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What is Arduino Lilypad? | Arduino Lilypad Pinout | DesignSpark

In this post today, I’ll discuss Arduino Lilypad in detail. I’ll discuss everything related to Arduino Lilypad, including Arduino Lilypad, pinout, Arduino Lilypad connection, and how to program it, and applications.

Arduino is an open-source platform based on single-board microcontrollers. Arduino provides both hardware and software programs to develop digital devices. Moreover, Arduino boards contain several analog and digital I/O pins that can be integrated with external expansion boards, breadboards, or other electronic circuits. This is an open-source platform which means you only need to pay for the board, and you can program it free of cost using Arduino IDE software. Moreover, you can get help from the Arduino community online for the development of electronic projects using Arduino boards without even paying a single dime.

Let’s dive in.

What is Arduino Lilypad?

Introduced by Leah Buechley and SparkFun Electronics, Arduino Lilypad is an electronic development Arduino board based on an 8-bit AVR microcontroller. The following are the types of Arduino Lilypad available in the market.

  • Arduino LilyPad Simple
  • Arduino LilyPad Simple Snap
  • Arduino LilyPad USB
  • Arduino LilyPad USB plus
  • Arduino LilyPad Main Board

In this post today, we’ll discuss only Arduino LilyPad Main Board that is based on either Atmega168V or Atmega328V.

The unit is mainly introduced for wearables and e-textile products. You can attach this device to sensors, fabric, power supplies, and actuators.

There are 22 pin-holes incorporated around the round edge of the device which is used for the connection with fabric or sensors using conductive thread.

The board features 14 digital I/O pins that can be used for the connection with external components. And there are 6 analog pins available on the board marked as A0 to A5. These pins can also be employed as digital I/O pins and can measure the voltage ranging between 0 to 5V.

There are 6 PWM pins available on the board which can be used to control the motor and the brightness of the LED.

Like other Arduino boards, Arduino IDE (integrated development environment) software is used to program this Lilypad. Plus, you can power Lilypad in two ways i.e. either with a USB connection or with an external power supply.

If you use an external power supply, make sure it ranges between 2.7 and 5.5 volts. This can be provided either from an AC-to-DC adapter (wall-wart) or battery. If you provide more than 5.5V to the Lilypad or plug the power in reverse order, your Lilypad will get damaged.

The frequency of the crystal oscillator is 6MHz which is used for the synchronization of the internal functions.

The controller's flash memory is 16KB, of which 2KB is used for the Bootloader to store the Arduino program. The SRAM is 1KB and the EEPROM is 512KB.

Arduino Lilypad is unique compared to other Arduino boards as it can be integrated with the sensor or fabric using conductive thread. Plus, Lilypad comes in a round shape while other Arduino boards come in rectangle shape.

Arduino Lilypad Pinout:

There are 22 pin-holes around the edge of the board. The following figure shows the pinout diagram of the Arduino Lilypad.

Arduino Lilypad Pinout diagram

It is important to note that the PCINT pin and external interrupts pins are entirely different from each other. The PCINT is the interrupt that can be generated on any digital I/O pin while external interrupt pins are the hardware pins used to produce interrupts.

Arduino Lilypad Connection:

Consider following steps while laying out the Arduino Lilypad connection.

There is one 5V power pin and one ground pin incorporated on the board. The positive terminal of the power supply should be connected with the 5V pin of the board and the negative terminal with the ground. Be careful while laying out this connection. Connecting the board in reverse order or supplying power of more than 5.5V can damage the board.

There are two ways to produce the regulated +5V power source for this unit i.e. you can generate a regulated power source using a Lithium rechargeable battery or by using the +5V pin of the Mini USB Adapter.

The Lilypad connection with a mini USB adapter is shown in the figure below.

Lilypad connection with a mini USB adapter

The board supports USART serial communication that carries two pins RX and TX. The RX pin is used to receive the serial data while the TX pin is used to transmit the serial data. These pins can also be used to upload the sketch (Arduino program) into the board.

How to Program Arduino Lilypad:

Arduino Lilypad can be programmed using Arduino IDE Software – An official software introduced by Arduino. cc to program all Arduino boards. To program the Lilypad, select "LilyPad Arduino" from the Tools > Board menu (according to the microcontroller on your board).

Moreover, the board comes with a built-in Bootloader which means you don’t require an external burner to burn the program inside the controller. However, if you use ICSP (in-circuit serial programming) header to program the controller, you don’t require Bootloader then and you can easily bypass it.

Difference between Arduino Lilypad and Arduino UNO:

Arduino Lilypad is mostly used in textile products while Arduino UNO is widely used in embedded system and automation projects.

Image of the Arduino LilyPad board

Moreover, the Lilypad comes with fewer pins and behaves differently than the UNO pins when it comes to the configuration of these pins.

Plus, the crystal oscillator frequency of the UNO board is 16MHz while Lilypad, on the other hand, comes with a crystal frequency of 8MHz.

Arduino Lilypad Applications:

Lilypad is mainly developed to design e-textile and wearables products. The following is a list of some electronic projects that can be developed using Arduino Lilypad.

  • Jacket for visually impaired
  • Starry night prom
  • Remote control a robotic hand
  • Lilypad controlled Neopixel Earrings
  • TV Tee Shirt
  • Fibre optic homecoming
  • Illuminating swoosh

That was all about Arduino Lilypad. If you have any questions, you can pop your comment in the section below. I’d love to help you in the best way possible. Thank you for reading this article.

HI, I am a student of Electrical Engineering. I am currently working for an electronic store. I work at the electrical components there. I am learning many useful practical concepts there. On the other hand, I give online tuitions to some students of high school I love electrical and electronics devices and have a plan to have a Master's Degree in Electronics.
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