Loconet – Part III – Lots of I/O with only a few pins

Number of pins, you always have less pins available on your microcontroller, then you want …
There is actually a simple solution for this, and the magic word is “I2C”.
The I2C protocol let us communicate with other “devices”, over only 2 pins !
And those specific I2C devices can be “addressed”, so you can have multiple of the same device
connected onto the same 2 pins. And if that isn’t enough, you can also daisy-chain different type of devices !
(because they al have different addresses)
Please check this wiki page for more info about I2C.

1. Multiplexer – TCA9548A – 8-channel I/O
loconet_15_TCA9548A_8channel
This little device, offers 8 I/O channels. Via I2C commands you can set a channel as input or output,
and also read/set it’s value. You can use this library.
You can have 8 different addresses between 0x70 and 0x77, via bridging A0 till A2.
(so you can have 64 I/O ports)
See here how to set the addresses / see here for the corresponding Arduino library

2. Multiplexer – PCF8575 – 16-channel I/O
loconet_16_PCF8575_16channel
This little device, offers 16 I/O ports. It works the same as the multiplexer, but uses different commands.
(And of course also another library)
You can also have 8 different addresses between 0x020 and 0x27, via bridging A0 till A2.
(so you can have 64 I/O ports)
See here for the corresponding Arduino library

3. Multiplexer – PCA9685 – 16-channel PWM (ideal for servos)
loconet_17_PCA9685_16channel_pwm
And this one, has 16 PWM outputs, ideal for dimming LEDs or controlling servos.
Addressing start at 0x40, and has 62 addresses …
(so you can control a whopping 992 servos, LEDs, or any combination of outputs that need PWM)
See here for the corresponding Arduino library

4. LCD controller via I2C
loconet_18_I2C_LCD
You can find this module on Ebay and Ali (and any other website for that matter),
by searching for “I2C LCD”.
Normally, a character LCD, from 1×8 chars (till 4×20 chars), needs “lots” of I/O-pins,
but by attaching this little pcb, to the back of such and LCD, you can control it with 2 pins 🙂
See here for the necessary Arduino library

Of course, there are more I2C modules then what is contained in this small list,
but I hope this gives you some inspiration and a “getting started” with I2C …







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