Best 20+ Arduino Shields You Should Try

In this blog, we’re going to introduce more than 20 the most useful Arduino shields to help you extend more possibilities for your Arduino projects.

What is Arduino Shield?

The Arduino Shield usually has the same pin position as the Arduino development board and can be stacked and plugged into the Arduino to implement specific functions.

Although it is convenient to plug in the components on the breadboard, you are required to use some electronic knowledge to build various circuits. Using the expansion board can simplify the circuit construction process to a certain extent, and build your own project more quickly.

With the help of Arduino shields and senor expansion boards, you only need to connect various sensors and modules to the shield through the connection cable. For example, if you use the network expansion board, you can easily let the Arduino get the network communication function.
Arduino Shield is one of the most commonly used Arduino peripheral hardware. Let’s take a look at which shield we should get started with first 🙂

You can find a wide range of Arduino shields on our website. According to the function, it is divided into

Base Shield for Arduino $4.45

Arduino Uno is the most popular Arduino board so far, however, it is sometimes frustrating when your project requires a lot of sensors or Leds and your jumper wires are in a mess. The purpose of creating the Grove – Base Shield is to help you get rid of breadboard and jump wires. With the rich grove connectors on the baseboard, you can add all the grove modules to the Arduino Uno very conveniently!

1-Analog Ports: include 4 anlog ports, A0, A1, A2 and A3.
2-Digital Ports: include 7 digital ports, D2, D3, D4, D5, D6, D7 and D8.
3-UART Port: 1 UART port.
4-I2C Ports: 4 I2C ports.
5-Power Switch: when using Arduino UNO with Base Shield v2, please turn the switch to 5v position; While using Seeeduino Arch with Base Shield v2, please turn the switch to 3.3v.
6-Reset Buton: reset the arduino board.
7-PWR LED：The Green LED turns on when power on.
8-P1, P2：please solder the pads P1 and P2， if use Base Shield v2 with Seeeduino V3.
Dimension: 2.1 * 2.7 inch

We would like to also recommend Grove system to help your audience more quickly learn electronics with Arduino.
Grove makes it easier to connect, experiment, and simplify the prototyping process. No jumpers or soldering required. We have developed more than 280 Grove modules, covering a wide range of applications that can fulfill a variety of needs. Not only are these open hardware, but we also have open-source software

Arduino Communication Shield

Arduino Bluetooth Shield $9.90

The Blueseeed TH Shield V2 (HM01) integrates a Serial Bluetooth module. It can be easily used with Arduino/Seeedstudio for transparent wireless serial communication. You can choose two pins from Arduino D0 to D7 as Software Serial Ports to communicate with Bluetooth Shield (D0 and D1 is Hardware Serial Port). The shield also has two Grove connectors (one is Digital, the other is Analog) for you to install Grove modules.

Features

Seeeduino/Arduino compatible
Up to10m communication distance in house without obstacle
UART interface (TTL) with programmable baud rate
A full set of configuration commands
Onboard PCB Antenna
Based on HM-01 Bluetooth module

CAN-BUS Shield V2.0 $24.50

CAN-BUS is a common industrial bus because of its long travel distance, medium communication speed, and high reliability. It is commonly found on modern machine tools, such as an automotive diagnostic bus.

This CAN-BUS Shield adopts MCP2515 CAN Bus controller with SPI interface and MCP2551 CAN transceiver to give your Arduino/Seeeduino CAN-BUS capability. With an OBD-II converter cable added on and the OBD-II library imported, you are ready to build an onboard diagnostic device or data logger.

NFC Shield V2.0 for Arduino $29.50

What is NFC?

NFC is a widely used technology around us. It’s behind daily applications such as access control systems and mobile payment systems.

NFC Shield features a highly integrated transceiver module PN532 which handles contactless communication at 13.56MHz. You can read and write a 13.56MHz tag with this shield or implement point to point data exchange with two NFC Shields.

Camera Shield $14.90

Camera Shield is the first shield board that supports photograph, it is based on the solution of VC0706 + OV7725, the former is a high-performance camera processor with enhanced image processing functions and it embedded the hard-wired JPEG codec, and the latter is a high-performance ¼ inch, single-chip VGA camera and image processor in a small footprint package. We have written our library to control the Camera Shield via UART/SPI, which makes it possible to take pictures easily by your Arduino board. Come on and use it to take a photo!

XBee Shield V2.0 $9.90

The new version of XBee Shield is a standardized and stackable shield compatible with Arduino. You can easily stack any modules from the Bee series onto it, and build a wireless network for your project. In spite of that, it is also equipped with the function of level conversion, which enables a double-way conversion between high & low IO levels. The reserved digital pins facilitate users to select the TX/RX port using jumper caps.

W5500 Ethernet Shield $29.00

The W5500 Ethernet Shield can be used to provide your projects with internet connectivity. W5500 enables users to have Internet connectivity in their applications just by using the single chip in which TCP/IP stack, 10/100 Ethernet MAC, and PHY embedded. The shield also has two Grove connectors and a microSD card socket to support projects which require storing large amounts of data from Grove sensor.

Arduino WiFi Shield $39.95

The shield covers a wide range and transmits strong signals with the newly, stable on-board antenna.

Featured with RN171 TCP/IP module, the WiFi shield allows your Arduino/Seeeduino to connect wireless networks up to 802.11b/g.

The RN171 module supports TCP, UDP, FTP and HTTP communication protocols, which meet the needs of most wireless and Internet of Things (IoT) network projects, such as smart home networks, robot controls and personal weather stations.

RS232 Arduino Shield $11.50

RS232 Shield is a standard communication port for industry equipment. This module is base on MAX232, which is a dual driver/receiver that includes a capacitive voltage generator to supply TIA/EIA-232-F voltage levels from a single 5-V supply. The shield integrates DB9 connectors (female) that provide a connection to various devices with RS232 interface. Also, the RS232 headers will facilitate your connections and commissioning. It provides the welding areas to make full use of extra space on it, which is highly convenient for prototyping.

mbed Shield $24.90

The Mbed Shield is the Mbed application board based on Mbed LPC1768 Prototyping Board. It integrates a series of external interfaces,such as CAN, Ethernet, USB and 4 standard Grove sockets, all together on a single board.The Mbed Shield is also compatible with other standard Arduino Shields, providing you an even more powerful extension for your Mbed.

Arduino Display shield

2.8 TFT Touch Shield V2.0 $9.90

This is a multifunctional Arduino/Seeeduino/Arduino Mega compatible resistive touch screen. It can be used as a display device or sketch pad. Compared with the previous version, 2.8’’TFT Touch Shield V1.0, we replaced the screen driver with a more professional chip, ILI9341 driver, providing different pin-saving SPI communication without sacrificing the data transmitting speed. Due to the communication method change, programs developed for the original version need modifications before being transplanted to the new version. With an SD card module integrated also on this shield, this shield reserves great room for other expansions to your project.

2.7” Triple-Color E-Ink Shield for Arduino $22 .90

E-Ink screen also known as E-paper screen, we have released several E-Ink screens of various sizes, including grove E-Ink module, raspberry pi E-Ink hat.

The 2.7” Triple-Color E-Ink Display is an Arduino E-Ink display shield, which contains 264×176 pixels, and can display white/black/red for each pixel. This shield communicates with Arduino via the SPI interface and it reserves a Grove I2C interface for use with other modules. With the help of a comparison circuit, the module achieves self-adaption of the 3.3V and 5V voltage system.

Small E-paper Shield $9.90

Small e-paper shield is a driver shield for e-paper of small sizes. It’s capable of driving e-papers of 1.44 inch, 2.0 inch and 2.7 inch and supports more than 170 langusges. The upper surface of this shield is left flat and clean to give great support to the e-paper attached to it. If you are considering a lightweight and comfortable to read display, e-paper would be a good choice.

0.5 Inch OLED display Arduino shield $15.00

It is the smallest Arduino display module you can find so far.

You could connect it to Ardunio micro directly without doing any PCB layout and also available for other controllers.

Motor Shields for Arduino

4A Motor Shield $38.50

The 4A Motor Shield is based on the Freescale MC33932 dual H-Bridge Power IC, which can control inductive loads with currents up to 5.0A peak per single bridge. It lets you drive two DC motors with your Arduino/Seeeduino board, controlling the speed and direction of each one independently. You can also measure the motor current absorption of each motor, among other features.
The onboard DC/DC converter supports a very wide range of input voltage and can provide a 5V power supply for the microcontroller board with 100mA maximum current. So, you just need one power supply to drive the motors and power up the logic circuit.

Brushless Motor Shield (TB6605FTG) $29.90

The Brushless Motor Shield (TB6605FTG) is a brushless motor driver for Arduino compatible system. It supports 9V ~ 24V DC input and can continuously and continuously output large current to drive the brushless motor. With the onboard potentiometer, you can adjust the motor speed easily. This shield offers a variety of modes to choose from, you can use the four onboard switches to switch functions.

With the onboard Grove I2C interface, you can work with other grove modules with this shield easily, for instance, you can use a Grove – LCD RGB Backlight to display the Motor speed. We also released the TB6605 BLDC Motor Kit for Arduino, which is based on this shield and contains an LCD and a high-quality brushless motor to display the Motor speed.

Motor Shield V2.0 $19.50

The Motor Shield is a driver module for motors that allows you to use Arduino to control the working speed and direction of the motor. Based on the Dual Full-Bridge Drive Chip L298, it is able to drive two DC motors or a step motor. The Motor Shield can either be powered directly by Arduino or by an external 5V~15V power supply via the DC jack. This module can be used for the development of micro robots and intelligent vehicles, etc.

Other Shields for Arduino

Music Shield V2.0 $27.50

Time to build your real-time MIDI instrument/music player! The Music Shield is an audio encoder/decoder compatible with Arduino, Seeeduino, Seeeduino Mega and Arduino Mega. It is based on the VS1053B chip, which enabled it to play sound files from SD card and do a short-time recording as well.

Relay Shield v3.0 $20.00

The Relay Shield provides four high quality relay that can control high current loads to Arduino / Seeeduino boards. It also provides NO (Normally Open) / NC (Normally Closed) interface. It could be a nice solution for controlling devices that could not be directly controlled by Arduino’s Digital I/Os. Standardized shield form factor enables smooth connection with Arduino and compatibles. The shield also has four LED indicators to show the on/off state of each relay.

Arduino SD Card Shield $13.90

This SD card shield provides storage space for your Arduino. Users can read/write SD card via Arduino’s built-in SD library.

Supports SD, SDHC and Micro SD cards.
Only occupy the SPI port of your Arduino.
You can stack on other shields that work with the unused pins.
The preformed I2C and UART port facilitate your connection with Grove modules.

Energy Shield – a LiPo battery based power shield for Arduino $21.90

It keeps its battery charged whenever an available power source exists.
It accepts a wide range of power sources, from common solar cells via JST connector and USB via USB port on microcontroller, to 9V and 12V DC adapters via DC Jack on your Arduino.
Meanwhile it can not only provide power for your Arduino project

Protoshield Kit for Arduino – Build Your Own Shield! $9.90

You can also use the compact and flexible Proto Shield kit to build your own Arduino Shield.

Features

Standard Arduino compatible
Large 0.1″*0.1″ pitch prototyping area
A variety of through-hole sizes to fit most parts
Arduino UART and I2C port pin breakout for easy external communications
Dual ISP breakouts for easy programming and stacking
3.3 volt, 5 volt, and ground power rails are easily available anywhere on the board
Breadboard style prototyping area
USB type B breakout
Basic components included (buttons, switches, LEDs, resistors, USB jack)

We also recommend you take a look at this list on our wiki, including more details about the hardware and software of the different Arduino shields. The list will constantly be updated.

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Elaine Wu

Edge AI Partnership & Marketing @seeed
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on ne sait jamai☁️

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