used in bootloader);
• SRAM: 8KB;
• EEPROM: 4KB;
• Clock speed: 16MHz.

Mega's Power:
The Arduino Mega 2560 can be powered by the USB port or with an external power supply. The power input is selected automatically. External power (not USB) can be either from a power supply or from batteries. The power supply can be connected by connecting a positive 2.1mm connector in the center of the power input. Cables from a battery can be inserted into the ground pins (Gnd) and voltage input (Vin) of the power connector. The Arduino Mega board can operate with an external power supply between 6 and 20 volts. However, if less than 7 volts are supplied, the 5V pin may provide less than 5 volts and the board may become unstable. With more than 12V the voltage regulator can overheat and damage the board. The recommended range is 7 to 12 volts. The Arduino Mega 2560 differs from all previous boards in the sense that it does not use the FTDI chip to do the conversion from serial to USB which has been replaced by the ATmega8U2 programmed to perform this same function.

Memory of the Arduino Mega:
The ATmega2560 has 256 KB of flash memory for storing code (of which 8KB is used by the bootloader), 8 KB of SRAM and 4 KB of EEPROM.

Arduino Mega Communication:
The Arduino Mega 2560 has several facilities for communicating with a computer, another Arduino or other microcontrollers. The Mega ATmega2560 provides four serial communication ports UARTs for TTL (5V). An FTDI FT232RL chip directs one of these ports to the USB connection and the FTDI drivers (which come with the Arduino software) provide a virtual port for software on the computer. Arduino software includes a serial monitor that allows simple text data to be sent to and from the Arduino board. The RX and RT LEDs will blink while data is being transmitted by the FTDI chip and the USB connection to the computer (but not for serial communication on pins 0 and 1).

USB Current Protection:
The Arduino Mega 2560 has a reset fuse that protects the computer's USB ports against short circuits or overcurrent. Although many computers have their own internal protection, the fuse gives an extra degree of security. If more than 500mA is drained or applied to the USB port, the fuse will automatically open the circuit until the short or overload is removed.

Arduino Mega vs Arduino Due:
The main differences are the processor speed, since the Arduino Due uses the ARM Cortex-M3 ARM Cortex-M3 processor from 32 bits to 84 Mhz, and the Arduino Mega uses the ATmega2560 from 8 bits to 16Mhz, which makes the Arduino Due faster. On the other side, Due works at 3.3V and Mega at 5V, depending on the purpose and how you will connect it, it can be a limitation on one board or another.

Includes:
• 1x Compatible Arduino Mega 2560 R3;
• 1x USB Cable.