I have made an Arduino project that uses a shield. I am now trying to turn it into a permanent circuit.
I have flashed the microcontroller with the program, and I have all the parts I need to solder on the board. The only problem is, where do I get a shield that I can permanently solder on to the project? Are they still called shields once you move out of the breadboard/Arduino stage?
This is really frustrating trying to find something equivalent with everything revolving around prototype boards like Arduino and etc. Please help.
Here is an example: I have an Arduino project that sends a tweet every time I hit the button.
I flash the program onto the microcontroller, remove the Arduino board and solder everything in place (except the spots where the "shield" used to plug in), what do I replace the shield with is there an equivalent or do I build it myself?
Best Answer
A breakout board is for testing the functionality of a part, without having to first read it's electrical properties, deliver power to it, solder pins to it, etc. It decreases the confounding variables when adding it to your existing system; in other words, it should act as a plug-and-play black box. Once your system functions with all it's disparate parts, then you try to figure out how to move the part from the breakout board onto your own board. (including the capacitors, resistors, etc that it needs.)
A breakout board shouldn't be used if you are going to production, because it's too expensive. Usually the chip is about $1, but the board is about $20. You're paying Arduino or whomever for the work they did in figuring out how to put the board together.