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Sippino

Arduino compatible SIP Board

Sippino

Intro:

Sippino

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The Sippino is a miniature Ardunio compatible micro controller board (2.35”x.95”). An easy to build kit, with through hole parts. Particular to this board is that all the digital and analog IO pins are brought out into a single line of pins ( SIP ). This makes it really easy to use with a solderless breadboard.

How to assemble:

One of the nice things about the Sippino is that even though it is very small it is an easy kit to build. The only two parts that must be inserted in the correct orientation are the IC socket / ATmega and the LED.

To build the Sippino you will need basic tools and supplies; soldering iron, solder and snips.

After each of the steps, you should trim the leads with the snips. Caution: Wear safety glasses.

1. Socket

Insert and solder the 28 pin socket to the PCB. Make sure that the notch on the socket matches the notch printed in white on the PCB.

Note: For an extra thin version of the Sippino you can skip the socket and solder the ATmega directly onto the PCB. Not recommended beginner solderers.

2. Resistors

Insert and solder the two resistors into the spots marked R1 and R2. 

R1 is the 10K ohm resistor [Brown-Black-ORANGE-Gold]

R2 is the 1k ohm resistor [Brown-Black-RED-Gold]

3. Crystal

There is one crystal to install on the Sippino. This is the rounded silver part, solder it on the spot on the PCB that matches it’s shape between C1 and C2.

4. Capacitors

Solder the two 22pf capacitors (mustard color) into spots marked C1 and C2.

Solder the three 0.1uf capacitors (blue) into spots marked C3, C4 and C5.

5. LED

Solder the LED into the spot marked POWER. 

Note: the long leg of the LED must go into the hole marked +.

6. Power Jumper

The power jumper makes or breaks the connection from the +5 volt on the FTDI programming connector and the rest of the +5 volt bus on the Sippino including the +5 volt pin on the pin out edge.

Note: 

1. Use a jumper if you want to power your project from the FTDI cable connection. 

2. OR don’t use a jumper if your project is powered from the +5 volt pin on the bottom edge.

Traditional shunt jumper.

Optional Build:

If you don’t want to use two male pins and a jumper on your Sippino, you can skip them and apply a blob of solder on the solder jumper pads on the back side of the board. Note: If you use a blob of solder then the +5v on the FTDI cable connector and the rest of the +5 bus will be connected.

Solder power jumper. Place a blob of solder here to connect +5 volt on programming header to the rest of the board.

7. Headers

There are a few different ways that headers can be attached to the Sippino; SIP mode, DIP mode, stand alone and “freestyle”.

SIP Mode:

In this case the male pin headers are soldered parallel to the PCB along the bottom of the board.

This allows the Sippino to be plugged to a breadboard (or prototyping board) vertically, making maximum use of your breadboard space.

DIP Mode:

In this case the male pin headers are soldered to the bottom row of connectors in a perpendicular orientation to the PCB. (The pins go straight through the holes 90° to the PCB.)

If you have also soldered male pins to the FTDI connector area, the Sippino can be pressed into a breadboard as a standard DIP package.

Stand Alone Mode:

In this case female pin headers are used. Like this you can connect (and disconnect) individual jumper wires to whichever pins you need. (Female pin headers are not included in the kit).

Free-Style Mode:

In this case the no pin headers are used. Simply solder wire to the pins that your project requires.

Programming:

Using a FTDI Cable:

The most practical way to load your sketch is with a FTDI cable. These cables have the same FTDI USB-Serial IC that is found on a traditional Arduino with a USB port. With the cable, this IC is crammed into the plastic housing at the USB end of the cable. The other end of the cable is what you connect to the Sippino (or Prototino, DC Boarduino or Bare Bones Board etc ...) If you don’t already have one of these cables, they come in really handy any time you need to get 5 volt TTL level serial signals to and from your computer’s USB port.

Typical FTDI USB-Serial cable connection used to upload sketches.

Note: Green wire on side “G” and black wire on the side with “B” (not visible in this photo).

To use the cable, plug it to the Sippino with the six pin female header of the cable oriented with it’s black wire going towards the “B” printed onto the Sippino’s PCB. The green wire on the side with the “G”.

Plug that cable into your computer and launch the Arduino IDE. Under the Tools menu select Serial Port and then select the USB serial cable. Also in the Tools menu, make sure that the correct ATmega is selected in the board section.

Now you can simply run/verify your sketch and then upload it to the Sippino.

Using an ICSP (In Circuit Serial Programmer):

There is also an ICSP connector on the Sippino. If you want to use this with AVR Studio or the Arduino IDE to burn bootloaders solder on the six male pins. (The Sippino comes with an ATmega, pre-bootloaded and tested.)

AVRISP mkII connected to the Sippino’s ICSP header. Note: pin “1” is marked on the Sippino with the white triangular arrow.

Program elsewhere:

The least practical way to get a program into the Sippino is to program the ATmega elsewhere and then pop the chip onto the Sippino.

DOWNLOADS:

Documentation:

Board file PDF: Sippino Board PDF

Schematic file PDF: Sippino Schematic PDF

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