Not enough analog pins on Photon

General
1

I have been working on a project for while right now using core. I recieved my photon few weeks ago and tried to transfer do the same work there and I realized that photon has less analog pins than core, plus all my digital pins are used up.

Here is my question. Would particle continue selling core or do we have to get adjusted to photon?

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As far as i know they are not in production as of this point in time.

Ping @will.

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Actually, the photon should have more analog ports. It also has more PWM capable pins (9), although you can only use 7 of those simultaneously for PWM, whereas the core has 8 of those simultaneously. Have a look over here: http://docs.particle.io/photon/#pins and then check the corresponding one of the core, you’ll notice the differences.

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4

And if needed you even can access the three GPIOs commonly used for the RGB-LED via the three solder pads on the flip side of the Photon (PWM capable).

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@boniface316, @kennethlimcp is correct–the Core is currently out of production, although some of our distributors still have stock if you’re keen on picking up the last remaining units.

We’re working internally on documentation that will walk you through the process of transitioning from Cores to Photons, which will include thorough explanations of the number of improvements and features that are available to you with the new hardware. We spent considerable effort minimizing the pains of transitioning from old hardware to new, and think you’ll be very pleasantly surprised by how easy it is to upgrade your projects.

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My major issue is that I am having difficulty using digital pins as buttons especially D2 and D3. This is the only reason I need to use analog.

@kennethlimcp, Thanks for the prompt action.

@Moors7
After looking at the diagram you posted. It appears that I can use A6 and A7 for my project. I need to give it a try.

@ScruffR, could you clarify whats GPIOs are?

@will, I designed my first PCB and ordered 5 of them to be manufactured. Then when I came to buy bunch of Core, I realized that I am acually out of core. Could you suggest me a places I can buy core? I checked out adafruit and they are out of core.

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@will, I would really appreciate if you could ping me when that document gets published!

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What’s the issue with using digital pins as button inputs? It’s pretty trivial i must say

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The digital pin is switching from D2 and D3 are switching back and forth from D2 and D3…I think it could be something wrong with the breadboard. I am working on it right now.

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GPIO stands for General Purpose Input/Output and refers to the "pins" that can be used in multiple ways (digital IO, analog IO, specialized protocols, ...)

General-purpose input/output - Wikipedia

You asked for pins, but the solder pads are no pins as such, so I used the generic term.

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Hey @boniface316,

They’re still available from Seeed Studio.

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At the risk of taking the thread out of topic, what is the difference between an Analog Pin and a PWM pin?

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Just a veriy rough explanation:

All analog pins do sport ADC converters to allow for analogRead()

PWM is not actually analog despite being used for analogWrite(), but it’s a relatively high frequency switching between digital HIGH and digital LOW. Hence even digital pins can be PWM capable.

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Got it. Thanks @ScruffR.

On a related note, what is the difference between DAC and PWM pins? It seems that both of the can be use for analogWrite();

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DAC stands for digital analog converter, so you do get an actual analog signal from that pin rather than a PWM signal.

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