The Arduino module, gotta love it, has left its mark in the world of hobby electronics. As you may have noticed the SolderCore "borrowed" the Arduino form factor so it could utilize the wealth of existing shields.
One of the problems faced when using the SolderCore with Arduino shields is the difference in I/O voltage rails, the Arduino uses 5V I/O and the SolderCore uses 3.3V I/O...
To overcome this problem we created the Proteus shield. It is shield of two halves, the 3.3V half and the 5V half. Both halves take a single Arduino-shaped board. As you've probably guessed, the 3.3V half is for 3.3V devices (shields or processor boards) and the 5V half is for 5V devices, again shield or processor boards
Click for 3D
The Proteus shield provides 3.3V to 5V bi-directional voltage translation using the GTL2000 from NXP. When using a SolderCore with a Proteus Shield it can safely work with 5V shields designed for the Ardiuno. It's not limited to the SolderCore, you can use any 3.3V-based Arduino-format board with the Proteus Shield to convert the digital I/O to 5V.
You may not have a SolderCore, but you probably do own an Arduino... well the Proteus Shield enables you to safely use your Arduino with 3.3V shields or sensors without damaging the shield or senors. The is good for us as you can use any of our SolderCore products, selecting from the wide range of shields and sensors, with the Arduino!
For example, our LCD shield, based on the XMOS-L1 processor, is strictly a 3.3V device, so you cannot directly connect it the Arduino module without damaging the XMOS device. However, if you plug the LCD Shield into the 3.3V half of the Proteus device and and the Arduino into the 5V half, the two devices will safely work together. You will need an Arduino sketch to drive the LCD module from the Arduino and, as luck would have it, Paul has written done this:
In the video below, the Arduino module is driving the the LCD Shield using the Proteus Shield for the voltage conversion. The random lines seen at the end is created using the code above.
What is really nice about the Proteus Shield is that it works for open drain and push-pull I/O, so you can use the Proteus to connect the Arduino to 3.3V I2C sensors. In the video below the Arduino module is reading and writing a CoreLight sensor, a 3.3V I2C module, and displays the results to the character LCD display.
The Arduino sketch for this video can be downloaded below:
