EVK-NINA-B4 - User guide
UBX-19054587 - R03
Interfaces and peripherals
Page 25 of 38
C1 - Public
Arduino shield compatibility
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As EVK-NINA-B4 has an I/O voltage range of 1.7-3.6 V, it can only be used with shields that
support an I/O voltage in this range.
The EVK-NINA-B4 has a pinout that is compatible with some Arduino, or Arduino-inspired, shields.
The characteristics of certain EVK pins demand that shields support the following features:
•
IOREF: The I/O voltage level of the NINA-B4 module is 3.3 V by default, but the EVK can be
modified to allow other voltages (1.7-3.6 V).
•
RESET: Is connected to the RESET button (SW0).
•
3.3 V: A regulated 3.3 V output. Should not be used as a voltage supply input, use the VIN pin
instead.
•
5 V: Is only a 5 V supply output if the EVK is being powered by USB. If any other power
configuration is used, this pin will be unconnected (floating). It is safe to connect an external 5 V
supply to this pin even when a USB cable is connected. This pin may be used to power the board.
•
VIN: May be used as a 5 -12 V supply input to power the EVK-NINA-B4.
•
Pin 0 (RX): Is connected to the NINA-B4 UART RX pin (NINA pin 23).
•
Pin 1 (TX): Is connected to the NINA-B4 UART TX pin (NINA pin 22).
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SCL/SDA:
On some Arduino boards, the I
2
C signals, SCL, and SDA are connected to pins A4 and
A5 and to the SCL and SDA pins in the top right hand corner. Since these pins will be shorted
together, this might cause problems when they are connected to the EVK-NINA-B4 – in which
they are not normally shorted.
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Digital I/O pins:
For serial communication and flashing/debugging over USB, some digital I/O pins
can be connected to the on-board debug MCU. In these instances, the connected pins can cause
some interference on the signals that are also used by an Arduino shield. For information about
disconnecting these signals from the debug MCU, see section 4.2.
5.3
Raspberry Pi compatible interface
The EVK-NINA-B4 includes a 40-pin GPIO header that can be used to interface with either a Raspberry
Pi computer board or Raspberry Pi Hardware Attached on Top (HAT) expander. EVK-NINA-B4 uses
different hardware and software configurations depending on whether it is connected to a Pi or HAT.
The default configuration is for connection to a P computer board. Compatible Raspberry Pi versions
are described in Table 12 .
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Older Pi and HAT versions that do not use a 40-pin GPIO header are not supported.
Compatible Raspberry Pi boards
Raspberry Pi 1 Model A+
Raspberry Pi 1 Model B+
Raspberry Pi 2 Model B
Raspberry Pi 3 Model B
Raspberry Pi Zero
Raspberry Pi Zero W
Table 12: Compatible Raspberry Pi boards
