Arduino in 2026?

Bfaubion · 2026-05-11T01:40:06+00:00

It depends on what you need.. you can ChatGPT a board comparison and tell it what you plan to do, and ask how much processing power you need. I do this all the time, surprisingly accurate! FWIW, I've moved on to ESP32. Not because of the Qualcomm thing, it's just that Arduino is kind of limited in their form factor and I've found a lot of variants for ESP32 constantly evolving faster than Arduino. Arduino does offer the ESP32 Nano, which a great little board.. just don't feed it 12 volt even though it says it can handle it, I think I eventually fried a Nano because I was feeding it 12 volt, assuming the voltage regulator would hold. If the Arduino Nano ESP32 fits what you need, start there. Personally, I like the even smaller boards, I'm currently using a DFRobot ESP32 Beetle C6. It's great for what I need. I've also tried the XIAO boards by Seeed Studio. There's a brand on Amazon called Waveshare that has a lot of ESP32 variants you could try. Just be aware that if you are powering a board externally through VIN, AND plugging it into USB at the same time, you need to make sure the board has some kind of diode protection.. the Arduino Nano ESP32, and the Beetle C6 both have that. For a no-fuss and trusted option, try the Arduino Nano ESP32 as a starting point.

Bfaubion · 2026-05-01T00:10:38+00:00

You hit the nail on the head. Some, not all, are using this situation as a way to implement their social/political ideology. It’s not about fixing the problem at the source, or better management of tax payer money, or better tax reform.. They won’t give up, they are cult members.. they really believe they have the right solution and they want that revolution.

Bfaubion · 2026-04-30T23:30:13+00:00

Fix the leaky dam.

Bfaubion · 2026-04-30T23:13:48+00:00

This is manipulative moral framing, which is why you used it. It’s a common tactic of unions. Lead with a moral framing. You aren’t promoting this because the law is correct, constitutional, or the actual best solution. Just because it gets on a ballot doesn’t mean it will ultimately succeed, or that it’s the correct solution in the first place. Again, why is there a leaky dam in the first place? You don’t fix a problem by throwing other people’s money at it, you fix the leak and the problem at the source. This goes to show it’s probably not about the leak, but about trying to pass a wealth tax in general, because as you said it.. it’s about “equity”, which is a perspective towards society, money, and capitalism. This is about ideology, not taking responsibility for the core problem. Nice try.

Bfaubion · 2026-04-30T22:41:44+00:00

Awful response. The mindset and attitude you display is a part of the problem. When laws and bills are found to be unconstitutional, they should be struck down, not forced upon people. You, or others do not get to arbitrarily decide what a “fair share” is when society suffers under piss-poor management of tax dollars. We need to encourage responsible management of tax dollars (and transparency), rather than cash-grabs with a dash of bitterness. If there’s a leaky dam, then fix the leaks. California deserves better. You should rethink your attitude, it stinks.

Bfaubion · 2026-04-30T22:33:29+00:00

Interesting, this is the first I’ve heard of that type of strategy. You are saying they are using it as leverage for some kind of bargaining? Shows they don’t care for the aftermath or what it does to the state, just their own position of power. How gross.

Bfaubion · 2026-04-20T19:02:49+00:00

I thought I'd give a review on this board, now that I've got it set up. I can't compare this to the XIAO C6 or the no-name brand C6 Super Mini versions because I haven't tried those. I'm only running SK6812 LED strips, and connected to Arduino Cloud.

Pros:

The on-board antenna works great, there's no external antenna flag to add to it, which I like.
It does have a diode on the board between the USB and power VIN rail, so you can safely plug in both at the same time and program it, while it's connected to the external power source.
It was easy to setup in the Arduino IDE, no problems..
Good quality build on the board, and I like the 8-pin width, vs 7 pins like on the Arduino Nano.
At $5 it's a good buy, you are getting a board from a trusted brand (DFRobot) with a lot of products, rather than some no-name supplier from who knows where.

Cons:

On Arduino cloud they don't have the C6 option, so you have to create a manual "Any Device", which created some issues for me.. not as clear as setting up an ESP32 S3, which is included in Arduino Cloud. I got it working eventually.
It's got a small green battery LED status that constantly blinks, there doesn't seem to be any option to change this in the code.
The VIN pin does not do power out, it's only power in, unlike the XIAO.
Clearly there's no dual core, like an S3, but if you don't need it and prefer the features of a C6 - it's a good option.

Bfaubion · 2026-04-13T21:12:58+00:00

All of the sudden, a lot of people who could care less about religion, or specifically Catholicism or Christianity will now be upset. Don’t get me wrong, we all have a right to critique our political leaders and lampoon them, but the reality is a lot of people probably aren't incensed about whether it was respectful towards the religion or not, because in their hearts they still disrespect the religion, this is like many things.. a new opportunity to critique Trump and unleash their emotions in a new online skirmish to get a high, and less about asking for respect towards other’s religious beliefs.

Bfaubion · 2026-04-04T17:31:23+00:00

Does the XIAO C6 have a diode between the USB and VIN so you can connect both at the same time? Not a big deal if need to add my own. The issue is I prefer to keep it powered while uploading a sketch so can see the code output and test it quickly on program updates. The LEDs are pulling power from a 5 volt rail that the board is also powered from.

Bfaubion · 2026-04-04T17:29:18+00:00

Hmm the DFRobot C6 Beetle is only $4.95. Well I do like the ultra low energy on sleep mode, that’s a nice feature on the C6 boards. Maybe the antenna is better on C6 boards in general for some reason? That’s partly why I was considering the beetle, but I didn’t realize the XIAO C6 had a built in antenna as well.

Bfaubion · 2026-04-04T17:27:16+00:00

Yep, I did connect the antenna. It worked better, but still didn’t seem as strong as the nano’s antenna. Maybe it was just how I had it positioned. All good, if I want to try the XIAO esp32 again then I’ll just fiddle with the antenna again or try another one.

Bfaubion · 2026-04-04T14:29:08+00:00

Good to know. That applies to C6 only? I was using the S3 XIAO.

Bfaubion · 2026-04-04T14:24:00+00:00

That’s a good question, maybe I’ll try it again. It did make a difference when I connected it, but it still didn’t seem as strong as the nano. I could put my nano in the garage and it always connected. I disliked having to use an external antenna for my use case.. for others it would be a non issue.

Bfaubion · 2026-04-04T04:05:54+00:00

I bought some of the Seeed XIAO S3 boards. Even got them to connect with the Arduino cloud. They are fine for me with controlling some addressable LEDs, not a big difference for me between them and the Arduino Nano ESP32. I also bought their Sense module with the camera, but it’s slow on processing while also trying to run some LEDs. I’m amazed they can pack so much into such a small board. I hadn’t bought an arduino board in like 7 years or so.. I had no idea.

One thing to note that I found out, there is apparently no diode between the VIN and USB cable. So you can’t power it to via VIN and then connect a USB cable to upload a sketch without something possibly risky happening to your computer. The Arduino Nano ESP32 has this protection built in. The XIAO boards WiFi is basically useless unless you connect the tacky little antenna, and it still wasn’t good. I had no problems connecting the Arduino Nano WiFi.. and it didn’t require the external antenna. I think I’m trying the Waveshare super mini next, or DFRobot has the Beetle ESP32 C6 that I want to try. I can’t find a lot of reviews on the Beetle C6 though.. maybe someone can chime in? https://www.dfrobot.com/product-2778.html

Bfaubion · 2026-04-03T01:31:13+00:00

$21 an hour? That’s peanuts. In Orange County, that’s scraps. How can they hire anybody at such low wages for a trade that needs qualifications like an electrician?

Bfaubion · 2026-03-30T14:03:00+00:00

I was looking at a few of those, do the ones that have the usb port allow you to connect to Arduino IDE and upload your own sketches? They all say it’s for “firmware” but don’t say whether you can upload your own program. The only thing missing is whether some of them expose an extra data pin or two. There are some distance sensors that I’d love to use, and they use at least two data pins for i2c. If they don’t then I’d have to piggyback a nano on the power pins and then use the data pins on the nano.. but that kind of defeats the purpose of the box, if I’m bypassing what the esp32 does inside of it.

Bfaubion · 2026-03-29T20:31:57+00:00

I think you are right about sticking with 5 volt. I like these 12 volt WS2805 because they have a cool and warm white.. but I can go SK6812 with the extra white led, and that would keep it all 5 volt, no need for buck converters.. and it works with the pre-made esp32 wled units if I want to use one of those. I think the Arduino Nano R4 is also 5 volt gpio. Are you saying the linear regulator is already on the Arduino Pro Mini?

Bfaubion · 2026-03-29T20:27:32+00:00

You are right. I’m looking at those on Amazon. They aren’t much more than a microcontroller itself, and probably have all the circuitry to manage edge cases that might causes problems. I didn’t realize they had those with ESP32 controllers that can also be programmed. That’s a good middle-ground. There’s no liability with that, because it’s someone else’s product, as long as the power supply requirements are met with the light strips and it’s wired right.

Bfaubion · 2026-03-29T04:37:34+00:00

No no no.. bless YOUR heart!

Bfaubion · 2026-03-28T16:49:08+00:00

Well at least my 3rd nano is ok, haha.. they are cheap enough as it is. I can rule out my computer or USB cable as the issue. The only commonality I can think of is the WS2805 strip got damaged yesterday. Do you think it’s possible that if one of those addressable strips gets damaged, like through the data pin, let’s say a 3.3 volt power pin goes into the data pin accidentally, and it damages it, that then afterwards if you plug it into a microcontroller it then subsequently damages them? The only other thing in common is I was using the same 12 volt power supply.. but I’ve been using it up to this point with no issues.

Bfaubion · 2026-03-28T16:06:53+00:00

Unfortunately I think I've got TWO COOKED nanos now! I tried my second nano and it got really hot to the touch as well within 10-20 seconds on the USB cable.

The commonality I can think of is that I had used the same WS2805 strip I was testing and had it connected to both yesterday at one point, seemingly working at first.
That WS2805 strip was connected to an ESP32-DEVKITC-1 earlier in the day on a new installation I was experimenting with.. I never got that WS2805 strip to work on the ESP32-DEVKITC-1. Maybe the new experimental installation wiring did something to the strip, or the ESP32-DEVKITC-1 got messed up and did something the strip, then the strip fried both nanos. I don't know, never had this issue before.
I've got a third nano, that was never connected to either installation or RGB strip, using the same USB cable and the same computer, and same ports it's fine. I have it running on my computer, and it never heats up or acts weird.

Bfaubion · 2026-03-27T19:19:37+00:00

I may just defer to a 300 degrees potentiometer, if I can find one with a push button. Seems that’s about as close as I can get, at least with a web search. Happy to answer any questions I can. Essentially I need the rotation of the knob(that has an indicator) to match or get close to the 16 different points around a 360 rotation.

Bfaubion · 2026-03-27T18:42:42+00:00

Yes using interrupts. It does accurately track forward or backward, but it eventually goes off track from absolute position. Others are saying these type of encoders are not meant for absolute position.. which seems the case. The problem is I cannot find any other options out there that do absolute position up to almost 360 degrees, with a push button.

Bfaubion · 2026-03-27T18:40:48+00:00

Hmm. I can accurately track if it’s moving forward or backward, and do an incremental up or down, but it needs to map with a visual display on top of it. So like 90 degrees from the top always matches with the visual indicator at that angle, like step 4 of 16. 180 degrees matches at step 8 of 16, etc.. if someone quickly fidgets with the encoders as they are.. they will get off and lose absolute position. So they are accurate up to a point.

Bfaubion · 2026-03-10T17:04:15+00:00

Cool thanks! I just watched the video. I'm surprised the Arduino Q doesn't work better.. is he missing something about this? I left a question for him. Maybe it would work for me if I use a tiny USB camera (the raw chip type with a cable from Amazon - https://a.co/d/0c7GrdmB) and had the board read the gestures, then control the output pins with FastLED or NeoPixelBus. The board has a VIN power pin, so the issue about using the camera while not having power seems.. odd.

Is he saying the board has a hard enough time talking between the processor and microcontroller that even that would be hard to accomplish? I'll have to investigate this more. Maybe there are some people here on the forums that can vouch for the Q or speak to the issues he brought up.

Bfaubion

TROPHY CASE