HiLetgo 3pcs Nano V3.0 ATmega328P CH340G 5V 16M Mini USB Micro Controller Board Development Board with PIN Headers Pin Unsoldered

I have used a lot of this brand of arduino nano. I have had two out of 30 that were defective and not able to load code. That said they are so inexpensive, They are almost disposable. This makes them great for projects that have limited use or you are making to give away. Most of my projects are controlling address while it is, controlling service, or data collection. These boards have worked great and all these scenarios.

I needed to install older ch340 drivers. ch341ser.exe available on a sparkfun link that someone labeled as a 2018 version on the arduino.carbon fiber forum, when installing it says 08/08/2014, 3.4.2014.08 and not 2023After uninstalling the latest drivers and putting these in the nano connects and uploads sketches great. The latest driver would let me upload only after ‘scanning for device changes’ in device manager and the serial monitor would not work at all, very glitchy

Follow the seller's instructions in the product description to get and install the driver. If it takes you to the Chinese site and you can't download, search online for CH340G drivers. Once they are installed, start the Arduino IDE and attach the microcontroller. From the Tools menu, select the Board option and choose "Arduino Nano." Under it, select the COM port option and make sure the right port is selected. Below the Get Board Info option is the Processor option. Mine would not work until I selected the "Atmega 328P (Old Bootloader)" option.It only took me a few hours to understand and implement this correctly. I'll probably stick with the ESP32-S2 Mini boards in the future but I'm teaching my wife to code these and this was worth a try. Having to hunt down and install drivers where the ESP boards gave you the option within the Arduino IDE, plus the extra pins on the ESP boards and the similar pricing makes the ESP32 S2 Mini a better choice, I believe. On the other hand, you do have to manually switch the ESP32 boards to receive uploads, so do whatever works best for your application. I can run three Nema motors with this board or 4 with the ESP boards.

Interesting that HiLetgo ships some of these with either bootloader.All three of mine came loaded with the Old Bootloader, but otherwise appear fine.No issues soldering headers.If you want to use such as is, choose (in the Arduino IDE):Tools->Board->Arduino AVR Boards->Arduino NanoTools->Processor->ATmega328P (Old Bootloader)And all should upload well.If you want to update a Nano to the current (Optiboot) boot loader,and you should (speed, bug fix, etc),You’ll need to solder in the 6-pin ICSP header(helpfully provided along with the single-row header strips)to the *top* of the board,and you’ll need an AVR ICSP programmer,or another Arduino 328P.Potentially even one of the other Nanos in the package!(I use a dedicated-to-the-task USBtiny ISP)As well of course some wires and the latest version of the Arduino IDE.Detailed instructions are easily searchable.Otherwise, these seem like perfectly serviceable Nano w/CH340 clones.

I know my way around Arduinos and uploading code. It shouild upload by selecting a NANO board. I tried several other boards like the Micro in the Arduino IDE and none of them worked. The IDE "saw" the board, but it would NOT take an upload. Same on all three pieces. Junk. Sent them back.Better to stick with a genuine "Arduino" branded board.

Very easy to use

UPDATE: I now see that the ICSP pins on the Nano are upside down from the published pinout!OLD REVIEW:I rate these Arduino Nanos a “3” for one reason: the ICSP headers are connected to the wrong Nano pins.OK, so I can program all three of these boards via the USB port using any Arduino compatible development environment. HOWEVER, if you need to use an external programmer such as a USBasp or USBtiny forget using their programming cable. The cable will not work because these pins do not conform to the standard ICSP 6-pin layout. See photo below.To program the with the header pins you would need to :1) Solder the ICSP header to the Nano. Attach the ICSP pins via a wire to the programmer as illustrated. This may take using a breakout board to the programmer to get access to its pins.OR2) Use a Nano breakout board and connect the Nano's pins directly to the programmer's pins.I have used HiLetgo many times before without problems. This is my first encounter with a problem. I have never used a programmer with the Nano, only the Uno, and it works. I don’t know if this is a HiLetgo problem or a general Chinese version problem. If you think you might use the ICSP headers, think carefully about getting a *real* Nano from the official Arduino store.

All 3 boards work. There is no documentation from the seller but it is easy to program once you figure out the board type to select in Arduino IDE.Select the board from Tools->Board->Arduino AVR Boards->Arduino Nano.Select processor from Tools->Processor->ATmega328P (Old Bootloader)First try to upload Blink program to switch on/off the in-built LED. The pin number for in-built LED is 13 for this board.