The Arduino Mega 2560 is a microcontroller board based on

the ATmega2560. It has 54 digital input/output pins (of which 15 can be

used as PWM outputs), 16 analog inputs, 4 UARTs (hardware serial ports),
a 16 MHz crystal oscillator, a USB connection, a power jack, an ICSP
header, and a reset button. It contains everything needed to support the
microcontroller; simply connect it to a computer with a USB cable or power
it with a AC-to-DC adapter or battery to get started. The Mega 2560 board
is compatible with most shields designed for the Uno and the former boards
Duemilanove or Diecimila.

The Mega 2560 is an update to the Arduino Mega, which it replaces.

Microcontroller ATmega2560
Operating Voltage 5V
Input Voltage (recommended) 7-12V
Input Voltage (limit) 6-20V
Digital I/O Pins 54 (of which 15 provide PWM output)
Analog Input Pins 16
DC Current per I/O Pin 20 mA
DC Current for 3.3V Pin 50 mA
Flash Memory 256 KB of which 8 KB used by bootloader
SRAM 8 KB
EEPROM 4 KB
Clock Speed 16 MHz
LED_BUILTIN 13
Length 101.52 mm
Width 53.3 mm
Weight 37 g

OSH: Schematics

Arduino Mega 2560 is open-source hardware! You can build your own
board using the follwing files:

EAGLE FILES IN .ZIPSCHEMATICS IN . PDFBOARD SIZE IN .DXF

Programming

The Mega 2560 board can be programmed with the Arduino Software
(IDE). For details, see thereference and tutorials.

The ATmega2560 on the Mega 2560 comes preprogrammed with

a bootloader that allows you to upload new code to it without the use of an
external hardware programmer. It communicates using the original
STK500 protocol (reference, C header files).
 You can also bypass the bootloader and program the microcontroller
through the ICSP (In-Circuit Serial Programming) header using Arduino
ISP or similar; see these instructions for details.

The ATmega16U2 (or 8U2 in the rev1 and rev2 boards) firmware source
code is available in theArduino repository. The ATmega16U2/8U2 is
loaded with a DFU bootloader, which can be activated by:

 On Rev1 boards: connecting the solder jumper on the back of the board
(near the map of Italy) and then resetting the 8U2.
 On Rev2 or later boards: there is a resistor that pulling the 8U2/16U2
HWB line to ground, making it easier to put into DFU mode. You can then
use Atmel's FLIP software (Windows) or the DFU programmer (Mac OS X
and Linux) to load a new firmware. Or you can use the ISP header with an
external programmer (overwriting the DFU bootloader). See this user-
contributed tutorial for more information.

Warnings

The Mega 2560 has a resettable polyfuse that protects your computer's
USB ports from shorts and overcurrent. Although most computers provide
their own internal protection, the fuse provides an extra layer of
protection. If more than 500 mA is applied to the USB port, the fuse will
automatically break the connection until the short or overload is removed.

Power

The Mega 2560 can be powered via the USB connection or with an
external power supply. The power source is selected automatically.

External (non-USB) power can come either from an AC-to-DC adapter

(wall-wart) or battery. The adapter can be connected by plugging a 2.1mm
center-positive plug into the board's power jack. Leads from a battery can
be inserted in the GND and Vin pin headers of the POWER connector.
 The board can operate on an external supply of 6 to 20 volts. If supplied
with less than 7V, however, the 5V pin may supply less than five volts and
the board may become unstable. If using more than 12V, the voltage
regulator may overheat and damage the board. The recommended range
is 7 to 12 volts.

The power pins are as follows:

 Vin. The input voltage to the board when it's using an external power
source (as opposed to 5 volts from the USB connection or ot her regulated
power source). You can supply voltage through this pin, or, if supplying
voltage via the power jack, access it through this pin.
 5V. This pin outputs a regulated 5V from the regulator on the board. The
board can be supplied with power either from the DC power jack (7 - 12V),
the USB connector (5V), or the VIN pin of the board (7-12V). Supplying
voltage via the 5V or 3.3V pins bypasses the regulator, and can damage
your board. We don't advise it.
 3V3. A 3.3 volt supply generated by the on-board regulator. Maximum
current draw is 50 mA.
 GND. Ground pins.
 IOREF. This pin on the board provides the voltage reference with which
the microcontroller operates. A properly configured shield can read the
IOREF pin voltage and select the appropriate power source or enable
voltage translators on the outputs for working with the 5V or 3.3V.

Memory

The ATmega2560 has 256 KB of flash memory for storing co de (of which
8 KB is used for the bootloader), 8 KB of SRAM and 4 KB of EEPROM
(which can be read and written with the EEPROM library).

Input and Output

 See the mapping between Arduino pins and Atmega2560 ports:

PIN MAPPING ATmega2560

Each of the 54 digital pins on the Mega can be used as an input or output,
using pinMode(),digitalWrite(), and digitalRead() functions. They operate
at 5 volts. Each pin can provide or receive 20 mA as recommended
operating condition and has an internal pull-up resistor (disconnected by
default) of 20-50 k ohm. A maximum of 40mA is the value that must not be
exceeded to avoid permanent damage to the microcontroller.

In addition, some pins have specialized functions:

 Serial: 0 (RX) and 1 (TX); Serial 1: 19 (RX) and 18 (TX); Serial 2: 17 (RX)
and 16 (TX); Serial 3: 15 (RX) and 14 (TX). Used to receive (RX) and
transmit (TX) TTL serial data. Pins 0 and 1 are also connected to the
corresponding pins of the ATmega16U2 USB-to-TTL Serial chip.
 External Interrupts: 2 (interrupt 0), 3 (interrupt 1), 18 (interrupt 5), 19
(interrupt 4), 20 (interrupt 3), and 21 (interrupt 2). These pins can be
configured to trigger an interrupt on a low level, a rising or falling edge, or
a change in level. See the attachInterrupt() function for details.
 PWM: 2 to 13 and 44 to 46. Provide 8-bit PWM output with
the analogWrite() function.
 SPI: 50 (MISO), 51 (MOSI), 52 (SCK), 53 (SS). These pins support SPI
communication using theSPI library. The SPI pins are also broken out on
the ICSP header, which is physically compatible with the Arduino
/Genuino Uno and the old Duemilanove and Diecimila Arduino boards.
 LED: 13. There is a built-in LED connected to digital pin 13. When the pin
is HIGH value, the LED is on, when the pin is LOW, it's off.
 TWI: 20 (SDA) and 21 (SCL). Support TWI communication using the Wire
library. Note that these pins are not in the same location as the TWI pins
on the old Duemilanove or Diecimila Arduino boards.

See also the mapping Arduino Mega 2560 PIN diagram.

 The Mega 2560 has 16 analog inputs, each of which provide 10 bits of
resolution (i.e. 1024 different values). By default they measure from
ground to 5 volts, though is it possible to change the upper end of their
range using the AREF pin and analogReference() function.
There are a couple of other pins on the board:

 AREF. Reference voltage for the analog inputs. Used with

analogReference().
 Reset. Bring this line LOW to reset the microcontroller. Typically used to
add a reset button to shields which block the one on the board.

Communication

The Mega 2560 board has a number of facilities for communicating with a
computer, another board, or other microcontrollers. The ATmega2560
provides four hardware UARTs for TTL (5V) serial communication. An
ATmega16U2 (ATmega 8U2 on the revision 1 and revision 2 boards) on
the board channels one of these over USB and provides a virtual com port
to software on the computer (Windows machines will need a .inf file, but
OSX and Linux machines will recognize the board as a COM port
automatically. The Arduino Software (IDE) includes a serial monitor which
allows simple textual data to be sent to and from the board. Th e RX and
TX LEDs on the board will flash when data is being transmitted via the
ATmega8U2/ATmega16U2 chip and USB connection to the computer (but
not for serial communication on pins 0 and 1).

A SoftwareSerial library allows for serial communication on any of the

Mega 2560's digital pins.

The Mega 2560 also supports TWI and SPI communication. The Arduino
Software (IDE) includes a Wire library to simplify use of the TWI bus; see
the documentation for details. For SPI communication, use the SPI library.
Physical Characteristics and Shield Compatibility

The maximum length and width of the Mega 2560 PCB are 4 and 2.1
inches respectively, with the USB connector and power jack extending
beyond the former dimension. Three screw holes allow the board to be
attached to a surface or case. Note that the distance between digital pins
7 and 8 is 160 mil (0.16"), not an even multiple of the 100 mil spacing of
the other pins.

The Mega 2560 is designed to be compatible with most shields designed

for the Uno and the older Diecimila or Duemilanove Arduino boards.
Digital pins 0 to 13 (and the adjacent AREF and GND pins), analog inputs
0 to 5, the power header, and ICSP header are all in equivalent locations.
Furthermore, the main UART (serial port) is located on the same pins (0
and 1), as are external interrupts 0 and 1 (pins 2 and 3 respectively). SPI
is available through the ICSP header on both the Mega 2560 and
Duemilanove / Diecimila boards. Please note that I2C is not located on
the same pins on the Mega 2560 board (20 and 21) as the Duemilanove /
Diecimila boards (analog inputs 4 and 5).

Automatic (Software) Reset

Rather then requiring a physical press of the reset button before an

upload, the Mega 2560 is designed in a way that allows it to be reset by
software running on a connected computer. One of the hardware flow
control lines (DTR) of the ATmega8U2 is connected to the reset line of the
ATmega2560 via a 100 nanofarad capacitor. When this line is asserted
(taken low), the reset line drops long enough to reset the chip. The
Arduino Software (IDE) uses this capability to allow you to upload code by
simply pressing the upload button in the Arduino environment. This means
that the bootloader can have a shorter timeout, as the lowering of DTR
can be well-coordinated with the start of the upload.
 This setup has other implications. When the Mega 2560 board is
connected to either a computer running Mac OS X or Linux, it resets each
time a connection is made to it from software (via USB). For the following
half-second or so, the bootloader is running on the ATMega2560. While it
is programmed to ignore malformed data (i.e. anything besides an upload
of new code), it will intercept the first few bytes of data sent to the board
after a connection is opened. If a sketch running on the board receives
one-time configuration or other data when it first starts, make sure that the
software with which it communicates waits a second after opening the
connection and before sending this data.

The Mega 2560 board contains a trace that can be cut to disable the auto -
reset. The pads on either side of the trace can be soldered together to re-
enable it. It's labeled "RESET-EN". You may also be able to disable the
auto-reset by connecting a 110 ohm resistor from 5V to the reset line;
see this forum thread for details.

Revisions

The Mega 2560 does not use the FTDI USB-to-serial driver chip used in
past designs. Instead, it features the ATmega16U2 (ATmega8U2 in the
revision 1 and revision 2 Arduino boards) programmed as a USB-to-serial
converter.
Revision 2 of the Mega 2560 board has a resistor pulling the 8U2 HWB
line to ground, making it easier to put into DFU mode.
Revision 3 of the Arduino board and the current Genuino Mega 2560 have
the following improved features:

 1.0 pinout: SDA and SCL pins - near to the AREF pin - and two other new
pins placed near to the RESET pin, the IOREF that allow the shields to
adapt to the voltage provided from the board. In future, shields will be
compatible both with the board that use the AVR, which operate with 5V
and with the board that uses ATSAM3X8E, that operate with 3.3V. The
second one is a not connected pin, that is reserved for future pu rposes.
 Stronger RESET circuit.
 Atmega 16U2 replace the 8U2.