Pinouts

The CC3000 is (electrically) fairly simple to use. The module requires an SPI connection, including a clock (CLK), data in from a microcontroller (MOSI) and data out to the microcontroller (MISO). It also uses a chip-select line (CS) for SPI to indicate when a data transfer as started

Along with the SPI interface, there is a power-enable type pin called VBAT_EN which we use to start the module properly and also an IRQ pin, which is the interrupt from the CC3000. The IRQ pin is required to communicate and must be tied to an interrupt-in pin on the Arduino. On the Mega/UNO, we suggest #2 or #3

On the CC3000 shield, we use the following pin connections

• SCK - #13
• MISO #12
• MOSI #11
• CS for CC3000 #10
• VBAT_EN #5
• CS for SD Card #4
• IRQ #3

On the breakout, be aware that the MISO (data out from module) pin does not go 'high impedance' when CS is driven high. Check the shield for how we use a 74AHC125 to manually tri-state this pin when it's shared with an SD card.

Optional Antenna

If you have a shield or breakout with a uFL connector (instead of an on-board ceramic antenna) you can use a uFL to RP-SMA or uFL to SMA (less common) adapter and then connect to any 2.4 GHz antenna. This is handy when you want to place the module in a box but have the antenna on the outside, or when you need a signal boost

Please note that when using an external antenna, the module is no longer FCC-compliant, so if you want to sell the product with FCC certification, it must be retested.