How NOT to fry your Arduino - Common Arduino mistakes #1

In this video, I will try to show you the most common mistakes that people make before they fry their Arduino. There are multiple fundamental issues that beginners overlook which causes them to destroy the microcontroller. Actually, most of these issues could be simply solved by reading the datasheet of the microcontroller, but quite many people don’t bother to do it. So, I do it for those people and try to help by giving well-detailed examples of how to avoid such mistakes.
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[@amorpheuses1627]

This has to be required viewing for any one doing an arduino project. The same analysis applies to any microcontroller board. You overlook these power budget concepts at your own peril! Great video (as usual) - look forward to the rest of the series.

[@CuriousScientist]

Thank you so much! I hope people will use this as the "go to video" in the future. 😅I also hope that you will like the future videos too. I compiled a nice table of the topics I want to discuss. I will release them one by one in the near future.

[@johnbrown7516]

your content is downright phenomenal. such an underated channel; keep up the awesome work dude.

[@CuriousScientist]

Wow, thank you very much for the supportive comment! I'll keep grinding! Cheers!

[@slenderhero73]

Not me attaching a 12v 2a supply to the arduino jack ahah. Luckily nothing happened but now I think I'll use more the motor shield power port; thanks for the video.

[@CuriousScientist]

A 12 V power supply in the DC jack is perfect! Using a dedicated motor shield for the motor is an excellent idea! Cheers!

[@slenderhero73]

But it was useful to learn that the maximum output of the jack is 1A. I have a BLDC and a Servo motors so I would probably need the shield power port to power both of them.

[@CuriousScientist]

Wait, the jack is not an output but an input. The jack then feeds a voltage regulator, which then can provide 800 or 1000 mA, depending on the type of the onboard voltage regulator. And you should always feed the motors from an external power supply, regardless of their number and type.

[@tobybyus]

Great Video, exactly what i was looking for!!

[@CuriousScientist]

Excellent, I am glad that you liked it.

[@Pascal74264]

Hi, I was looking for a project for automatic timed irrigation with arduino, and I came across your project, which is a bit dated, but certainly works! I would like to know how, for example, I can program it so that every two days, for example in the evening at 18.00, it turns on a pump for 20 seconds to water two pots, and if it has rained and the ground is wet, then there is no need to water, it would be a very nice project, and I need it because I'm going away for 4 weeks and there is no one to look after my plants, thank you very much, I wish you a good day and good day/evening.👍👍

[@CuriousScientist]

Hi! Why don't you ask the question under the relevant video? Even if it is an old video, I read the comments... You can just set up multiple if() conditions that check the time and act accordingly.

[@Pascal74264]

@@CuriousScientist rather scientific explanation!!!

[@CuriousScientist]

Glad to hear it! 😎

[@madPL1239]

Very very importamt knowledge! Thanks for this video. regards

[@CuriousScientist]

My pleasure!

[@kmccabe3337]

Excellent video. Very clear.

[@CuriousScientist]

Thanks!

[@victoribarra9930]

I guess that even once you disassemble a TGA instrument, sometimes you have to remind old principles.

[@CuriousScientist]

Hi! Of course! The fundamental principles are very important. The rest is "just" creativity and diligence. 😄

[@vaisakh_km]

This explains why i weren't able spin 2HP pump with it...

[@CuriousScientist]

2 HP is like what, 1500-ish Watts?! You can evaporate the whole Arduino with such power. 😅

[@vaisakh_km]

@@CuriousScientist XD 240v pump that used for filling water tank in my house... i was just joking... though there are stupid people like that, i had to argue with a friend like 10y ago, not to connect switch parallel to source.. (and he don't understand for hours that he turning off light by shorting circuit... and switch is upside down..)

[@pavelperina7629]

I really wonder if I should read 20-40mA via power GPIO as power than can Arduino provide or that will damage it and the same applies to RPI Pico. I guess I made many mistakes already and Arduino survived everything so far, I haven't tried anything dangerous with RPI Pico, altough I'm going to try a small speaker or piezo buzzer. My mistakes: First: technically mosfet behaves as a small capacitor and turning it on and off means short circuit or power into gpio pin when it goes to low. I used it without gate resistor first. Second: it's very easy to short pins to the ground or VCC by mistake. For example when SD card is shut down, it may be still powered via SPI pins and it may draw 150mA or so and SPI pins must be set to high impedance input prior to power off. This happened to me with other devices that I tried to disconnect to reduce power consumption of battery powered projects, but SD card is only one I recall having very high power draw (at least during communication). With motor I would be scared to connect inductive load to gpio as once you turn off current, it becomes current source itself, creating high voltage spike. Great video anyways.

[@CuriousScientist]

Hi! The datasheet of the Pi Pico states 50 mA as the max current from *ALL* GPIO pins in total. This is the maximum IOVDD current in the datasheet of the RP2040. Then, I found this in the datasheet: "Output drive strength can be set to 2mA, 4mA, 8mA or 12mA". So, much lower current per pin and in total as well. This must have something to do with the fact that it is a lower voltage device (1.1 V and 3.3 V), I assume. Do not directly drive a buzzer or a speaker, drive it through a transistor. For a motor, you just need a flyback diode and it should be OK. I briefly mentioned it in the video. But if your drive it with a proper driver, there should not be any problems.

[@Lunolux]

nice video, thx

[@CuriousScientist]

I am glad to hear that you like it!

[@Enigma758]

My projects predominately require external power. USB cables are cheap, so I just cut the power wire. Problem solved.

[@CuriousScientist]

Also, a great approach, yes! You can keep the data connection while powering your MCU externally.

[@taurruth]

I wanted to check if I can read signals on I/0 pins so so I set one as INPUT and the other as OUTPUT. The processor quickly become very hot and Arduino died.

[@CuriousScientist]

I never tried this way, but it sounds like an interesting way to destroy the chip.

[@d3mk076]

Buddy, please help. Recently, I caused a 5V short circuit to the ground of my Arduino Uno (the same one you have in the video) when the Arduino was plugged into my PC's USB. I had a 10kΩ potentiometer connected (I mixed up the contacts) and it burned slightly at the point of shorting. At this time, all the Arduino LEDs went out. But as soon as I removed the shorting, everything went away, the PC didn't reboot, the port is working. At the same time, nothing heated up (maybe it just didn't have time?). Could I damage the USB PC in this way, or is it reliably protected?

[@CuriousScientist]

Probably the resettable fuse for the 5V line was blown. Since it's resettable, it recovers after a time. So, if the device powers up properly after removing the burned parts you connected previously, it should be safe to operate again.

[@d3mk076]

@ It started working immediately as soon as I removed the short circuit, so it's unlikely it burned out. I don't have the original Arduino, but the one you have in the video, and as far as I know, it's not self-repairing. Is this fuse really helping?

[@ajilabraham7717]

Can I use a mobile charger adaptor, to power Arduino? Pls rply

[@CuriousScientist]

Absolutely!

[@21-ronitbhat95]

I am here after frying my Uno 🙂

[@CuriousScientist]

Now you hopefully know how not to repeat the mistake. Keep exploring! 😎

[@Brainrot_Conquerer]

FRY NOT! for I have transferred Your signal through The Driver

[@CuriousScientist]

🆒️

[@fiveoneecho]

But... But... What if I'm built different?

[@CuriousScientist]

Yes.

[@caunt.official]

You could make this video 20 seconds long

[@CuriousScientist]

How?

[@caunt.official]

@ just showing details (with price) we need to buy in first scene - like 5 seconds, and connecting them together in another 5 seconds And you would still had 10 seconds more to tell anything you wanted

[@CuriousScientist]

I think you did not watch the video or you do not understand what's discussed in the video... Also, if it is just a 20 second video why haven't you made one and uploaded it to your channel? It sounds like that you know it better...

[@caunt.official]

@ I visited this video because of your Shorts video and expected another short explanation

[@CuriousScientist]

Cool.

[@User-w7ckl]

Like if you come from Reddit

[@CuriousScientist]

Did someone share this video there?

[@User-w7ckl]

@@CuriousScientist Not this video, but your channel

[@CuriousScientist]

It must be the discussion in Electroboom's thread! 😄

[@sultan7679]

I have never destroyed the fuse... Its always the main uC thats on fire😂

[@CuriousScientist]

Then, you most probably exceeded the current rating of the GPIO pins. Lessons learned! 😎