Chapter-2
Understanding Teensy’s Hardware & Pins
1.1 GPIO (General Purpose Input & Output) Pins
They are programmable pins on a circuit that can act as an
input or an output, which allows interaction with external
devices or sensors.
There are 55 GPIO pins on the Teensy 4.1
They have the following capabilities.
1) Power management
VIN (5V Input) - Provides power when not using USB.
3.3V Output - Used to power external components; Teensy
operates at 3.3V logic.
GND (Ground) - Required for all electrical circuits.
VBAT (Battery Backup) - Can be used to maintain the RTC
(Real-Time Clock) when power is off.
2) Communication Interfaces
SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface) - Used for high-speed
communication with devices like displays, SD cards, and
sensors.
I2C (Inter-Integrated Circuit) - Ideal for connecting multiple
sensors with minimal wiring.
UART (Serial Communication) - Used for debugging and
communication with other microcontrollers.
CAN Bus (Controller Area Network) - Useful for automotive
and industrial applications.
USB (Universal Serial Bus) - Teensy can act as a keyboard,
mouse, MIDI device, or serial device via USB.
3) Analog & PWM
Teensy has ADC (Analog to Digital Converter) pins to read
analog values from sensors.
Some digital pins support PWM, useful for controlling
brightness in LEDs and motor speed.