Buy an Arduino
What is Arduino? Why do you need an Arduino board? What are the advantages?
Arduino boards are equipped with a microcontroller, which is easy to program. The pins of this microcontroller (for example, digital inputs and outputs, and analog inputs) are connected to headers, allowing you to connect other electronics without soldering. Connect buttons, potentiometers, LEDs, sensors, motors, displays, and many other components and modules to quickly and easily prototype the project you have in mind!
The software for the microcontroller can be developed with a program on your PC, the so-called IDE (Integrated Development Environment). Even for beginners, the IDE is easy to understand, and so are the commands you can use to control your inputs and outputs. There are powerful software libraries and examples available for many sensors and other accessories. Simply connect your Arduino board to the PC via USB, write your commands, compile and send your software to the board with one click of the mouse, and see what happens. In short, it has never been easier to create a microcontroller project that includes both hardware and software!
The first Arduino boards were developed around 2005 by a group of programming enthusiasts who needed inexpensive and simple boards for educational purposes. Because they were so easy to program, Arduino became very popular among artists and makers. In the years that followed, more and more boards were developed, some with relatively inexpensive 8-bit microcontrollers, others with more powerful models, and with various features on the board such as WiFi or an Ethernet interface. In addition, a very large number of add-on boards, known as shields, were developed to extend the functionality.
Arduino boards and the Arduino IDE are often used by Elektor Lab and external authors of Elektor articles and books, for a microcontroller project, or for educational purposes.
What do we offer (our range)?
In addition to many of the currently available Arduino boards, Elektor offers official Arduino accessories and a selection of special and tested third-party products, such as shields (add-on boards) and accessories. We also sell kits and bundles, for example, Arduino boards in combination with a book.
Buying an Arduino board: what can you do with it?
What makes Arduino boards so special? These boards are inexpensive, compact, and energy-efficient, there are even robust variants for industrial purposes. The boards are very versatile, and there is a huge amount of shields (add-on boards) and modules to expand the functions. All connections can be made without soldering. Programming the Arduino program (called sketch) is very simple, there are many libraries and examples, and quite good documentation. Projects such as weather stations, CO2 sensors, simple robots, audio players, and much more are easy to implement.
What accessories are available? What are they used for? What can you do with them?
Buying an Arduino board is just the first step. There are many shields (add-on boards, for example, for motor control and lighting) and expansion modules (for example, sensors) to expand the functions. Displays, power supplies, enclosures, cables, ... there is a wide variety of user-friendly accessories available. In addition, there are many books about Arduino.
Why buy an Arduino from Elektor?
Elektor is an authorized distributor of Arduino. We buy Arduino directly from the manufacturer in Italy, not through distribution channels.