[Question] About mini 3,3v arduinos.

[jimmys01]

Hello.

First of all thank you for this wonderful forum. It is nice to have such a great framework to built home automation!

I have experience with arduinos and i own a couple arduino uno.
My questions are:
1) will this conversion work? I dont want to buy the buono just to have the 3,3v.
and 2) any of those 3,3v arduino mini are capable of working like the normal arduino? Has anyone done any work with those? i think that they are better due to their smaller size.

Thanks in advance!

[papa]

Buono Unos work well for me. See my thread Success at DIY Home Automation with Arduinos & RFM69s

I've also built a battery-powered bare bones Arduino node.  See this thread Multi-Choice End Node incl Battery-Sipping. 

I had not seen the Adafruit conversion of 5v Arduino to 3.3v until you referenced it.
     I don't know anything about it, but Adafruit has a good reputation.
         Looks like the hack is moderately tricky.
     If you try this, please report your results on this forum for others' benefit.

Much of our work on this forum is based on computourist's work & he & others use 3.3 volt Arduino Pro Minis.

I've not had a Mini in my hands.  Pictures I've seen look like they are smaller than a Buono.

From what computourist has said, Minis' 3.3v power cannot supply as much current as a Buono.
        But maybe a Mini would last longer on batteries.

    Also a Buono switched to 3.3 volts (mostly) still has one socket supplying 5 volts, which comes in handy sometimes.

Bottom line:  Buonos & 3.3 v Minis both recommend themselves to this DIY Home Automation.
     & maybe the Adafruit conversion.  Though personally, I'd rather start with something made to work at 3.3 volts.

Best wishes on your decision & YOUR success.

[kmac]

I use the 3.3v pro-mini for all my nodes. They work fine for me. I posted a picture of one of my nodes in this thread.
homeautomation.proboards.com/thread/31/diagrams-newbie

[camblonie]

Jimmy, I've done that conversion and it works fine.

[jimmys01]

THanks! I am now waiting for parts! thank you again

[gandalph]

I am also happily using 3.3v Arduino Pro mini boards, small and versatile. Please note that there are now switchable pro mini's on the market (3.3-5v), if you intend to make a battery powered project be sure to go for a non-switchable type as the former appears to use more juice.

[greginkansas]

This is what I use.
anarduino.com/

[papa]

Yes, all, there is room in this project for several approaches to having 3.3 volt power that is safe especially for the RFM69 radio transceiver: 3.3v Arduino Pro Mini, Buono Uno (mostly 3.3 mode with 5 volt socket), Moteino, apparently Anarduino or a Adafruit conversion of 5v Arduino to 3.3v, a home made bare bones Arduino node, & maybe more. What option one uses could depend on price, convenience, current output needs, size, availability of 3.3 AND 5 volts, etc.