There are several shield available for the Arduino Uno that can help with learning, experimenting and testing. I created a simple "D2-D9 Led tester shield" that can be used to test some simple Arduino output.
It is a simple PCB with 8 Leds and resistors 3 standard push buttons and a reset button.
I called my shield the D2-D9 Led tester shield. On the PCB there are no hard paths from D2-D9 to the Leds or the buttons (Except the Reset button). With some jumpers the Leds can be easy connected, disconnected or reconfigured.
Each led has a 5 pin male DuPont connector and two jumpers connected according to the diagram below.
On the first PCB i soldered i used two different color jumpers to easy show the connection. However it is also possible to do things different, e.g. using wire bridges to hard wire the Leds.
The middle pin Dn is D2 to D9. In the table below i used a (anode) and k (kathode) for the led connections. However in reality it is an Led with resistor.
| GND | k | Dn | a | VCC | (no jumpers / nothing connected) led off (See photo U2) |
| GND | k | Dn | a | VCC | "power mode" Led always on (See photo U3) |
| GND | k | Dn | a | VCC | Led between GND and Dn Dn High will turn led on (See photo U4) |
| GND | k | Dn | a | VCC | Led between Dn and VCC
Dn Low will turn led on
(See photo U5) |
(U5 also has noting connected like U2,The jumpers are attached to one pin.) To connect another data-pin from the Arduino than the corresponding Dn in the 5 in connector a Dupont wire can be used.
I made my the PCB design versatile; for the resistors and/or Leds SMD or Thru Hole components can be used.
On the shield is also a Reset button and 3 push buttons ( SW0, SW1 and SW2) that easy can be connected with jumpers to A0, A1 and A2.
Using my "Ardaptor design" , a design that i try to use is possible (e.g. on my
PCB business card ) additional flexibility is added. I named it "Ardaptor design", a combination of Arduino and adapter, as a work name for this experiment when i first tried it. I am staring to using this name more in public. It has the following features:
-1- Next to the standard pins for the Arduino there is an additional set of holes on the PCB. In stead of Dupont connectors with extra long pins it is also possible to use just male pins and an additional set of female pins to make the shield stackable.
-2- An additional row of pins using the normal pin grid so the PCB can also be used to stack a standard veroboard (PY-5cm*7cm) to an Arduino.
Besides the easy stacking it has the advantage that, as with the cheap PCB services you get minimal 5 PCBs, unused PCBs can be easy made useful.
