MIKROE Tester Click

MIKROE Tester Click is a Click board™ used as a diagnostic tool on the mikroBUS™ socket. It contains an array of 2x6 LEDs which signalize the presence of the HIGH/LOW logic level on each pin providing a visual feedback to the developer. Two additional LEDs indicate the presence of +3.3V and +5V on the mikroBUS™ power rails. This simple diagnostic tool can save hours of troubleshooting saving the application developer from having to connect various complicated measurement instruments only to test logic states on the specific mikroBUS™ pins. Each pin of the mikroBUS™ is routed to a red colored LED which is protected by 1K resistor. This allows voltages up to VCC to be handled with no issues providing a simple and clean solution for pin state testing. Once placed on the mikroBUS™ socket no additional settings are required. There are no ICs or other active elements besides the LEDs. Its simplicity makes it very simple to use: as soon as it is connected red and green power indication LEDs will signalize the presence of +3.3V and +5V on both the mikroBUS™ power rails. The rest of the LED array will be lit according to the state on the respective pin. Development systems that utilize the mikroBUS™ socket often require using of wire jumpers and/or connect the measuring equipment routing the pin to another LED or using some other workaround in order to diagnose states on these pins. With the Tester click this task reduces to placing the Click board™ onto the mikroBUS™ that needs to be tested and LEDs will indicate if the state on the pin is HIGH or LOW with no additional hardware settings. This simplifies the troubleshooting greatly potentially saving hours. The Click board™ itself consists of an array of 2x6 red colored LEDs with their anodes connected each to the respective mikroBUS™ pin via the 1K resistor. This resistor limits the current through the diode allowing more than 5V to be handled with no problems. Each LED is clearly labeled the same as the pin it is connected to (e.g. PWM pin is routed to the LED labeled as PWM). Besides the 2x6 LED array there are two additional LEDs connected to the 3.3V and 5V power rails of the mikroBUS™ indicating presence of the VCC on both power rails. This simple design provides an easy quick and simple tool to diagnose states of the mikroBUS™ pins. To fully understand how to use this Click board™ its best to get familiar with the mikroBUS™ concept first. The mikroBUS™ is a standardized connector used on most of MikroElektronika development systems. Among other things it strictly defines the pinout of the connector offering all the most commonly used interfaces: SPI I2C UART PWM analog input pin (AN) and few additional GPIO pins (chip select pin - CS interrupt pin - INT and reset pin - RST). Also mikroBUS™ includes two power rails: 3.3V and 5V. This allows development of many different Click boards™ which can be freely exchanged between many different systems and platforms without any hardware reworks or changes - the appropriate pins will always be at the same place on every system equipped with the mikroBUS™ socket. Therefore this Click board™ can be used to verify the signal integrity of the tested mikroBUS™ especially while developing customized systems that include one or more mikroBUS™ sockets or when developing custom applications.