EtherMega Freetronics

DESCRIPTION

RETIRED PRODUCT – We’ve stopped stocking this product or it has been retired by the manufacturer and is no longer for sale. This page remains available for its resources and as a source of potential interest.

The EtherMega is a 100% Arduino Mega 2560 compatible board that can talk to the world.

Do Twitter updates automatically, serve web pages, connect to web services, display sensor data online, and control devices using a web browser. The Freetronics EtherMega uses the same ATmega2560 as the Arduino Mega 2560 so it has masses of RAM, flash memory, and I/O pins (54).

It also includes the same Wiznet W5100 chip used by the official Arduino Ethernet Shield, so it’s 100% compatible with the Ethernet library and sketches. Any project you would previously have built with an Arduino Mega 2560 and an Ethernet shield stacked together, you can now do all in a single, integrated board.

There’s even added a micro SD card slot so you can store web content on the card, or log data to it.

But it gets even better: the manufacturers found space to squeeze in a small prototyping area, so now it’s possible to build a complete, Internet-enabled Arduino device including your own custom parts all on a single board! You don’t even need to use a prototyping shield for many projects.

There’s even an onboard switchmode voltage regulator so it can run on up to 28V without overheating!

FEATURES

• Gold-plated PCB.
• 54 I/O Pins
• Top and bottom parts overlays.
• Top-spec ATmega2560 MCU.
• Mini-USB connector: no more shorts against shields from the USB jack!
• Switchmode voltage regulator for wide input voltage range.
• D13 pin isolated with a MOSFET so you can use it as an input.
• Power-over-Ethernet support, both cheapie DIY or full 802.3af standards-compliant.
• Ethernet activity indicators on both the PCB and the jack.
• 10/100base-T auto-selection.
• Fully compatible with standard Ethernet library.
• Reset management chip.
• Fixed SPI behaviour on Ethernet chipset.
• Robust power filtering.
• Sexy rounded corners.

Note that the EtherMega provides a number of options for different Power over Ethernet methods. You can use the supplied jumpers and feed 7-28Vdc down the wire for a cheap DIY version, or you can use a PoE Regulator 802.3AF along with a proper commercial PoE injector or switch that supplies 48Vdc. It’s up to you.

RESOURCES

• Troubleshooting Ethernet IC Reset and USB power issues
• Getting Started guide
• Setting the MAC address manually or automatically
• EtherMega schematic / project worksheet (PDF)
• Driver file for Windows
• EtherMega design files on GitHub
• EtherMegaR3 design files on GitHub