Another ATmega Prototyping PCB in kit form

In this article we look at another very useful little self build kit for Atmegas from Rkeducation in the UK, this one is called the RKAT40 Prototype PCB for 40 pin Arduino

It looks like this – once you have assembled it

RKAT40 Prototype PCB

Specs/Features

• The board ban be used with all 40 pin Arduino and Microcontrollers wuch as the Atmega16 and ATmega32
• Incorporates a large prototype area with plated through holes for your own projects and experiments
• There is an ICSP header for programming ATMEL MCUs
• There is also a JTAG header
• The Input and outputs are easily accessed via plated through holes around the MCU
• The prototyping area has 0V 3.3V, 5V and 12V power rails with power indicator LEDs
• You can power the board using a battery or DC mains supply, I recommend the latter option
• The board includes a 7805 and a LD1117V33 3.3 volt voltage regulator
• The unit has 2 surface mount SO8 footprints with plated through breakouts for each pin for prototyping

Schematic

The schematic is in the doc link below but as I like looking at schematics – here you go

rkat40 schematic

Assembly

As stated this is a self build kit – you’ll need a soldering iron and some basic soldering skills.

This is an easy kit to assemble though as all the parts are through hole and no smd parts here – so ideal for beginners

As always when building kits like this it is recommended that you start with the resistors, capacitors, switches, leds and ic socket – then move onto the headers, barrel jack and voltage regulators.

If your are using an external power source you may want to add a heatsink to both of the regulators in particular depending on the input DC voltage. You can see in the schematic that both use the same DC supply.

I used a 12v regulated DC supply, always use a regulated supply.

I also soldered my own dual row headers for the output pins

Purchase

I found 2 links in the UK which include an ATmega – these are different from the Atmegas I tried – I tried an Atmega16 and Atmega32 from my collection, which just goes to show the flexibility of this board with the microcontrollers that can be fitted

Links

You can get the board directly from rkeducation below and a link to the docs

rkat40-prototype-pcb-for-40-pin-arduino

RKAT40 Component List and Instructions