This is the schematic for my Arduino compatible board with integrated Blinkenlights. The “official” name for this board is the “Blinkenlighty”. The name was conceived after some proposal in the German Arduino Forum where forum member “Addi” proposed to call this board “Lighty”.
As you can see from the schematic the board is electrically equivalent to an Arduino with plugged in Blinkenlight Shield. If you want to “unplug” it you can just disconnect “SV2″ by removing the shunt.
Notice that this schematic has some differences to the newer Arduino versions. I introduced them on purpose.
- The Blinkenlighty has integrated Blinkenlights – what else
- The Blinkenlighty has a crystal instead of a resonator. Thus its clock is more 10-100 times more precise than a resonator based Arduino (e.g. the Uno).
- The Blinkenlighty has a FTDI USB – serial converter. This makes it more expensive to manufacture but I consider this a proven solution. The USB solution for the newer Arduinos seems motivated by cost cutting instead of providing more value. If you need USB support go for a board with “real” USB support, e.g. the Leonardo.
- The Blinkenlighty will not automatically select the supply voltage. Again this was on purpose. It allows to very easily measure current consumption. It also allows to bypass any internal regulator if necessary.
- The Blinkenlighty has two additional analog pins A6 and A7 which are easily accessible. However I did not put connectors on them on purpose. Whoever needs the two additional pins can solder to them whatever connector is desired.
There are some other details which you can only see from the layout. Most notable I moved the reset switch in such a way that it can be reached much easier if a shield is mounted.
