The Qwiic Mux Shield for Arduino - PCA9548A enables communication with multiple I2C devices that have the same address. Some I2C devices have a selectable address, but many have only one. What if you want to control multiple haptic drivers, multiple accelerometers, or multiple finger sensors? The PCA9548A is a very easy to use multiplexer enabling up to 8 buses. This means you can communicate with 8 of the same device. The PCA9548A can be daisy chained as well, so, if needed, you can use up to eight of the shields at the same time enabling a whopping 64 buses.
This shield has the the PCA9548A powered at 3.3V with all 8 ports powered at 3.3V as well. The master (Arduino) can operate at 3.3 or 5V.
How do I use the PCA9548A? It’s surprisingly easy. Over I2C, you tell the device which port you want to talk to, for example port 3. After that, whatever I2C traffic happens gets sent to port 3. By switching back and forth between ports, it’s easy to talk to multiple devices that have the same address!
What is the difference between the PCA9548A and TCA9548A? Very little. PCA is made by NXP, TCA is made by TI. PCA can operate from 2.3 to 5.5V, TCA can operate from 1.65 to 5.5V. Everything else is identical.
Additionally, there is a large prototyping area with paired holes! Each pair has a horizontal trace connecting them that enables a DIP package or components to be wired together. A white silkscreen line indicates the location of each trace. This trace can be cut with a knife to break the connection if needed.
This product includes the R3 stackable headers to connect to the Arduino Uno, RedBoard, and many other Arduino compatible devices.
The Qwiic system enables fast and solderless connection between popular platforms and various sensors and actuators. You can read more about the Qwiic system here. We carry 200mm, 100mm, 50mm, and breadboard friendly Qwiic cables.
We do not plan to regularly produce SparkX products so get them while they’re hot!
Features:
- Four Qwiic connectors and four 0.1" footprints
- 0.1" footprints are compatible with our Qwiic Adapter if you need more ports
- Address jumpers to enable up to eight shields operating at the same time
- Pull-up resistors and decoupling caps provided on all buses
- Prototyping area
Documents:
- Schematic
- Arduino example sketches showing how to talk to two MMA8452Q accelerometers simultaneously
- Eagle Files
- To get the latest files please visit the GitHub repo
