Jim Heaney's Uno+ Adds a Wealth of Features to Arduino's Most Popular ATmega Development Board
"Best of all," Heaney notes, "despite all the extra features, it is still cheaper than a genuine Arduino!"
Feeling like the popular but aging Arduino Uno microcontroller development board could do with a makeover, Jim Heaney has created an alternative with a range of shiny new features: the Uno+, or Uno Plus.
"The Arduino Uno is probably one of the most iconic microcontroller boards for makers," Heaney writes by way of introduction to the project. "Over the last 10 years, hundreds of thousands of these blue boards have been the heart of millions of projects. I myself have had a few dozen projects with the Uno at the core."
"However, I felt that there were some issues with the Arduino Uno, so I decided to make my own version: The Uno+. The Uno Plus keeps the same form factor and pinout as a traditional Arduino Uno, as well as the same microcontroller (in DIP format too, since that comes in handy a lot and many clones switch it for a QFP)."
The core of the Uno+, a Microchip ATmega328P, is unchanged from the stock variant, and the board is laid out in the same way — including the by-now iconic "Arduino layout" female pin headers. The improvements, though, are numerous: A switch to USB Type-C connectivity brings down the overall height of the board while supporting a higher input current; the low-dropout (LDO) regulator has gone in favour of a buck/boost converter from Texas Instruments supporting any input from 2V to 16V and providing a solid 2A on the 5V rail; and a move to a "real voltage regulator" in place of the comparator for generating the 3.3V rail increase the available current to 600mA.
Other improvements including the addition of an electronic fuse, again a Texas Instruments part, for protection against over- and under-voltage, under-current, and short-circuit conditions, a JST PH connector for a lithium-polymer battery in addition to the usual USB and barrel jack inputs, and a TP4056 charging circuit with three preset charging currents.
"Best of all," Heaney adds, "despite all the extra features, it is still cheaper than a genuine Arduino!"
More details on the project are available on Heaney's Reddit thread. Design files will be published "once I test to make sure everything works," Heaney promises, though there are no immediate plans to put the board up for sale. "It takes about 3 hours to make one," Heaney explains. "Maybe in the future if enough people are interested, I'll look into a pick and place machine to make a batch of them."