This didn't sell me on the R4. The improved memory, speed, and ADC DAC resolution are great but the low current specs. would make it difficult to use for the type of projects I like. Providing WIFI with a competing chip just suggests using that chip directly. Arduino seems to be moving toward an industrial market which is probably a wise business decision on their part. They cost of the Arduino boards is a significant factor as well.
@@alainmilette6460 How do you feel about city governments forcing you to quit using plastic grocery bags? It certainly makes sense but many people don't like it.
@@jeffschroeder4805 You're actually proving his point. Not using plastic bags is good for the environment. Not powering things from a GPIO is good for the MCU. When you move to other MCUs, like STM32, Nordic, Espressi etc, you'll find you also have similar current restrictions - some even less than 8mA. GPIOs are supposed to be used to send and receive signals, not to drive current through other devices (excepting very low current devices like LEDs). Additionally, if you connect a GPIO directly to something, then short it out, you're likely going to destroy the GPIO pin (at the least). If it's connected via a transistor, then at most you'll pop the transistor.
@@Stabby666 I am not actually proving his point. I didn't hear him say that low current gpios were better, just that the limitations could be addressed with transistors. I ask you, "would he have found fault with the Arduino R4 if it had gpio output capacities greater than or equal to older Arduinos?" I doubt it! My preference for hobby projects is simplicity, the fewer components required the better. Having to incorporate a transistor to simply light up an indicator led is a waste of my time and requires more components. Given a choice I will purchase MCUs that don't force me to add additional circuitry for simple applications. I have already "moved to ESP32 (my current favorite is the S3), STM32, Nordic....and and haven't run into such severe current restrictions on GPIOs as presented by the R4.
@ you did prove his point and you continue to prove it. Maybe you should learn how to use a resistor to limit current through an LED. It’s VERY unlikely you need more than 8mA anyway, since LEDs are non linear. You can light most standard LEDs with 1mA and they’re easily visible. I understand you’re just a hobbyist so it doesn’t matter if you screw things up but there is a professional way to do things and a half-assed solution to try to cut costs and time by overstressing components. I also use MCUs from a lot of other manufacturers in my designs and I know that Nordic 52/53 series can only source around 15mA, STM32 slightly more, but I use transistors anyway, to protect the outputs in case of damage or shorts from a failed LED, and ensure longevity. I have hardware out in the field (in some cases literally out in fields) for industrial applications that have been running for years. Just because a GPIO CAN source 20mA, it doesn't mean you should run it at capacity all the time. Just like having a car that can hit 8500RPM doesn't mean you should red-line it everywhere. But you clearly just want something to moan about so, you go off...
Happy New Year! Honestly, I don't see the advantage of using a board that is 4 times more expensive than common ESP32 boards, with lesser specs. Unless you need a faster drop-in with more memory for your existing projects, or for projects that require 5 volts, without using level shifters.
@@citer5574 How about running an LCD matrix with dedicated hardware? Or having 84 GPIO pins? Or having multiple 14bit ADC channels? (the ESP32 ADC is pretty terrible, honestly) Or running up to 4 hardware UARTS, 6x hardware i2C peripherals and up to 6x hardware SPI devices all with DMA? How about 4x hardware OpAmps and 2 comparators built in? Or a 12 bit DAC + 2x8 bit DACs? Or having all of the above running at the same time, PLUS hardware supported capacitive touch matrix inputs? Oh yes, and a hardware encryption engine. The chip itself has all of these features, plus self diagnoses for industrial use, much lower power usage than the ESP32, and security locking for the flash. The arduino board doesn't expose all of these, but the core has them all. Still think your ESP32 with a level shifter is better for all of these features? I also use the ESP32 and I know what it lacks... Don't be a fanboy - pick the right chip for the job.
@@citer5574 If you look at the datasheet for the chip on the R4, it has a HUGE number of peripherals the ESP32 lacks. The bare chip can also have 84 GPIO pins. So as a dev board for people looking to use the chip on a custom board it makes sense.
When the capabilities of good old Arduino UNO R3 became too low for me, I just ordered a bunch of Raspberry Pi Pico RP2040 clones from China for about $2 each, and I'm very happy with it. I think they have a several times more powerful MCU than this UNO R4 thing
Different markets - one benefit of the R4 is the wide voltage range - GPIOs can handle just over 5V. I use all kinds of MCUs, there is no one "best" MCU for all tasks.
You're getting all excited about the 'amazing' improvements over the R3, but it's not really a fair comparison. Most people are already using ESP32, Pi Pico, STM32, CH32V etc. which have similar features and performance at a much lower cost. I'm currently working with an ESP32-S3 mini with 512k SRAM, 4MB flash, dual core, 240MHz etc. etc., I'm using the Arduino framework to program it, and I only paid around $6/each for a bunch of them. It seems more like Arduino was way behind and is finally trying to catch up. Now, if they could just drop their prices substantially, I might be interested.
@@chesshooligan1282to be fair id say that the $1 rp2040 is a bargain IF you don't need wifi/ble, because multicore and PIO really come in handy sometimes. I've had a project recently where 2 PIO blocks send images to 2 separate SPI displays at full clock speed, while leaving the CPU cores free to to other stuff - one core draws the image in a buffer to be read by PIOs, other core handles communications
I predict that there will be a shield that will have a bunch of tiny transistors/mosfets that will let every single pin source/switch much larger currents.
Thanks for the breakdown! It's been a hot minute since I went mainly into the FPGA space and stopped doing that much embedded software. However, not that high of a chance I'll be getting one. Programming the AVR was always a charm and I feel like some spirit was lost when it moved to ARM.
Very interesting! I’m concerned about the low current capability though. I would be interested in seeing how to power a project that requires more current than the 80 milliamps. Thanks for sharing!
Well, the new Arduino UNO R4 WiFi version has an on board ESP32 ... I think that says it all. I do not want dump on Arduino, they created a great movement of makers, the IDE was amazing, but R4 UNO took too long, when ESP8266 precursor to ESP32 was already ahead of the game an usable with the ESPRESSIF IDF. The true genius of Massimo and Arduino might shine again with something new in Arduino R5, and personally, I think we should all purchase R4s to encourage the next R5 chip which will likely have next gen Bluetooth replacement and some fascinating DSP with integrated AI capabilities. I hope they put onboard high current drivers, min 100 mA for at least 8 pins.
Another way to (much) better explain it: Every added bit DOUBLES the amount of values that can be represented. So it doubled, then doubled, then doubled and then doubled again.
Ouch! I barely use Arduino(I have one in my CNC machine I use with ESTLCAM software) but all those new features have been around for a couple of decades on many popular chips. And then you don't get any wireless. For those who haven't played with wireless on the ESP32 chips, the real beauty of them is ease of use and pre-written Espressif code for high level radio functions. Seems like a real loss of direction for Arduino only now being addressed which is what usually happens when a company looses a key team member.
Thanks for the great in-depth video! Will still stick with ESP32-S3 N16R8 or RP2350A..... For AI, will use K210, AMB82 for now. Looking forward to the new STM and NXP chips. Will you be interested in RV1106G3, SG2002 or K230?
You know, Esspressif has made it really hard to beat the ESP32. With 4-16MB memory, wifi, bt, dual core, 26 GPIO, multiple I2C, SPI, UART. All this, and I get the clones for around $3.00. I don't know why the other companies can't seem to compete (at price). Even Rpi fell short with their RP2040 and 2350, and they started out knowing who they had to beat. The only way Arduino can come close to ESP32 is by...you guessed it... adding an ESP32.
Wow! So Arduino caught up to the competition ... of a decade ago. The ESP32 is a no-brainer if you need connectivity. It's also way ahead in clock speed, flash and RAM size. But hey, you could get the R4 Wifi and then use the more powerful ESP on it. The STM32 series offers way more in peripherals (ADCs, DACs, timers, UARTs, I2C, SPI, CAN, USB), starts at comparable flash/RAM (with chips that have been out for 15 years and longer), while they aren't even in the same ballpark with the performance line of the chips. The DMA makes STM32 really good at everything that makes use of the mentioned peripherals at high speeds. We are talking about ADC usage in the several MSPS (mega samples per second) range here. Power saving modes are also among the best with the STM32.
if you program the atmega328p in C using the Registers (DDRB, DDRD, PORTD, etc...) it can get pretty fast. It is the wohle arduino framework that makes it slow.
Can vouch.. the arduino framework is completely unusable for pretty much any real-world product. We use 8-bit ATMEGAs and ATTINYs all the time, but only ever in native C code (with some assembly for critical sections).
Check out the SmashcatRandom channel - he(?) wrote a scrolling tilemap+sprite engine with composite output for the old R3 Arduino and ported Manic Miner and some arcade games to it, all running at a smooth 50fps with only a few resistors as external components. It uses the Arduino IDE, although there is a lot of assembler in there too, obviously. The old 8-bit can stil do a LOT with efficient code!
I have migrated since then to STM32 and later PIC for whenever I want a final project. Don't get me wrong, the arduino platform and ide is awesome and fast for prototyping. But if we want to talk about hardware and capabilities, STM32 and PICs are on a whole other level. Plus they often come with internal RTCs, though I have never checked their reliability.
Nice upgrade, shame about the current limit. However what a lot of blank board, I'll be waiting for a Nano version - 99% of my builds use the nano, so finding extra realestate for a bigger board is a bummer to me. Mind you the WiFi version looks way better, making full use of the realestate, just a pity about the LED matrix, it would kind of be better on the back side as that would make it easier to display through a window on a project box, unless they release a matching light-pipe assembly to suit.
So many other better MCUs these days that I just can't see the point in the UNO R4. The Teensy4 just blows this clean out of the water. And I haven't used an UNO form board since I started out many years ago. Nano form (breadboard friendly) boards are the only way to go IMO.
I never saw the point of a Teensy. They are ridiculously expensive compared to an ESP8266 or ESP32 and have very few benefits (but, yes, they do have _some_ and they _do_ have their place; it's just that I observe that people use Teensy's, or worse, RPi's (not even the pico but the full-blown 3, 4 or 5) even to control a simple relay to control a ceiling light...).
@@Rob_III Fair points. I agree the ESPs also blow the R4 out of the water but they are better suited to IoT Wi-Fi etc where I don't use those features in my projects. I'm into audio/music synthesis so I naturally prefer the Teensy. I wouldn't say they are "ridiculously expensive" but they are indeed a bit more pricey - Teensy4.0 - £22 on Digikey (free delivery over £33) versus ESP32 - £6 on PiHut (plus £3.90 delivery). Uno R4 - £18 on PiHut (plus £3.90 delivery). Yes, you can buy cheap Alix clones of the ESP or R4 for ~£2-£5 and not so for the Teensy, so you are right but I still prefer the Teensy most of the time. My point was more to say that the R4 just falls short in many places. Also, the Teensy can provide 20mA per pin and 250mA (total) which is much better than the r4 & ESP32's 40mA (total) which is going to be a major limitation for many people.
@@Nordl3 The uno form factor was initially designed for shields, but when was the last time you used one? This form factor is dead and they should drop it honestly
@@mikkan39 I only use my genuine UNO for programming ATtiny85's or ATtiny45's on a custom shield I made but it has been a year or so since I last used it. I also use it for flashing ATmega328p's but again that is something I don't do very often either.
@@Rob_III I'm into audio/dsp so the Teensy makes sense to me. They are pricey but I wouldn't say they are ridiculously priced. OK, you can get alix knock offs for the r4 and esp's (not so with Teensy) but genuine boards are not that much cheaper than Teensy's in the UK. The biggest issue for me is the 40mA total and 8mA per pin issue. The esp's are not much better at 12mA per pin and 40mA (recommended) total. The Teensy has 20mA per pin and 250mA total so it all depends what your needs are, of course. My point was that Arduino is falling short of the mark with the r4.
Not sure a buck converter is a great upgrade either - it's more efficient, but it induces noise, which can be problematic when measuring sensitive signals.
They're fine so long as the bypass caps are used sensibly (something the original Pico design didn't do!) I use them on PCB designs all the time, as do pretty much all modern designers. LDOs are used to keep the price down, generally. If you need really low noise you can of course use the buck regulator to drop most of the input voltage, then an LDO after it to smooth out any noise while avoiding overheating. The design looks like it's kept all of the regulator well away from the MCU though, so I doubt noise is an issue. If you want to see a REALLY bad ADC, the ESP32 is a shining example. It's god-awful, with a non-linear curve, and needs to be calibrated on a per-chip basis to be even slightly useful.
I like wch riscv chips, I designed my custom boards works pretty good they also have integrated CAN and ethernet, you just need to design your own board
@electronoobs please when will you finish building the stm32 receiver ,i have been waiting for long I have built the stm32 transmitter as you built We would be waiting for stm32 receiver Please very soon
What about sampling rate for the ADC? I use the ATMEGA328 to measure AC sine wave to measure power factor, because ADS1115 isn't fast enough. ATMEGA328's ADC runs at 10khz, ADS1115 only at 900hz. So if the upgraded ADC loses that 10khz sampling rate it will be a downgrade for my project.
Its surprising they didn't put a battery socket on the board, there appears to be enough room for it. The current of the I/O is a pest but the advantages well out way that in my opinion.
It's a lot more powerful than the Uno R3, but it's still over priced and under performing compared to the competition. Did you only compare the R4 to the R3 because that's the only way to make it sound appealing?
tbh, after I started using the ESP32-C3 SuperMini with micropython, which come as board for less than 2 Euro... It is very hard to justify buying an arduino anymore, they really need to step up their game as the only momentun they seem to have atm is their brandname.
yesterday i saw the video, where was explain, that this RTC is bad, becouse R4 use inner oscilator which is manufactured in large tolerances, so accurancy can be very very bad. Next problem is incompatibility of many libraries (which worked on R3) which is in my opinion in world of arduino problem
Arduino got cocky and over-confident like Basic Stamp and PIC did before them. ESP32 came along and kicked it to the curb. Now, too little too late. ESP32 is still the king of the hill for a long time to come... I wouldn't be surprised if they came out with ESP64 next month!!
Why has the arduino r4 wifi a seperat chip and isnt using the onboard esp32s as the main mcu? Also a simple esp32 is better , and also cheaper . So why using this Version of arduino at all ?
No BLE. No WiFi. No native USB HID support. No native USB-OTG support. No memory partition support. Even Infineon do not recommend this line as an MCU testbed; they have other products for that.
Bro i have a request can you make a video on making a rc rx and tx from scratch like using lc oscillator circuit for digital data transmission.... Please....🤩
Let me compare r4 with esp32-s3-devkitc. Pros: Operates at 5V Consumes less energy Has better analog read Usb-C(esp has usb-c on other boards like c6) Cons: Slower(esp operates at 240mhz) Less memory Less flash Cost a lot more Has less pins Bigger Has less current cap(esp has 500mA) No built in wifi No built in bluetooth No sleep option
You're missing the point. This is a dev board. If you then design your own PCB using the Renesas' RA4M1 32-bit microcontroller with ALL the pins broken out etc, it can have up to 84 GPIOs (FAR more than any ESP32), 4 hardware SCI's (each can be used as UART, i2C or SPI) plus 2xSPI, plus 2xi2C, plus CAN, plus SSIE sound interface. Also full hardware debugging, 14bit ADCs, 12bit DACs, LCD matrix controller, AES128/256 encryption engine, 4 DMA channels etc etc - there's a huge list, including a lot of security and self-diagnoses used in industrial applications. Not to mention much better low power operation. All for the same price as an ESP32 per-chip. Obviously Arduino is mostly for learners, tinkering with simpler boards, but they can take the knowledge further by using custom PCBs. I have no particular preference for manufacturers, I use everything from Microchip, Nordic, STM, TI, NXP, Espressif and other manufacturers in my designs. It depends on what's best for the task. If I don't need WiFi I'm very unlikely to use an ESP32 as it's compromised in several other ways. There's also the fact that governments are now blocking the use of cheap Chinese parts from designs used in industrial applications where govt funding is involved. The WiFi/BT stacks on the ESP32 (and other manus in China) are "black boxes". So they're seen as potential security threats. Real or imagined, I've faced this myself when pitching for new work as a designer.
That is not an Cortex M1. It is an M4 (FPU included). As far as I know, there isn't even an M1 ... only M0(+), M3(3), M4, M7 and so on are valid core types
The CPU and memory is worse than ESP32, raspberry pi pico and even the older ESP8266, the ADC and DAC are nice but if it will cost as much as the R3 I'm not ever buying it.
ESP32 is cheaper and more powerful, more flexible and better and every way. Too little too late. Arduino is great if you need to program your MC and imbed it into a separate circuit for specific applications.
I use the ESP32 in a lot of my PCB designs. Compare the ADC results between two identical ESP32s and see how precise they are. Even Espressif themselves state that you need to calibrate every chip separately, and that they only read accurately within a specific range. You also lose a lot of memory and flash space to the RTOS - just compile a program that does literally nothing, and see how big it is. Also, the ESP32 is limited to 3.3V on the GPIO pins, the R4 can handle just over 5V, so that's another metric. Now what were you saying again?
You should Google "what is a transistor?" EVERY other manufacturer now limits the current on GPIO pins - not only to make them faster, but also to dissuade people from using them to supply current to other devices, which they were never really designed for.
@@Stabby666 oh come dont be a condescending prick .i know what a transistor is . and not EVERY other manufacturer limits their pins down so extremely that you can not even power an led . its a joke and you know it but keep shilling if you need to feel better
oh no a renesas mcu they are the worst in terms of customer support and documentation and its not a AVR anymore, 99% of guides, libraries and tutorials you find that go past the arduino layer (digitalwrite, pinmode etc.) are now broken. this is not a uno, it just looks like one.
![Noob To Max With DRAGON REWORK In Blox Fruits [FULL MOVIE]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LnBMOinoOvA/mqdefault.jpg)
You never compared it to esp32?!
This didn't sell me on the R4. The improved memory, speed, and ADC DAC resolution are great but the low current specs. would make it difficult to use for the type of projects I like. Providing WIFI with a competing chip just suggests using that chip directly. Arduino seems to be moving toward an industrial market which is probably a wise business decision on their part. They cost of the Arduino boards is a significant factor as well.
To be fair forcing devs to use transistors to isolate outputs is a very defendable move.
@@alainmilette6460 How do you feel about city governments forcing you to quit using plastic grocery bags? It certainly makes sense but many people don't like it.
@@jeffschroeder4805 You're actually proving his point. Not using plastic bags is good for the environment. Not powering things from a GPIO is good for the MCU. When you move to other MCUs, like STM32, Nordic, Espressi etc, you'll find you also have similar current restrictions - some even less than 8mA. GPIOs are supposed to be used to send and receive signals, not to drive current through other devices (excepting very low current devices like LEDs). Additionally, if you connect a GPIO directly to something, then short it out, you're likely going to destroy the GPIO pin (at the least). If it's connected via a transistor, then at most you'll pop the transistor.
@@Stabby666 I am not actually proving his point. I didn't hear him say that low current gpios were better, just that the limitations could be addressed with transistors. I ask you, "would he have found fault with the Arduino R4 if it had gpio output capacities greater than or equal to older Arduinos?" I doubt it!
My preference for hobby projects is simplicity, the fewer components required the better. Having to incorporate a transistor to simply light up an indicator led is a waste of my time and requires more components. Given a choice I will purchase MCUs that don't force me to add additional circuitry for simple applications. I have already "moved to ESP32 (my current favorite is the S3), STM32, Nordic....and and haven't run into such severe current restrictions on GPIOs as presented by the R4.
@ you did prove his point and you continue to prove it. Maybe you should learn how to use a resistor to limit current through an LED. It’s VERY unlikely you need more than 8mA anyway, since LEDs are non linear. You can light most standard LEDs with 1mA and they’re easily visible. I understand you’re just a hobbyist so it doesn’t matter if you screw things up but there is a professional way to do things and a half-assed solution to try to cut costs and time by overstressing components. I also use MCUs from a lot of other manufacturers in my designs and I know that Nordic 52/53 series can only source around 15mA, STM32 slightly more, but I use transistors anyway, to protect the outputs in case of damage or shorts from a failed LED, and ensure longevity. I have hardware out in the field (in some cases literally out in fields) for industrial applications that have been running for years. Just because a GPIO CAN source 20mA, it doesn't mean you should run it at capacity all the time. Just like having a car that can hit 8500RPM doesn't mean you should red-line it everywhere. But you clearly just want something to moan about so, you go off...
Thanks. I use the esp32 almost exclusively. This video was very informative.
Happy New Year!
Honestly, I don't see the advantage of using a board that is 4 times more expensive than common ESP32 boards, with lesser specs. Unless you need a faster drop-in with more memory for your existing projects, or for projects that require 5 volts, without using level shifters.
There is no point in using it, the esp32 is miles better.
@@citer5574 Try connecting the ESP32 to a 5V peripheral with no level shifter and let us know how you get on...
@@Stabby666 Well using a level shifter is very simple so the esp32 still makes more sense
@@citer5574 How about running an LCD matrix with dedicated hardware? Or having 84 GPIO pins? Or having multiple 14bit ADC channels? (the ESP32 ADC is pretty terrible, honestly) Or running up to 4 hardware UARTS, 6x hardware i2C peripherals and up to 6x hardware SPI devices all with DMA? How about 4x hardware OpAmps and 2 comparators built in? Or a 12 bit DAC + 2x8 bit DACs? Or having all of the above running at the same time, PLUS hardware supported capacitive touch matrix inputs? Oh yes, and a hardware encryption engine.
The chip itself has all of these features, plus self diagnoses for industrial use, much lower power usage than the ESP32, and security locking for the flash. The arduino board doesn't expose all of these, but the core has them all.
Still think your ESP32 with a level shifter is better for all of these features? I also use the ESP32 and I know what it lacks... Don't be a fanboy - pick the right chip for the job.
@@citer5574 If you look at the datasheet for the chip on the R4, it has a HUGE number of peripherals the ESP32 lacks. The bare chip can also have 84 GPIO pins. So as a dev board for people looking to use the chip on a custom board it makes sense.
6:49 Nah, you cannot just plug it into your car's CAN interface(s). You need a PHY (Transciever) for that to work.
When the capabilities of good old Arduino UNO R3 became too low for me, I just ordered a bunch of Raspberry Pi Pico RP2040 clones from China for about $2 each, and I'm very happy with it. I think they have a several times more powerful MCU than this UNO R4 thing
Yes, but they are for different markets.
Different markets - one benefit of the R4 is the wide voltage range - GPIOs can handle just over 5V. I use all kinds of MCUs, there is no one "best" MCU for all tasks.
You're getting all excited about the 'amazing' improvements over the R3, but it's not really a fair comparison. Most people are already using ESP32, Pi Pico, STM32, CH32V etc. which have similar features and performance at a much lower cost. I'm currently working with an ESP32-S3 mini with 512k SRAM, 4MB flash, dual core, 240MHz etc. etc., I'm using the Arduino framework to program it, and I only paid around $6/each for a bunch of them. It seems more like Arduino was way behind and is finally trying to catch up. Now, if they could just drop their prices substantially, I might be interested.
@@RUclipsBorkedMyOldHandle_why yeah their prices are way out of touch
they can't challenge the prices of the ESP, no one can
I've been buying the ESP32-S3 mini for just over $3 lately.
@@chesshooligan1282to be fair id say that the $1 rp2040 is a bargain IF you don't need wifi/ble, because multicore and PIO really come in handy sometimes. I've had a project recently where 2 PIO blocks send images to 2 separate SPI displays at full clock speed, while leaving the CPU cores free to to other stuff - one core draws the image in a buffer to be read by PIOs, other core handles communications
@@mikkan39 Well, somebody will clone it and you can buy the clone. Arduino folks usually buy clones anyway.
I predict that there will be a shield that will have a bunch of tiny transistors/mosfets that will let every single pin source/switch much larger currents.
Thanks for the breakdown! It's been a hot minute since I went mainly into the FPGA space and stopped doing that much embedded software. However, not that high of a chance I'll be getting one. Programming the AVR was always a charm and I feel like some spirit was lost when it moved to ARM.
Been subbed since the start 🎉
Very interesting! I’m concerned about the low current capability though. I would be interested in seeing how to power a project that requires more current than the 80 milliamps. Thanks for sharing!
You should drop the extended intro for 2025. Time is of the essence. Thanks for the great vids!
get sponsorblock fam
Happy to see good contents that I am interesting in:)
Well, the new Arduino UNO R4 WiFi version has an on board ESP32 ... I think that says it all. I do not want dump on Arduino, they created a great movement of makers, the IDE was amazing, but R4 UNO took too long, when ESP8266 precursor to ESP32 was already ahead of the game an usable with the ESPRESSIF IDF. The true genius of Massimo and Arduino might shine again with something new in Arduino R5, and personally, I think we should all purchase R4s to encourage the next R5 chip which will likely have next gen Bluetooth replacement and some fascinating DSP with integrated AI capabilities. I hope they put onboard high current drivers, min 100 mA for at least 8 pins.
ADC 1024 (R3) not 256
Another way to (much) better explain it: Every added bit DOUBLES the amount of values that can be represented. So it doubled, then doubled, then doubled and then doubled again.
Ouch! I barely use Arduino(I have one in my CNC machine I use with ESTLCAM software) but all those new features have been around for a couple of decades on many popular chips. And then you don't get any wireless. For those who haven't played with wireless on the ESP32 chips, the real beauty of them is ease of use and pre-written Espressif code for high level radio functions.
Seems like a real loss of direction for Arduino only now being addressed which is what usually happens when a company looses a key team member.
Glad to see Arduino lives on.
Thanks for the great in-depth video!
Will still stick with ESP32-S3 N16R8 or RP2350A.....
For AI, will use K210, AMB82 for now. Looking forward to the new STM and NXP chips.
Will you be interested in RV1106G3, SG2002 or K230?
You know, Esspressif has made it really hard to beat the ESP32. With 4-16MB memory, wifi, bt, dual core, 26 GPIO, multiple I2C, SPI, UART.
All this, and I get the clones for around $3.00.
I don't know why the other companies can't seem to compete (at price). Even Rpi fell short with their RP2040 and 2350, and they started out knowing who they had to beat.
The only way Arduino can come close to ESP32 is by...you guessed it... adding an ESP32.
Wow! So Arduino caught up to the competition ... of a decade ago.
The ESP32 is a no-brainer if you need connectivity. It's also way ahead in clock speed, flash and RAM size. But hey, you could get the R4 Wifi and then use the more powerful ESP on it.
The STM32 series offers way more in peripherals (ADCs, DACs, timers, UARTs, I2C, SPI, CAN, USB), starts at comparable flash/RAM (with chips that have been out for 15 years and longer), while they aren't even in the same ballpark with the performance line of the chips. The DMA makes STM32 really good at everything that makes use of the mentioned peripherals at high speeds. We are talking about ADC usage in the several MSPS (mega samples per second) range here. Power saving modes are also among the best with the STM32.
if you program the atmega328p in C using the Registers (DDRB, DDRD, PORTD, etc...) it can get pretty fast. It is the wohle arduino framework that makes it slow.
Can vouch.. the arduino framework is completely unusable for pretty much any real-world product. We use 8-bit ATMEGAs and ATTINYs all the time, but only ever in native C code (with some assembly for critical sections).
True, but it doesn't have DMA, and it is a huge limiting factor for many applications.
Check out the SmashcatRandom channel - he(?) wrote a scrolling tilemap+sprite engine with composite output for the old R3 Arduino and ported Manic Miner and some arcade games to it, all running at a smooth 50fps with only a few resistors as external components. It uses the Arduino IDE, although there is a lot of assembler in there too, obviously. The old 8-bit can stil do a LOT with efficient code!
True, however it's nice to have for the times when speed don't matter that much.
Wasn't the analog read on the R3 on a resolution of 1024? Or that's not what this means? 5:49
The CAN module shown at 7:59 negates the use of the CAN peripheral in the new chip as it has its own.
I have migrated since then to STM32 and later PIC for whenever I want a final project. Don't get me wrong, the arduino platform and ide is awesome and fast for prototyping. But if we want to talk about hardware and capabilities, STM32 and PICs are on a whole other level. Plus they often come with internal RTCs, though I have never checked their reliability.
Nice overview! Thanks
happy new year
it would be nice to see GRBL compiled for the R4
Should upped the frequency to beat STM and ESP, but good to be used for Automotive ECM, Many ECM uses Renesas(Keihin, Shindengen)
I like Espressif chips.
WCH looks promising, the CH32V203 has good support for Arduino core
Nice upgrade, shame about the current limit. However what a lot of blank board, I'll be waiting for a Nano version - 99% of my builds use the nano, so finding extra realestate for a bigger board is a bummer to me.
Mind you the WiFi version looks way better, making full use of the realestate, just a pity about the LED matrix, it would kind of be better on the back side as that would make it easier to display through a window on a project box, unless they release a matching light-pipe assembly to suit.
So many other better MCUs these days that I just can't see the point in the UNO R4. The Teensy4 just blows this clean out of the water. And I haven't used an UNO form board since I started out many years ago. Nano form (breadboard friendly) boards are the only way to go IMO.
I never saw the point of a Teensy. They are ridiculously expensive compared to an ESP8266 or ESP32 and have very few benefits (but, yes, they do have _some_ and they _do_ have their place; it's just that I observe that people use Teensy's, or worse, RPi's (not even the pico but the full-blown 3, 4 or 5) even to control a simple relay to control a ceiling light...).
@@Rob_III Fair points. I agree the ESPs also blow the R4 out of the water but they are better suited to IoT Wi-Fi etc where I don't use those features in my projects. I'm into audio/music synthesis so I naturally prefer the Teensy. I wouldn't say they are "ridiculously expensive" but they are indeed a bit more pricey -
Teensy4.0 - £22 on Digikey (free delivery over £33)
versus
ESP32 - £6 on PiHut (plus £3.90 delivery).
Uno R4 - £18 on PiHut (plus £3.90 delivery).
Yes, you can buy cheap Alix clones of the ESP or R4 for ~£2-£5 and not so for the Teensy, so you are right but I still prefer the Teensy most of the time. My point was more to say that the R4 just falls short in many places.
Also, the Teensy can provide 20mA per pin and 250mA (total) which is much better than the r4 & ESP32's 40mA (total) which is going to be a major limitation for many people.
@@Nordl3 The uno form factor was initially designed for shields, but when was the last time you used one? This form factor is dead and they should drop it honestly
@@mikkan39 I only use my genuine UNO for programming ATtiny85's or ATtiny45's on a custom shield I made but it has been a year or so since I last used it. I also use it for flashing ATmega328p's but again that is something I don't do very often either.
@@Rob_III I'm into audio/dsp so the Teensy makes sense to me. They are pricey but I wouldn't say they are ridiculously priced. OK, you can get alix knock offs for the r4 and esp's (not so with Teensy) but genuine boards are not that much cheaper than Teensy's in the UK. The biggest issue for me is the 40mA total and 8mA per pin issue. The esp's are not much better at 12mA per pin and 40mA (recommended) total. The Teensy has 20mA per pin and 250mA total so it all depends what your needs are, of course. My point was that Arduino is falling short of the mark with the r4.
Not sure a buck converter is a great upgrade either - it's more efficient, but it induces noise, which can be problematic when measuring sensitive signals.
They're fine so long as the bypass caps are used sensibly (something the original Pico design didn't do!) I use them on PCB designs all the time, as do pretty much all modern designers. LDOs are used to keep the price down, generally. If you need really low noise you can of course use the buck regulator to drop most of the input voltage, then an LDO after it to smooth out any noise while avoiding overheating. The design looks like it's kept all of the regulator well away from the MCU though, so I doubt noise is an issue. If you want to see a REALLY bad ADC, the ESP32 is a shining example. It's god-awful, with a non-linear curve, and needs to be calibrated on a per-chip basis to be even slightly useful.
Your content is awesome
I like wch riscv chips, I designed my custom boards works pretty good they also have integrated CAN and ethernet, you just need to design your own board
They look interesting. Is the documentation good? Reference manuals? Like registers, hardware features etc?
@Positive_Altitude not really, but they have a lot of examples
@electronoobs please when will you finish building the stm32 receiver ,i have been waiting for long
I have built the stm32 transmitter as you built
We would be waiting for stm32 receiver
Please very soon
New year new music wow!
What about sampling rate for the ADC? I use the ATMEGA328 to measure AC sine wave to measure power factor, because ADS1115 isn't fast enough. ATMEGA328's ADC runs at 10khz, ADS1115 only at 900hz. So if the upgraded ADC loses that 10khz sampling rate it will be a downgrade for my project.
Will the R4 work with R3 shields, seeing that some may take more current than the pins can supply? I'm particularly thinking of the motor shield.
A motor shield should use at least a half-bridge driver chip. I can't imagine any shield would just connect the GPIO pins directly to a motor?!
Would be nice to see how it compares power consumption wise with the R3.
Its surprising they didn't put a battery socket on the board, there appears to be enough room for it. The current of the I/O is a pest but the advantages well out way that in my opinion.
I really want to support Arduino... but the price!
Just about every competitor costs a fraction of what they do.
It's a lot more powerful than the Uno R3, but it's still over priced and under performing compared to the competition.
Did you only compare the R4 to the R3 because that's the only way to make it sound appealing?
Power requirements?
Was just gonna say I love the video and Kudos! But now.. Hot dang! I love the comments too! Good people here.
tbh, after I started using the ESP32-C3 SuperMini with micropython, which come as board for less than 2 Euro... It is very hard to justify buying an arduino anymore, they really need to step up their game as the only momentun they seem to have atm is their brandname.
Renesas must of done lots of lobbying (paid mountain of money) at Arduino headquaters to get their not-so-popular ARM MCU into Arduino board 😄
Analog out!? Does that mean this can be used as a signal generator?
same question
@@Abednego-v2r yes
@@ELECTRONOOBS awesome future video
Can i install GRBL on R4?
yesterday i saw the video, where was explain, that this RTC is bad, becouse R4 use inner oscilator which is manufactured in large tolerances, so accurancy can be very very bad. Next problem is incompatibility of many libraries (which worked on R3) which is in my opinion in world of arduino problem
Arduino got cocky and over-confident like Basic Stamp and PIC did before them. ESP32 came along and kicked it to the curb.
Now, too little too late. ESP32 is still the king of the hill for a long time to come...
I wouldn't be surprised if they came out with ESP64 next month!!
I have replaced the arduino DUE chip and have 2 more for backup ... that chip isn't pretty to solder! had to man up skills to do that one.
Why has the arduino r4 wifi a seperat chip and isnt using the onboard esp32s as the main mcu?
Also a simple esp32 is better , and also cheaper . So why using this Version of arduino at all ?
Does anyone still use the UNO footprint?
5:52 ... it pass from 1024 points (=2^10) to 16 384 (=2^14)
No BLE. No WiFi. No native USB HID support. No native USB-OTG support. No memory partition support. Even Infineon do not recommend this line as an MCU testbed; they have other products for that.
Yeah, my Intel i9 CPU doesn't have bluetooth, wifi or USB support either. I should change it for an ESP32... #4head
Maravilha, maravilha, maravilha, maravilha, agora os vídeos do canal tem tradução para português do Brasil, obrigado RUclips.
Bro i have a request can you make a video on making a rc rx and tx from scratch like using lc oscillator circuit for digital data transmission.... Please....🤩
Let me compare r4 with esp32-s3-devkitc.
Pros:
Operates at 5V
Consumes less energy
Has better analog read
Usb-C(esp has usb-c on other boards like c6)
Cons:
Slower(esp operates at 240mhz)
Less memory
Less flash
Cost a lot more
Has less pins
Bigger
Has less current cap(esp has 500mA)
No built in wifi
No built in bluetooth
No sleep option
You're missing the point. This is a dev board. If you then design your own PCB using the Renesas' RA4M1 32-bit microcontroller with ALL the pins broken out etc, it can have up to 84 GPIOs (FAR more than any ESP32), 4 hardware SCI's (each can be used as UART, i2C or SPI) plus 2xSPI, plus 2xi2C, plus CAN, plus SSIE sound interface. Also full hardware debugging, 14bit ADCs, 12bit DACs, LCD matrix controller, AES128/256 encryption engine, 4 DMA channels etc etc - there's a huge list, including a lot of security and self-diagnoses used in industrial applications. Not to mention much better low power operation. All for the same price as an ESP32 per-chip.
Obviously Arduino is mostly for learners, tinkering with simpler boards, but they can take the knowledge further by using custom PCBs.
I have no particular preference for manufacturers, I use everything from Microchip, Nordic, STM, TI, NXP, Espressif and other manufacturers in my designs. It depends on what's best for the task. If I don't need WiFi I'm very unlikely to use an ESP32 as it's compromised in several other ways.
There's also the fact that governments are now blocking the use of cheap Chinese parts from designs used in industrial applications where govt funding is involved. The WiFi/BT stacks on the ESP32 (and other manus in China) are "black boxes". So they're seen as potential security threats. Real or imagined, I've faced this myself when pitching for new work as a designer.
What took them so long?
They had to go to the corner shop and run some errands.
Actually, they still haven't done anything significant.
So it's actually going to take them longer...
The link you provided offers a model for €38, while the Arduino online store sells it for €23. This does not seam to be a fare offer.
Thanks!
It all comes down to price and size. ESPs are still more competitive.
Que paso con el canal en español
esp32 : look at what they have to do to mimic a fraction of our power
That's good but is not compared with eap32, even you don't torlk about Core so I think is a single Core wich make it difficult in multitasking
Nano is now available in ESP32, 240mhz
That is not an Cortex M1. It is an M4 (FPU included). As far as I know, there isn't even an M1 ... only M0(+), M3(3), M4, M7 and so on are valid core types
Arduino needs 10 more generations to provide 4MB Flash.
I don't follow the Arduino community much but the R4 seems like an odd mix of poorly implemented feature requests.
The CPU and memory is worse than ESP32, raspberry pi pico and even the older ESP8266, the ADC and DAC are nice but if it will cost as much as the R3 I'm not ever buying it.
ESP32 is cheaper and more powerful, more flexible and better and every way. Too little too late. Arduino is great if you need to program your MC and imbed it into a separate circuit for specific applications.
esp32 is about 4€, this is 35€. Also esp32 has probably more of everything and is faster, no need to dig any further..
imagine they make the nano version of it
Never answered the original question: No, this is much inferior to the ESP32 offerings by every metric.
I use the ESP32 in a lot of my PCB designs. Compare the ADC results between two identical ESP32s and see how precise they are. Even Espressif themselves state that you need to calibrate every chip separately, and that they only read accurately within a specific range. You also lose a lot of memory and flash space to the RTOS - just compile a program that does literally nothing, and see how big it is. Also, the ESP32 is limited to 3.3V on the GPIO pins, the R4 can handle just over 5V, so that's another metric. Now what were you saying again?
Esp32 is best 😊
Starts 4:42
Sorry to hear this channel is not your main channel anymore😒😒
8mA per pin is like a nightmare. I doubt it could even turn on a 5v relay
@@AjinkyaMahajan a bare relay i doubt, but a relay module with controller transistor, for sure it can....
no one uses a MCU pin to turn on a relay, far far not enough current. arduino r0 R123 or 4 or r5, yes, even R5 can't do that I am predicting.
Who connects relay directly to a controller's pin !
Definitely don't directly connect a relay! (to 99% of MCU's)
Other dinosaur 😊
It's called a CAN Bus
4:46 Jajajaa, which no, it's not a disease.
8 mA per pin
this just turned absolutely useless
way to go arduino you completely forked yourself
You should Google "what is a transistor?" EVERY other manufacturer now limits the current on GPIO pins - not only to make them faster, but also to dissuade people from using them to supply current to other devices, which they were never really designed for.
@@Stabby666 oh come dont be a condescending prick .i know what a transistor is .
and not EVERY other manufacturer
limits their pins down so extremely
that you can not even power an led .
its a joke and you know it
but keep shilling if you need to feel better
great start for 2025
oh no a renesas mcu they are the worst in terms of customer support and documentation
and its not a AVR anymore, 99% of guides, libraries and tutorials you find that go past the arduino layer (digitalwrite, pinmode etc.) are now broken.
this is not a uno, it just looks like one.
no añadieron borneras decentes, lo unico que yo queria era borneras XD
Too many ads on this channel. 👎🏽
"that being said" - it's like a youtuber disease...
Arm? LOL Atmel. Innovation is truly dead.
primo laik e dopo guardu
tantti auguri in 2025
not even near esp32 :D
Esp32 laughing at a corner.
Bro, turn on some lights! Are you in the basement?!
Hi first 🥇
ruclips.net/video/2pe_PjXxs0Y/видео.html . So how a 33$ board compete against a 0.99$ board ? Badly indeed.
RIP Arduino.
You kinda sucked from the beginning with a stupid IDE.
The Titel dass about a comparison between ESP and R4. Not in the Box, bad style. Waisted my time. abo gone. Not supporting such crab anymore sorry.
Nice try! ;)
Hey man, spend more time on your videos please. Lots of mistakes and not much information.
First comment 😊
I thought that i was the first to comment i have to upgrade my RUclips to be the first to get notified when you will upload a new video😁😁