Raspberry Pi Zero W

Raspberry Pi Zero W board

The Raspberry Pi Zero W model is part of the Pi Zero Family. “W” stands for Wireless which means it has wireless LAN (WIFI) and Bluetooth connectivity and is the Raspberry Pi’s tiniest wireless computer, along with the Raspberry Pi Zero WH.

Beyond being low-cost, the Pi Zero W is very well-known because it is also amazingly well engineered.

Raspberry Pi Zero W (Wireless) features are:

• 1GHz, single-core CPU (chip BCM2835)
• 512MB RAM
• Mini HDMI port
• USB OTG (On-The-Go) port
• Micro USB power
• HAT-compatible 40-pin header
• Composite video and reset headers
• CSI camera connector
• 802.11 b/g/n Wireless LAN
• Bluetooth 4.1
• Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)

This board has the same single-core CPU of the Raspberry Pi v1.3, the only difference is that the CPU in the Pi Zero W board is clocked just a little higher.

Thanks to the radio chip on this board, it is possible to build great projects. You can create magic mirror or any display project, small game consoles, smart devices for your home or office, small robots, drones, etc.

You can connect it to an HDMI display with which you could build a media PC or a very nice interactive project. Your projects could also be about photography because this board has a camera connector, you will only need a Pi Camera module and an adapter camera.

This board comes with the GPIO holes, but pins are not soldered on it. If you want to attach a GPIO header to your Pi Zero W board you will need a 40-pin male header GPIO, soldering iron and solder.

Firstly, you have to place the 40-pin header’s short legs (like this “40-pin male header“) through the GPIO holes on the board. Now, in order you could see clearly the pins while soldering, you have to turn the whole upside down in order that both, the board and header, are raised off the floor. Secondly, wait until the soldering iron has heated up. Once it has reach the right temperature, you will have to solder one per one each pin. You must be cautious to not solder crosses among pins, because you could make them produce short circuit.
Prefer not to solder? Get our GPIO Hammer Headers Kit, including tool, male header, and female header. kit GPIO Hammer Headers

If you don’t already have a power supply, we recommend using the official Raspberry Pi wall power supply with micro USB designed specifically for your Raspberry Pi board.

Software OctoPi: The Raspberry Pi W is the ideal development board for your 3D projects as you can install on it the OctoPi software. If you have a Prusa MK3 3D printer, instead of connecting your RPI via USB, with the Raspberry Pi W you can solder on it the special GPIO header and then assemble it inside this 3D printer.