Edit #1:Just found that instead of the regular chip used for usb to serial conversion on standard arduino boards, the clones have some sort of cheap chinese converter IC.I did some finding and found out that mine was CH340.
Last month I bought an arduino nano clone for ebay for around 3$ but when the package came in my hands, I was shocked to see the import taxes - 16$, gosh! you can't be joking but yeah,that's what i had to pay to actually get hold of the package.
After reciving the board, i was quite eager to test it and play around with it a bit but i couldn't do so cause' we had a long family holiday for around a month.Yesterday when i was back, i opened the packaging and what a mess! There was no usb cable it it.I realized it was too late to ask the seller and even if I got to ask the seller for one I had to pay the return shipping.After a bit of searching , I found a working usb cable.
I connected it to my PC which is running Windows8.1 on it.I opened my Arduino IDE(Ver.1.0.6) and set up the comport.Selected the board and finally made a few nicks and nocks to the actual "Blink" example code. When i tried to upload it, i could not see my Rx and Tx led blinking.I spent some time online searching for the problem, but none of the methods seemed to work for me.I had bought a board earlier for 15$ which was an arduino uno but since i fried it, it was no longer of use. I had already flushed money on the controller so i cannot afford to purchase some more boards.Being a student and getting stuck on budget is damn bad! So please, I would be glad if you would help me to overcome this daunting problem.
About arduino, the blink works? How did you fry the previous arduino? Rx blink when data comes in, Tx when it sends data. It may blink so fast that can’t be seen.
About dealing with China import. Please see about import duties before buying, and agree with seller what to write in the description. Probably you had paid a fine because the description was mismatching. Don’t trust e-bay sellers with low order amount.
About money i’m sure there is plenty of people that can sponsor you once you show that you can squeeze something useful out of microcontrollers. It just isn’t like asking for money to go to see a movie.
About feeling better i suggest showing off even the littlest achievements on arduino to other students and going to hackatons, it’s a good way to relieve stress, make new friends and farm ideas.
I fried it when i accidently conntected a 3W white led to one of the I/O pins and saw lot of “Magic” blue smoke coming out of it and then realized that i could no longer do a thing it…
arduinos typically manage about 20mA per pin and I believe total package can manage something like 200 or 400 mA. You would need to read the datasheet to know for sure. ARM chips are typically(?) even less yet. Usually something like 5 or 10mA. I have no idea what total package supply might be.
Your 3W LED @ 5V would be attempting to pull around 600mA, if my math is even close to correct.
