Blynk Board Project Guide

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Contributors: jimblom
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Blynk Board Overview

You're probably already familiar with the most important Blynk Board component -- the shiny RGB LED -- but there's a whole lot more included with the board. Throughout these projects you'll explore everything the Blynk Board has to offer, but here's a quick overview:

Annotated diagram

Meet the Blynk Board Pins

The Blynk Board interfaces with the outside world using input/ouput (I/O) "pins" -- tiny "fingers" that can either control real-world objects, like motors or LEDs, or read in values from sensors (for example light or position).

Each of the Blynk Board's pins are accessible via the large, metal-encircled holes on the edge of the board. These large holes are designed to interface with alligator clip cables -- a staple interface cable for beginner and advanced electrical engineers alike.

Alligator clips clamped on the Blynk Board

Alligator clips clipped onto the Blynk Board, interfacing it with the physical world.

Each of the Blynk Board alligator-clippable-pins are labeled with white text towards the center of the board. The Blynk Board pins can be broken down into a few categories: general-purpose (GP), analog input, and power output.

General Purpose Input/Output (GPIO) Pins

There are eight "general-purpose" input/output (GPIO) pins. These are the "worker-bees" to the Blynk Board's main processor "queen". You can use them to control outputs -- like LEDs or motors -- or as inputs, gathering data from buttons, switches, encoders, and more.

Pin LabelNotes
12Input or PWM-capable output.
13Input or PWM-capable output.
15Input or PWM-capable output (pull-down resistor).
16Input (internal pull-down resistor).
0Input; connected to on-board button.
5Output; connected to on-board LED.

We recommend against using the RX and TX pins unless you really need them, but the rest are free for interfacing with the rest of the world as you desire!

Analog Input (ADC) Pin

A very special pin labeled "ADC" sports the Blynk Board's analog-to-digital converter (ADC). This pin translates analog voltages to the digital 1's and 0's a computer can understand.

Blynk Board ADC input

This pin is mostly used to read the values of real-world sensors -- you can connect it to light sensors, motion sensors, flex sensors, and all sorts of other physical-world-sensing electronic components.

Power Outputs

In addition to the Blynk Board's I/O pins, the power rails are also broken out to alligator-clip pins. These are the pins labeled "VIN", "3.3V", and "GND".

Blynk Board power outputs

You'll get very accustomed to using these pins -- especially the ground pin. They have all sorts of uses -- ranging from powering motors to providing a reference voltage for a potentiometer.