There's a lot packed into the FONA MiniGSM, lets go thru all the pins, buttons and indicators and what they do

Connectors

There's three external connectors along the left side, from the top, a mini JST 2-pin, a microUSB and a headphone jack.

  • JST 2-pin - this is the battery input connector. It works with any of our Lipoly batteries but since the charge rate is 500mA (and the cellular module can spike high current draw!) we suggest our 500mAh or 1200mAh batteries. You can also connect a JST cable here if you have other plans. See the cable photo for polarity, red is + and black is gnd.
  • MicroUSB connector - this is the LiPoly/LiIon battery charging port. The SIM800 has a USB interface but its ONLY for reprogramming the module with an expensive and unavailable IDE. So charge only! The charge rate is 500mA max.
  • Headset jack - this is a 'standard' TRRS 3.5mm phone headset jack with stereo earphone and mono microphone. Any 'iPhone' or 'Android' compatible (but not iPhone original) should work. We tried about 10 different ones, and basically the more expensive once are more comfortable and louder but our official iPhone headset mic did not work for unknown reasons. Sleeve is Mic+, first ring is ground, then the second ring and tip are for stereo audio. The module does not have stereo out so we just tied both together.

Antenna port

Up top is the place where you can plug in your antenna. An antenna is required to use the module for any kind of voice or data communications as well as some SIM commands!

We have both SMA and uFL versions. You can either use a uFL GSM antenna like this, or use a uFL to SMA adapter and then an SMA antenna

If you have an SMA version, you can connect an SMA antenna directly. We suggest a quad band GSM/GPRS antenna, but if you're savvy and know what frequencies are used in your area you can get a single or dual band antenna that's just for your required frequency

SIM Connector (on Back)

A 2G Mini SIM card is required to use the module. Nearly any cell phone shop can sell you a SIM card. It must be a 2G GSM card. AT&T in the US does not sell these anymore! They are shutting down their GSM network, and only T-mobile sells and supports a GSM network. If you are in another country, chances are you can just ask for a GSM 2G card. For USA customers, we have a known-working TING SIM card which has a great billing system and works very well!

MicroSIMs won't fit - so make sure its a "Mini" SIM. Mini SIMs are 1" x 0.6" / 25mm x 15mm. These are by far the most common size.

Most cards come with a voice and/or data plan. If you want to make phone calls and SMS's you'll need a voice plan. If you want to transmit data like fetching a webpage, you'll need a data plan.

Bottom Breakouts

The most important pins are broken out at the bottom of the board. Not all of these are required, but they are all hella useful

These are in rough order of most important (not in linear order like we usually do)

These pins are all 3-5V input safe and if they are an output, the logic level is whatever Vio is set to.

  • Vio - THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PIN! This is the pin that you MUST drive with an external voltage from 3V-5V to set the logic level converter. The converter also buffers the indicator LEDs so NOTHING will appear to work unless this pin is powered! You should set the voltage to whatever voltage your microcontroller uses for logic. A 5V micro (like Arduino) should have it be 5V, a 3V logic micro should set it to 3V.
  • VBAT & GND - these are the same pins as the 2-pin JST connector. Connect to a 3.7V/4.2V Lipoly/LiIon battery. Do not power from a power supply or LDO. Use only a battery, at least 500mA, 1000mAh+ is best since there can  be 2A spikes of current
  • Key - This is also a super important pin (but not as important as Vio). This is the power on/off indicator. Its also tied to the button in the top left. Tie this pin to ground for 2 seconds to turn the module on or off. It's not a level signal so it isn't like "low is off, high is on" - instead you must pulse it for 2 seconds to turn off/on. The module comes by default off. Tie this permanently to ground if you never want your micro to turn off the FONA for power saving
  • PS - this is the Power Status pin. It is low when the module is off and high when the module has power. If you're using the Key button or pin, you can monitor this pad to see when the module's booted up. This is tied to the Pwr LED too.
  • NS - this is the Network Status pin. It pulses to signal the current status of the module. This is also tied to the Net LED so for more detail see the LEDs section below.
  • Reset - this is module hard reset pin. By default it has a high pull-up (module not in reset). If you absolutely got the module in a bad space, toggle this pin low for 100ms to perform a hard reset.
  • RX & TX - OK now that I made you read all that you can actually use the UART pins. The module uses UART to send and receive commands and data. These pins are auto-baud so whatever baud rate you send "AT" after reset or boot is the baud rate is used. RX is into the module, TX is out of the module.
  • RI - this is the Ring Indicator. It is basically the 'interrupt' out pin from the module. It is by default high and will pulse low for 120ms when a call is received. It can also be configured to pulse when an SMS is received.
  • SPK+ and - : This is for connecting an external 8 ohm speaker, max 1W. You can configure the module to route calls and FM radio to the headset or the external audio. The two pins are differential so they don't have output DC blocking capacitors. You cannot connect this to a stereo, powered speakers or other non-differential amplifier without adding a 100uF+ blocking cap in series to the + pin and then not using the - pin. Instead, your amp should use GND for the - reference
  • MIC + and -: this is for connecting an external electret microphone, it will bias the mic with 2V. Most electrets will work just fine. No extra circuitry is required for the mic such as a biaser or amplifier, just wire it up directly!

LEDs

  • PWR - Blue! Lit when the module is booted and running
  • NET - Red! You can use this for checking the current state without sending an AT command:
    64ms on, 800ms off - the module is running but hasn't made connection to the cellular network yet
    64ms on, 3 seconds off - the module has made contact with the cellular network and can send/receive voice and SMS
    64ms on, 300ms off - the GPRS data connection you requested is active
    By watching the blinks you can get a visual feedback on whats going on.
  • Charging - Orange! This is next to the microUSB jack. Indicates the onboard lipo charger is charging
  • Done - Green! This is next to the JST jack. Indicates that the battery charging is done and the battery is full

Other Breakout Pins

We scattered a few other breakouts around the board.
  • Buzzer and PWM (Top right) - These are tied to the PWM output of the module! The PWM capability is quite nice, it can set any frequency and duty cycle. The PWM pin is directly output from the module and is 0-2.8Vpp. The Buzzer output has a NPN drive transistor so it can run a small vibration motor. Bz+ is the VBat voltage, Bz- is toggled on and off to ground.
  • ADC (left middle) - the SIM800 has an ADC that can read 0-2.8VDC from this pin, referenced to ground. It also has an internal battery ADC so you can use this for a sensor or something. You can query the voltage from the UART. 2.8V max, people!
  • 5V (left middle) - this is the USB 5V from the microUSB connector when its in and powered. Good if you need to know when the microUSB is plugged in and/or want to recharge the battery from an external plug.
  • 2.8V test point - We have a test point for the 2.8V internal regulator, its off to the right.

This guide was first published on Jul 02, 2014. It was last updated on Mar 08, 2024.

This page (Pinouts) was last updated on Jun 27, 2014.

Text editor powered by tinymce.