The Maker Go RA4M1-R4 core board is another Arduino UNO R4 Minima clone but offered at a price point much lower than the original and the Waveshare R7FA4 Plus A (another clone) since it shows up for only $0.99 on AliExpress with free shipping.
Note that the ultra-low price is because of a “Welcome deal” on AliExpress, and the regular price is $7.76, so not everyone may get it for $1. About $8 is still cheap compared to the $20 (18 Euros) asked for the official Arduino UNO R4 Minima board. Let’s look at the clone in more detail to find out if they’ve made any changes to the board.
Maker Go RA4M1-R4 core board specifications:
- Microcontroller – Renesas RA4M1 Arm Cortex-M4F MCU @ 48 MHz with 32KB SRAM, 256KB flash
- USB – 1 x USB Type-C port for power and programming
- Expansions – Arduino UNO female + male headers
- 14x digital I/Os
- Analog – 6x analog input pin, 12-bit analog DAC
- 6x PWM
- 1x UART, 1x I2C, 1x SPI
- CAN Bus support
- I/O Voltage – 5V or 3.3V via switch
- DC Current per I/O pin – 8 mA
- Debugging and programming – 6-pin ICSP header; 10-pin SWD header
- Misc – Reset button, MD button (to enter bootloader mode), Power LED
- Power Supply
- Input voltage – 6 to
24V50V via a power barrel jack or Vin, 5V via USB-C port - “DC-DC switching power supply + LDO power supply step-down solution”
- Input voltage – 6 to
- Dimensions – 69 x 53mm
Some of the changes include a second row of yellow male headers, a 3.3V/5V switch for Arduino shields, an MD button to enter bootloader mode in combination with the reset button, and the company claims support for a wider 6V to 50V DC input range against 6V to 24V for the original. I could not find the schematics, so we can’t easily double-check the claim. There’s nothing much to say about the software, as it just reuses the same code and firmware as the original Arduino UNO R4 Minima.
Maker Go has a history of reproducing open-source hardware boards and we notably wrote about the Maker Go ESP32-C6-EVB quad-relay board – a clone of Olimex ESP32-C6-EVB – a couple of months ago. I can also see other Arduino board clones such as another take on the Arduino Nano 33 BLE board without a u-blox module on their store where they also resell products from companies such as Waveshare, LILYGO, and others.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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