Tooling Tuesday - Mega 2560 Pro

by Les Pounder

Mini Mega? Some new video game? A mini Megadrive? Well err no, it is a small Arduino Mega 2560.

So what is it?



A mini Arduino Mega compatible board, that offers us the same number of GPIO pins as a full size Arduino Mega, but at less than half the size!

Why is this important?



The Arduino Mega has always been a big board, it needed to be for all the GPIO pins that it supports. The 14 PWM Mega 2560 Pro ATMEGA2560-16AU USB CH340G Electronic Development Board UK (that is what it is called on eBay) offers the same amount of pins.

  • 70 digital I / O
  • 16 analog entries
  • 14 PWM
  • 4 UART bus



    All of this in a 55mm by 38mm package!

    So this means I can embed this board in smaller projects without sacrificing all of the GPIO pins.

How do I connect it?



The board connects using a micro USB interface (CH340G rather than a CP2102) which is most welcome.



Typically Arduino Mega and older Uno connect using a USB B lead (You know the one, the printer lead.) which I never have to hand, but micro USB....I have a box full.

Anything bad about this board?

It is fully compatible with the Arduino IDE and it just works, but it is not Arduino Shield compatible so if you rely on shields then this is not the board for you, well unless you want to hack them!

How much?

I got the board for £7 on eBay, it has since gone up to £8 but that is still a nice price for this tiny, but fully stocked board. These board retail for around $9 on Aliexpress, so the eBay price is good for UK makers.

Where can I get one?

Head over to eBay and search for

14 PWM Mega 2560 Pro ATMEGA2560-16AU USB CH340G Electronic Development Board UK

I won't give the exact seller that I got it from, as demand may change the price. But I can say that my seller was based in the UK and I received the board in a few days, handy!