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I am thinking about making a real project using arduino to earn money.

What could be the objective reasons (from both a technical and a business perspective) to not use an Arduino in a real profitable project?

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    There's pro products using OEM arduinos; 3d printers, custom home automation installs, cosplay accessories, and quadcopter controls come to mind. If your product's markup can eat the higher labor and parts cost compared to a lower-level setup, or you need fewer than 100 of something, It can be a viable option no doubt.
    – dandavis
    Apr 8, 2017 at 21:19
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    We've had a complaint that this question should not have been put on hold because it is a useful question. I'm inclined to agree with that, however questions about "is it a good idea" are indeed likely to be opinion-based. If enough people vote to re-open the question then it will be re-opened by the system. You may want to re-word along the lines of "what are the problems with using an Arduino in a production environment?" and omit things like "is it a good idea?". One issue I can see is that the pushing in of connectors into the Arduino "pins" could be problematic if there is vibration.
    – Nick Gammon ♦
    Apr 11, 2017 at 6:30
  • Even better would be to describe the particular project you're thinking of and the particular Arduino board you're thinking of using in it and ask "what would be the problems with this project if used with this board."
    – cjs
    Apr 11, 2017 at 9:44
  • I suggested an edit that would make the question more objective. I think this is a useful question, even in general. Many people say in general that Arduino is for proto-typing, not for production. We can collect the reasons in one Q&A-page.
    – user6971
    Apr 11, 2017 at 9:44
  • My 2 cents... I did VTC but also upvoted the answers by Majenko and dannyf. The OP doesn't specify whether he's planning to use an Arduino in a mass produced product or using it in a one-off project. Both cases are commercial projects but the implications are quite different. Also, what might be worth knowing (and objective too) could be the actual problems encountered by someone who actually used Arduino in a commercial project or, alternatively, the reasons why someone who considered Arduino for a commercial project ended up ruling it out.
    – Enric Blanco
    Apr 11, 2017 at 11:41

2 Answers 2

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I want to know if there is anyone that has used Arduino boards in a real project?

I have seen it being done, quite a few times.

What are the problems that you have faced?

Pros:

  1. quick to market;

  2. low cost accessories;

  3. large code base to drop from;

  4. ...

Cons:

  1. only workable for certain applications -> high cost per mcu (vs. bare chips), no possibility of passing certification of any rigor, no respect from others / clients, ...

  2. quite inflexible an eco-system: porting code to / from others can be problematic.

  3. poor project management capabilities.

  4. ...

Each of those pros / cons can be addressed and may not be relevant for your particular application.

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    Add big or bulky boards and high power requirements to list of cons. Also assembly time can be a problem (lots of through-hole pins to solder, to connect eg a Nano or Micro to a project's PCB)
    – James Waldby - jwpat7
    Apr 9, 2017 at 5:05
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As a rule, no it's not a great idea.

Arduino boards are a prototyping platform. They are designed to make trying ideas out easy, not for permanent installation in a device. That's not to say you can't permanently install it in something of your own making, but when it comes to making a professional product it's not good, for a number of reasons:

  1. An Arduino board is expensive compared to a plain MCU.
  2. It's not a professional image.
  3. It's not (typically) rugged and reliable enough.
  4. Manufacturing something around a board like an Arduino is expensive.

The most professional way of using an Arduino would be to use something like an Arduino Mini and directly mount it on a custom PCB. But since you are making a custom PCB anyway, why would you incur the extra expense of an Arduino board when it is far cheaper to just build the required components directly into your board design? Also, when bulk manufacturing, you need to have as much of the build automated (i.e., surface mount to be populated by a pick-and-place machine) in order to keep costs down, and having to manually mount an Arduino onto a board adds extra expense (you have to pay a person to do the job themselves).

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    No, you don't want to manufacture a commercial device with the ATMega328P. If it had to be a '328 then it wants to be the ATMega328-MU or at a pinch the ATMega328-AU. Through hole is very expensive to manufacture.
    – Majenko
    Apr 8, 2017 at 21:24
  • That is pretty much what the entirety of my post is saying. Don't use a dev board, design the required components into your own circuit.
    – Majenko
    Apr 8, 2017 at 21:26
  • i just think mentioning a specific google-able term like the uno-acting atmega328 allows more follow-up
    – dandavis
    Apr 8, 2017 at 21:27
  • I am not about to recommend a specific chip to use, and certainly I wouldn't recommend an ATMega.
    – Majenko
    Apr 8, 2017 at 21:28
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    Yes, it is. C.f. the datasheet. Every ATMega328P-XX, where “XX” is anything but “PU”, is surface-mount.
    – Edgar Bonet
    Apr 8, 2017 at 21:33

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