How to order Contact us Distributors Reviews
Register / Login

Select currency

If you'd like to view estimated pricing in other currencies then please select a currency below below.

GBP USD EUR JPY AUD NOK CHF NZD CAD

Please note:

  • Currency conversions are estimates and for information only
  • Your order will be billed in GBP
  • All prices exclude VAT / other local sales taxes
  • Shipping calculated during checkout


Breakout Board for microSD Card

by Pololu
An image of Breakout Board for microSD Card An image of Breakout Board for microSD Card An image of Breakout Board for microSD Card An image of Breakout Board for microSD Card An image of Breakout Board for microSD Card An image of Breakout Board for microSD Card

This simple board breaks out the pins of a microSD card connector to a 0.1″ pin spacing that is compatible with standard perfboards, solderless breadboards, and 0.1" connectors.

MicroSD memory cards (originally known as TransFlash) provide a compact and inexpensive way to add gigabytes of non-volatile storage to a project. All SD cards support communication over the SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface) bus, making it straightforward to interface one of these cards with an SPI-capable microcontroller.

This carrier board makes it easy to connect to a microSD card by breaking out all of the contacts from a microSD card socket into two rows of 0.1″-spaced pins. The board measures only 0.8″ × 0.7″, and a set of breakaway 0.1″ male header strips (one 1×7 and one 1×4) is included, which can be soldered in to use the board with breadboards, perfboards, or 0.1″ female connectors. (The headers might ship as a single 1×11 piece that can be broken in two).

Using the breakout board

Since many microcontrollers have built-in SPI interfaces, most hobbyist projects communicate with Secure Digital cards in SPI bus mode. (The alternative SD bus mode is proprietary, and a license from the SD Association is required for access to the full specifications.) Where applicable, the pins on this board are labeled according to their functions in SPI mode.

All of the microSD card’s power pins and all of the signal pins necessary to interface with the card through SPI are available along the right side of the board. The left side of the board exposes duplicate power pins, along with two additional signal lines (DAT1 and DAT2) that are not needed for SPI communication but are used in 4-bit SD bus mode. The DAT1 pin also serves as an interrupt pin (IRQ) in SDIO devices. (Note that if you are using this module in a breadboard, you might want to solder header pins into both sides of the board for added stability even if you only plan to use the SPI pins.)

The following tables describe the function of each pin on the breakout board in SPI and SD mode:

Pin Description
GND
(VSS)
Power and logic ground
VDD Supply voltage (2.7 V to 3.6 V for standard microSD cards)
CD Card detect. When a card is inserted, this pin is floating; when no card is inserted, it is shorted to ground. A pull-up resistor can be used to pull the line high when a card is present.
SPI mode SD mode
Pin Description Pin Description
DI Data in (MOSI) CMD Command/response
DO Data out (MISO) DAT0 Data (bit 0)
SCLK Clock CLK Clock
CS Chip select (active low) DAT3 Data (bit 3)
—
IRQ
Reserved
Interrupt (active low; SDIO devices only)
DAT1
IRQ
Data (bit 1)
Interrupt (active low; SDIO devices only)
— Reserved DAT2 Data (bit 2)

Warning: Standard microSD cards use 3.3 V logic level signals, so level shifters or voltage dividers are required when connecting one to a 5 V system.

Communicating with a microSD card

The SD Association publishes a set of simplified specifications for SD cards containing information on interfacing with them. However, there are a number of ways to get started without understanding the specifications or writing your own code from scratch, since many microcontroller development platforms provide libraries for communicating with SD cards. For example:

  • The SD library for Arduino provides functions for accessing files and directories on an SD card.
  • The SD Card File System library for mbed allows similar filesystem access.

Reviews

User photos

This simple board breaks out the pins of a microSD card connector to a 0.1″ pin spacing that is compatible with standard perfboards, solderless breadboards, and 0.1" connectors.

POL-2597

You must register for an account and be logged in to view pricing or place an order on the Pimoroni Wholesale store.

If you represent a school or university, a business, or reseller of Maker products then you can sign up for a wholesale account.

If you already have an account you can login to your account here.

Alternatively the easiest way to get your hands on the products we offer is to order them directly from our customer facing online store.

SKU
POL-2597
EAN
0606034881532
Brand
Pololu
Stock available
0 units
Backorder not allowed on this product
Weight
4g

Video introduction

Guides & tutorials

Search

 

Region

Your search returned no results.

Subscribe

We'll keep you up to date with new product launches!

The good ship

We've been sailing the Maker seas offering our wares since 2012.

  • read about our history
  • what our customers say
  • find a local distributor
  • contact our business team

We manufacture all of our products locally at our workshop in Sheffield, UK

Under one roof

Pimoroni are your one-stop shop for bulk and education purchasing of Raspberry Pi, Pimoroni, micro:bit, Adafruit, Sparkfun, and many other brands.

If you have any questions about what we offer then drop us a line.

Pimoroni Ltd

Unit 1, Parkway Business Park,
Parkway Drive,
Sheffield,
S9 4WN,
United Kingdom

Registered in England and Wales:
Company №: 07510759
VAT Reg №: GB 140 8707 21