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How to read a component pinout

A pinout is simply the map between a component's physical pins and the job each one does. Every card above lists the pins in the order the part exposes them, colored by role so you can tell power and ground apart from the signal lines at a glance. Wire the power pins first: connect VCC to the matching supply rail (5V or 3.3V, never guess, a 3.3V part on 5V can be a one-way trip) and tie every GND pin to a common ground with your board.

The signal roles tell you how the part talks to your microcontroller. A digital pin the board drives (an LED, a relay input) is an output from the board; a digital-in pin the board reads (a button, a PIR OUT line) is an input. Analog pins carry a varying voltage you sample with the ADC, and PWM pins expect a fast on/off pulse for dimming, tone or servo position. I2C parts share two lines, SDA (data) and SCL (clock), so several devices can hang off the same pair as long as their addresses differ. SPI parts use SCK, MOSI, MISO and a per-device chip select.

Physical pin order matters as much as function. Two boards with identical labels can print those labels in a different left-to-right order, which is why cheap breakouts so often swap VCC and GND. Before you solder or send a board to fab, confirm the order against the silkscreen printed on your exact module. The footprint id on each card points to the curated physical pin order Banana Board uses when it lays out a PCB for that part.

The typical current draw, shown in milliamps where it is known, helps you budget your supply. Add up the active draw of everything on a rail, leave headroom, and make sure your regulator or USB port can source it. Motors, servos and LED strips dominate a power budget, while sensors and I2C displays usually sip only a few milliamps. Search by part name, type, pin label or role above to jump straight to the pinout you need.

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