Arduino – How to program Arduino Nano / Pro-Mini / Pro-Micro clone that has no usb port

arduino

I was looking for a cheapest possible option to get arduino and wireless comms for a dimmable light and come across this ebay item when searching for Arduino Nano clone. It has no usb port so how can it be programmed?

Edit:

I have discovered that there is a new device called "Arduino Pro Micro" which is similar to Pro Mini and Nano but have usb port in-built. The best thing is you can buy Pro Micro for under 4 euros! Excellent for a dimmable LED light…

Best Answer

It's similar to an arduino but with the USB to UART converter chip removed to be cheaper. In order to program it you have to use an external converter and connect it to the Rx/Tx pins.
Please note that these boards don't use a crystal as a clock source but a 16MHz resonator which has higher tolerance (0.5%)

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You'll need to get an external USB to serial board (or cable), like

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Note that there are two "versions" of USB to serial boards. One version outputs Tx pin to Tx header and Rx pin to Rx header and the other version outputs Tx pin to Rx header and Rx pin to Tx header.

If your board outputs Tx pin to Rx header and Rx pin to Tx header (the signals are already crossed) then you should connect Rx of the USB board to Rx of Arduino, and Tx of the USB board to Tx of Arduino (like shown below)

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If your board outputs Tx pin to Tx header and Rx pin to Rx header then you should connect Rx of the USB board to Tx of Arduino, and Tx of the USB board to Tx of Arduino (cross connect like shown below)

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