Microcontroller Showdown: Which One Wins for Your Project?

[@vishusharma8566]

If I would have discovered your channel 4-5 months ago my life would have been so much easier. I am a graduate student doing my research on wireless sensor networks. For most of my life in university and professionally I have worked with mathematics and algorithms for signal processing, control etc and didn't had much practical hands on experience with hardware (apart from arduino and breadboard). Your videos to me feel like a big brother explaining the electronics product development process step by step. I am so grateful, Thank you so much. I feel like I can create my own stuff.

[@PredictableDesigns]

Wow, Vishu, thank you so much and your comment just made my day!

[@ingenierocristian]

This is a mine of gold for professionals and hobbysts! Thanks for the effort to make this kind of content!

[@PredictableDesigns]

Thank you for saying that!!

[@PredictableDesigns]

One thing I should have mentioned is supply chain stability and availability. Especially now with the current chip shortage many microcontrollers are impossible to find in stock. Although I think this should get better soon.

[@timtravelnomad]

Hi there! I'm curious which of these chips are used in popular vehicles? We kept hearing about chip supply issues for cars these last few years. Do they use these or something else?

[@veeeee3516]

Man i'm not christain... but you are doing God's work... so respect and support to you!!

[@PredictableDesigns]

Not sure I'd describe it in those terms, but thank you nonetheless!

[@ysiegel5544]

Thanks for this, I love your content

[@PredictableDesigns]

Thank you!

[@daberechinwobi9299]

Sir I want to learn how to program microcontroller

[@garethsmith7628]

yeah, but for that temp humidity example ESP 32 might actually be perfect because of the ULP capabiity and deep sleep features, plus wifi bluetooth and there are just bucketloads of them around

[@bertblankenstein3738]

I use the esp32 and wifi enable temp readings around the house, 32 bits and hundreds of MHz. But it was easy and didn't cost that much, and I can reprogram or repurchase them.

[@andreasschmitt2307]

For me it has to be cheap and simple to use in my hardware designs. At the moment it's the STM32G030 because it doesn't need a crystal oscillator, external pull-up or pull-down resistors and just one Vdd and one ground pin. Also very interesting is the RP2040 because of its programmable IOs, and also the various CH32 controllers because some can handle 5V and thus can be powered by a Li-Ion battery without regulators.

[@PredictableDesigns]

Agreed. The RO2040 is definitely an impressive MCU and they only cost $1 even in low volumes. Thank for sharing!

[@jeswanthkumar4291]

Almost all stm32 series has this, why do you prefer only g030 series just curious as I am in process of selecting micro for my project and I have finalized stm32g030c8t6

[@andreasschmitt2307]

@@jeswanthkumar4291 The STM32G has a temperature compensated RC oscillator, which has a tolerance of +-1%. I was using the STM32F103 before, which has a much bigger tolerance and needed a crystal oscillator for my use case.

[@jeswanthkumar4291]

@@andreasschmitt2307 thank you for the reply. I want to use internal RTC with external 32.768khz crystal, do you think it's a good idea. I am trying to reduce cost.

[@andreasschmitt2307]

@@jeswanthkumar4291 I'm using the same configuration, so this works.

[@pablob9080]

How come you don't get more likes? This is pure gold

[@PredictableDesigns]

Haha. Glad to hear that!

[@khomo12]

Thank you!👍👍👍

[@PredictableDesigns]

You're most welcome!

[@ericr.5477]

Hi John, thank you for this great video, as well as all other videos that you have posted. You are definitely an excellent tutor, both to me and many other MCU lovers. Please allow me to ask you a question. Would you be able to make a features and performance comparison between the STM32 family and the NXP RT1060 and RT1170 families? The RT1062 @ 600MHz is used in the popular Teensy 4.0 and 4.1 boards, while the next gen of Teensy will probably be based on a dual core RT1170, which provides a Cortex M7 @ 1GHz and a Cortex M4 @ 400MHz.

[@artem_kyselov]

What about Nordic Semiconductor?

[@PredictableDesigns]

I do like Nordic but mainly their line of Bluetooth microcontrollers which are also Cortex-M based.

[@hanooi7450]

I like them. Ones like the nRF552840 even have the voltage regulators built in. Just got done with a project where it saved me the need for an extra voltage regulator. Also, the chip runs on 5V.

[@KennethScharf]

8 bit micro-controllers are available in 100 pin packages. (the ATmega1280 and Atmega2560 used in the Arduino Mega board for example). IIRC there may also be a version of the PIC in a 100 pin package as well. But most 8 bit micros do max out at 64 pins. On the flip side, there are some small pinout packages for 32 micro's, usually from the Arm Cortex M0 family. Thanks to support from the GNU C/C++ compiler, both AVR and ARM Cortex micros are not difficult to program. ARM processors generally require more complex initialization operations to set pin mux registers, however most of the init code is included in the GNU C library, or generated by the programming IDE's such as AVR Studio, MPLab IDE, or Arduino. BTW, since Microchip purchased Atmel, they have merged PIC, AVR, and SAM (ARM) chip support into all of the Atmel and Microchip development tools including MPLAB, Atmel Studio, and the Pickit & ICE programmer-debuggers. You are correct that the 8051 is mostly used as a core hardware library for ASIC chips. While there are some stand alone 8051 micro controllers available, most are either mask rom or OTP eprom program memory that isn't well suited for DIY projects and require either an emulator or expensive development hardware to prototype. AVR and PIC 8 bit controllers are mostly flash based, as are almost all current 32 bit micros.

[@PredictableDesigns]

Thank you so much Kenneth for sharing this here!

[@jamescoleman6537]

Hi John, there are many ways to include a low battery indicator LED to a circuit. Do you recommend a method?

[@PredictableDesigns]

It depends on the type of battery. For lithium ion it's best to use a fuel gauge chip since they don't have a linear discharge curve.

[@babbagebrassworks4278]

These videos are nice sanity checks for my future possible products designs. I normally use Cypress PSoC micros, which can have their own 8bit core or 8051 or Arm M0/M3 core. CPLD like programmable peripherals is very handy for weird IO apps. I am looking at those very low cost RISC-V, just because of their emergent capabilities for the price. No design license lowers the cost for mass production. All that said, time is money, I like software tools that shorten code development time. I tend towards Free Pascal as the stronger code typing reduces debugging time than the traditional C methods. Even thinking about Ada for long term reliability as it can work on microcontrollers now.

[@PredictableDesigns]

Great to hear, thanks for sharing!

[@ek3313]

Hello John, very insightfull video. I do have aquestion though. What microcontroller would you reccomend for a tamagotchi like toy, lookin at battery duration and memory? Thanks!

[@PredictableDesigns]

Thanks, and glad to hear you found it insightful! Without knowing all the details I'd probably recommend a MCU in the STM32L0 family. They are low power, have various memory options, are reasonably priced, and have enough performance for what you describe.

[@KeithFeickert]

Aww, no mention of the RP2040 😩

[@PredictableDesigns]

The RP2040 has become one of my favorites for some applications since making this video. You can't beat the price/performance ratio!

[@stephanelonkeng2259]

Great! I liké your vidéos. Are there some MSP360 That support LCD Segments ?

[@PredictableDesigns]

Great to hear, thank you Stephane! There are many MSP430 variations so I'm sure there sure you can find a model that works. Personally I tend to use STM32 microcontrollers most often.

[@Ma_X64]

There definitely are. At work I have some prototype (not mine) with MSP that supports LCD with no additional parts needed. I'll try to not forget tomorrow to check what a particular MCU those prototype has. If you would answer to this my comment say a 10 hours later it will help me to remember.

[@stephanelonkeng2259]

@@Ma_X64 Hello, thanks in advance. Did you check ?

[@Ma_X64]

@@stephanelonkeng2259 Hi. Just done. It's M430FE4272. I was sure that it what you want but, obviously, mistaken.

[@Ma_X64]

At work, relatively recently, I was forced to get acquainted with STM8 microcontrollers. And I like them. A sort of STM32 larvae. DMA, a bunch of advanced timers, an LCD driver, but it's all 8-bit. I think they should also be mentioned in the review. Although, of course, their support is useless -- a very buggy IDE that crashes spontaneously from time to time and does not remember some settings, the community is practically absent. But if you already have experience in developing embedded systems, then all this is bypassed. And of course I appreciated 8-pin STM32s with Cortex M0+ core. They're so small and yet powerful. Features like e.g. swaping USART pins available. I've done quite pretty Christmas light-effect device with one of it. And it's like a magic when that tiny IC drives more than a hundred LEDs (via registers of course) doing 50-100 frames per second.

[@PredictableDesigns]

Thanks for the helpful feedback! I appreciate you sharing your experiences.

[@thanatosor]

If you intend to write Assembly, then nothing as fun as PIC 8-bit microcontroller. Some of latest 8-bit PICs seem to be pretty competitive price directly to STM32.

[@PredictableDesigns]

It's been a very long time since I've programmed using assembly. It was my primary programming language when I was first programming. Although I also did some pure machine code programming before it.

[@EmbeddedEnigma]

i feel like with ST introduction of stm32C and stm32G series, the line between 8bit and 32bit mcu becomes super thin. Recently I used stm32C0 series in one of the external module I made for the device and I got it for 1.4dollar. And the support of ST is marvelous. So I feel like 32bits mcu are no brainer.

[@tedbastwock3810]

Is there an MCU available today, even a very basic 8 bit one, that does not require an expensive hardware component (programmer) or a specific required IDE in order to program it? I have quite a few 12 to 24 VDC contraptions that I would like to develop, and have already started on the first. While MCU isnt strictly necessary in every application I have in mind, they could be helpful. In my case, arduino et al, as great as they are, would be overkill, with the vast majority of features unused. I want a MCU that I can program without expensive specialized hardware using code that I supply to it in Assembly or C written in any text editor I choose. Does such a thing exist? For now I am making my first version of my first project, and also going through the Mimms Radioshack learning lab circuits ... I realized at an early point that I needed to understand more about circuits than just wiring and programming a programmable IC. A lot of what I need can be done with non programmable ICs, like 555 or op amps. Enjoyed the video, new sub. Thanks for sharing, please be encouraged to keep sharing with us!

[@electro7939]

Amazing

[@markward7088]

Can someone tell me the best microcontroller to use for a wireless security camera?. I plan to use a Sony IMX low light camera module. I'm currently looking at Arducam and ELP USB camera modules, but am stuck on the best (for the price) microcontroller to use There may be more than one microcontroller that equally fits the specifications. I don't want to buy the wrong one and regret it later

[@PredictableDesigns]

I'd probably go with the ESP32 since it's both very fast and has built-in WiFi.

[@markward7088]

Yes that was my thought also. Because of the 32 bit and the WiFi. I'll study that. Thanks

[@NZTechArc]

dude the pops and ticks noises you use are super annoying especially with ear buds in. Awesome content though!

[@PredictableDesigns]

Yeah we stopped using those a while back. Thanks for the comment!

[@PredictableDesigns]

Get your free Ultimate Guide - How to Develop and Prototype a New Electronic Hardware Product in 2023: predictabledesigns.com/guide And get your other free guides: From Prototype to Production with the ESP32: predictabledesigns.com/esp32 From Arduino Prototype to Mass Production: predictabledesigns.com/from-a... From Raspberry Pi Prototype to Mass Production: predictabledesigns.com/rpi Prevent mistakes by downloading your FREE DESIGN REVIEW CHECKLISTS for the schematic circuit, PCB layout, and enclosure 3D model design: predictabledesigns.com/design... Want my personal help on your project? If so, check out my Hardware Academy program: predictabledesigns.com/Academy

[@johndubchak]

Your transition thumping sound had to be the most distracting sound I’ve ever experienced in a KZbin video. Completely unnecessary.

[@PredictableDesigns]

Yeah we stopped with the sound effects quite a while ago, soon after this video was published.