Review on Arduino MKRZero
(Image Source - www.arduino.cc)
Introduction
Launched in December 13th 2016, Arduino MKRZero is the newest addition to Arduino family. This board is specifically designed to access the processing power and features of Arduino Zero but in a small form factor. Its form factor is based on the existing Arduino MKR1000. MKRZero is available for $21.90/€20.90 + tax on www.store.arduino.cc worldwide. This board is powered by Microchip SAM D21 ARM Cortex®-M0+ MCU (ATSAMD21G18A-48) which is a 32 bit Microcontroller and is equipped with Full Speed USB Support and a DMA (Direct Memory Access) controller. MKRZero is equipped with on-board male 2 Pin JST PH type connector for Li-Po Battery connection (3.7v – 700mAh minimum). The board supply voltage is 5v but the circuit operates on 3.3v and the maximum DC current per I/O pin is 7 mA. MKRZero also has an on-board battery charging circuit for Li-Po battery and an ADC pin connected battery input to give the battery level read out. Additionally, MKRZero has an on-board SD Card reader which is connected to the microcontroller’s SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface) pins. MKRZero has an inbuilt RTC (Real-Time Counter) unit which resets to predefined values on Power Reset (i.e. …show more content…
MKRZero uses a specialized chip which has a preset charging current of 350mAh. This means that the MINIMUM capacity of the Li-Po battery should be 700 mAh. Smaller cells will be damaged by this current and may overheat, develop internal gasses and explode, setting on fire the surroundings. It is strongly recommended that the user must select a Li-Po battery of at least 700mAh capacity. A bigger cell will take more time to charge, but won't be harmed or overheated. The chip is programmed with 4 hours of charging time, then it goes into automatic sleep mode. This will limit the amount of charge to max 1400 mAh per charging
(Image Source - www.arduino.cc)
Introduction
Launched in December 13th 2016, Arduino MKRZero is the newest addition to Arduino family. This board is specifically designed to access the processing power and features of Arduino Zero but in a small form factor. Its form factor is based on the existing Arduino MKR1000. MKRZero is available for $21.90/€20.90 + tax on www.store.arduino.cc worldwide. This board is powered by Microchip SAM D21 ARM Cortex®-M0+ MCU (ATSAMD21G18A-48) which is a 32 bit Microcontroller and is equipped with Full Speed USB Support and a DMA (Direct Memory Access) controller. MKRZero is equipped with on-board male 2 Pin JST PH type connector for Li-Po Battery connection (3.7v – 700mAh minimum). The board supply voltage is 5v but the circuit operates on 3.3v and the maximum DC current per I/O pin is 7 mA. MKRZero also has an on-board battery charging circuit for Li-Po battery and an ADC pin connected battery input to give the battery level read out. Additionally, MKRZero has an on-board SD Card reader which is connected to the microcontroller’s SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface) pins. MKRZero has an inbuilt RTC (Real-Time Counter) unit which resets to predefined values on Power Reset (i.e. …show more content…
MKRZero uses a specialized chip which has a preset charging current of 350mAh. This means that the MINIMUM capacity of the Li-Po battery should be 700 mAh. Smaller cells will be damaged by this current and may overheat, develop internal gasses and explode, setting on fire the surroundings. It is strongly recommended that the user must select a Li-Po battery of at least 700mAh capacity. A bigger cell will take more time to charge, but won't be harmed or overheated. The chip is programmed with 4 hours of charging time, then it goes into automatic sleep mode. This will limit the amount of charge to max 1400 mAh per charging