Arduino Thermocouple Shield

From McLEng

The thermocouple shield was based upon the original breakout board developed for the MAX6675, See Single Thermocouple Interface for more details. While this is a great little chip it is a small surface mount part and therefore difficult to solder. The thermocouple shield not only helps with having the MAX6675 chip broken out to a simple 0.1" header, a direct interface the the shield, and also provides a PCB Thermocouple Connector to easily interface to a thermocouple. Thermocouples are not designed to be soldered directly to a PCB and this provides a good solid connection, while also using the proper metals in the connector required for a thermocouple connection. After version 2.0 the thermocouple chip has changed to the MAX31855

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Contents 1 Tutorial 2 Version 2.1 (current) 2.1 Board Specs 2.2 Eagle Files 3 Version 2.0 (current) 3.1 Board Specs 3.2 Eagle Files 4 Version 1.3 4.1 Pin Connections 4.2 Board Specs 4.3 Eagle Files 5 Version 1.2 5.1 Pin Connections 5.2 Board Specs 5.3 Eagle Files 6 Software

Tutorial

It is simple to get everything up and running.

1. Install a set of shield headers or shield stacking headers to the board
2. (Optional) Cut solder jumpers if you need to connect the MAX31855 to different pins. Details here Thermocouple Shield Pinouts.
3. Connect a K-Type Thermocouple to the PCB Thermocouple Connector use a Thermocouple Wire Connector if necessary
4. Load one of the samples from the MAX31855 Arduino Library or MAX6675 Arduino Library and you should see temperature information in the serial console.

Version 2.1 (current)

Initial release of a dedicated single channel board. The design follows the quad channel board. Other changes included:

• Change to MAX31855 chip
• Reduction to a single thermocouple channel
• Addition of prototyping space on all free areas of the shield
• Change solder jumpers to be normally-closed, however trace is easily cutable
• Added TXB0104 level shifter to translate 5V Arduino signals to the MAX31855
• Added Arduino reset switch
• Added secondary set of headers to breakout Arduino pins along sides of the shield
• Updated prototyping holes to fall on same 0.1" grid as Arduino headers

Board Specs

• Dimensions: Arduino Shield
• Chip: MAX31855, TXB0104
• Voltage: 5V, 3.3V
• Header: 2 - 1x6 0.1" Pitch, 2 - 1x8 0.1" Pitch
• Fixturing: Matching holes to Arduino

Eagle Files

• Board: File:TC Single Shield V21.brd
• Schematic: File:TC Singe Shield V21.sch

Version 2.0 (current)

This version changed to the MAX31855 thermocouple chip. Other changes included:

• Change to MAX31855 chip
• Change solder jumpers to be normally-closed, however trace is easily cutable
• Added TXB0106 level shifter to translate 5V Arduino signals to the MAX31855
• Updated board dimensions to Adafruit Eagle Library definition
• Updated fixturing holes to follow Arduino fixturing holes
• Added Arduino reset switch
• Added secondary set of headers to breakout Arduino pins along sides of the shield
• Updated prototyping holes to fall on same 0.1" grid as Arduino headers

Board Specs

• Dimensions: Arduino Shield
• Chip: 4 x MAX31855, TXB0106
• Voltage: 5V, 3.3V
• Header: 2 - 1x6 0.1" Pitch, 2 - 1x8 0.1" Pitch
• Fixturing: Matching holes to Arduino

Eagle Files

• Board: File:TC Quad Shield V20.brd
• Schematic: File:TC Quad Shield V20.sch

Version 1.3

This version made some minor changes based on some feedback of the original version. The changes included:

• Addition of solder jumpers to allow for disconnection of shield header traces
• The solder mask was not updated on this board and still shows V1.2, however the board is V1.3

Pin Connections

Unchanged since Arduino_Thermocouple_Shield#Pin_Connections_2 last version

Board Specs

• Dimensions: Arduino Shield
• Chip: 1, 2, or 4 MAX6675
• Header: 2 - 1x6 0.1" Pitch, 2 - 1x8 0.1" Pitch
• Fixturing: Three Corner Holes

Eagle Files

• Board: File:TC Quad Shield V13.brd
• Schematic: File:TC Quad Shield V13.sch

Version 1.2

This board is adapted from the Quad Thermocouple Interface and made to be in a shield format. It is designed to be able to use 1-4 MAX6675 chips to interface to thermocouples. One end of the board is left open with 0.1" pitch holes for prototyping space. Unfortunately due the the height of the thermocouple connectors the shields must be the top shield.

Pin Connections

• 13 - SCK
• 12 - SO
• 10 - CS1
• 9 - CS2
• 8 - CS3
• 7 - CS4
• 6 - LED1

Board Specs

• Dimensions: Arduino Shield
• Chip: 1, 2, or 4 MAX6675
• Header: 2 - 1x6 0.1" Pitch, 2 - 1x8 0.1" Pitch
• Fixturing: Three Corner Holes

Eagle Files

• Board: File:TC Quad Shield V12.brd
• Schematic: File:TC Quad Shield V12.sch

Software

See MAX6675 Arduino Library for code examples.