Review of Seeeduino Nano

Seeeduino Nano

This is sold as a compatible Arduino Nano clone

It was delivered in a small cardboard box.

The cardboard box contained the MPU board and no documentation.

DSC_1961c

It contains a few improvement compared to a Arduino Nano: It uses a USB-C connector, it has a Grove connector and the pins are soldered.
Grove is a system for easier and reliable connections of sensors with 4 pin connectors instead of Dupont wires, it is possible to get break-out board with more connectors.

InitialProgram

The processor did not have the usually blink sketch, but some combined blink and test sketch initially.

Measurements and test

It is not Arduino Nano compatible in the IDE, use MiniCore ATmega328 instead!
Program space: 32256 bytes (Standard Nano: 30720)
It will turn a USB-C output on
Interface is USB 2 full speed (12Mbps), using serial baudrates as supported by ATmega368.
USB interface chip uses a 48MHz clock for baudrate generation, this matches the 16MHz Nano clock perfectly.
When powered from USB with 5.0V the 5V pin is about 4.77V
Power consumption varies between 17 and 30mA when connected to USB
Power consumption varies between 20 and 24mA when connected to 8V on Vin.

Checking the fuses I got:

Code:

Signature: 1E 95 0F   ATmega328P
Fuses: ext:FD high:D6 low:FF    lock:FF    clkCal:A4
Fuse names: BODLEVEL1 BOOTRST EESAVE SPIEN    
Boot block size: 512 bytes from 007E00
Clock is: Xtal 8 - 16MHz
BOD level: 2.70
CRC of program in flash memory 00000000
CRC of bootloader 5ECD88F8

It uses the same processor as Nano and has the same pins, this means programs can be moved between them without changes.

A close look

Conclusion

It is a compatible Arduino Nano, but with USB-C instead of the obsolete USB Mini connector. It also has a single Groove connector (More can be added with a shield).
It is cheaper than a official Arduino Nano and more expensive than a Ebay clone.

I would have like a description on how to program it, i.e. to use MiniCore or reflash it to standard Arduino bootloaded.

Notes

The processors was supplied by Seeed for inclusion in my precision time project.

MiniCore

Seeeduino nano at Seeed