Arduino Pro mini programming with FTDI and TM1640 16-digit display

The Arduino Pro Mini 328 - 5V/16MHz is with a price tag of $2-$10 very cheap but it has no USB connection to program it.

With a FTDI FT232RL USB to TTL Serial Converter Adapter Module where the pin has a lay-out of DRT - Rx - Tx - VCC - CTS - GND the program can be loaded without any soldering.

Attach the FDTI module as shown, select Arduino Nano as board in the Arduino IDE and upload a program to the Pro mini.

In this example we wil program a TM1640 16-digit display.

#include <TM1638.h> // required because the way arduino deals with libraries
#include <TM1640.h>

TM1640 module(0, 1); // connect Data to pin 0 and SCLK to Pin 1

void setup()
{
// nothing to do here
}

void loop()
{
char text[17];
int n;
int uur, minuut;
long msec;

uur = (int)(millis()/3600000);
minuut = (int) (millis()/60000)%60;
msec = millis();
n = sprintf(text, "%0.3d %0.2d %9ld" , uur, minuut, msec);
module.setDisplayToString(text);
}

Ed Nieuwenhuys Nov 2018

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