White Paper

How to choose
the right I2C
chips
Or the hidden software
problem of choosing
hardware modules

by IoT-devices, LLC - Kyiv - Ukraine

https://iot-devices.com.ua/en/
Preface
The I2C is supported by the vast majority of microelectronics manufacturers.
All popular controllers, IoT / Smart Home platforms, and related development
environments are compatible with the bus.
Most IoT devices support the I2C interface as basic. Moreover, the support of
the I2C bus is usually a decisive factor in the selection of chips in our projects. But
any system has not only advantages. There are also shortcomings and hidden
problems that we reveal in the publications.
Today we would like to talk about the software problem of choosing the right
hardware sensors with I2C bus support. We will not go into the theory, but rather
suggest a practical example using our devices.

© IoT-devices LLC - Kyiv - Ukraine

IoT-devices LLC constantly promotes the use of I2C bus as one of the best serial
digital interfaces.
The I2C bus offers all the necessary
functions:
● a simple physical interface: the
SDA data and SCL
synchronization signals require
only two wires to connect to the
bus;
● the addressing of devices on the
bus with unique 7-bit addresses;
● identification of devices on the
bus by their address or by unique
identifiers (if provided by the chip
manufacturer);
● hot device plugging / unplugging
like Plug & Play;
● the unit is powered by the bus or
by each module’s own power
supply;
● the support for different supply
voltages of devices on the bus
(provided that the signals are
matched to the voltage level);
● an advanced infrastructure of
amplifiers, repeaters, splitters
and multiplexers to build complex
topologies offered by chip
manufacturers;
All that allows about a hundred devices
to be connected to the controller on a
single interface at the same time. The
I/O port budget of the main controller is
minimal when the I2C bus is used to
connect the sensors.
© IoT-devices LLC - Kyiv - Ukraine
Sensors or actuators might be on an
extension cord, or all the chips might
be concentrated on one module. Or all
chips can be focused on one module.
The master controller and slave
devices can be powered
independently. Or all devices on the
bus can be powered from a common
source.
The I2C is supported by the vast
majority of microelectronics
manufacturers. All popular controllers,
IoT / Smart Home platforms, and
related development environments are
compatible with the bus.
Most IoT devices support the I2C
interface as basic. Moreover, the
support of the I2C bus is usually a
decisive factor in the selection of chips
in our projects. But any system has not
only advantages. There are also
shortcomings and hidden problems
that we reveal in the publications.
Today we would like to talk about the
software problem of choosing the right
hardware sensors with I2C bus
support. We will not go into the theory,
but rather suggest a practical example
using our devices.
 Let’s start with the popular radiation sensor module GGreg20.

module with the I2C interface and offer

Example №1. GGreg20
and I2C GGreg20 and I2C
From time to time we are asked if it
would be better to equip the GGreg20
such a product as an alternative to the
product with a pulse output, which is
now GGreg20_V3.
In short, no. Let’s try to justify our
opinion in more detail.

Fig. IoT-devices GGreg20_V3 Ionizing Radiation Sensor module with pulse counting output

We really like the I2C bus. We, STM32, which must perform the
moreover, already have an I2C necessary pulse calculations and give
interface splitter module, I2CHUB, calculated values of the power and
which would be well suited to a dose of ionizing radiation to the main
hypothetical GGreg20 with I2C controller at a low level via I2C
interface. So we can take a budget interface.
microcontroller – a companion like
© IoT-devices LLC - Kyiv - Ukraine
But let’s ask ourselves how many
common and very popular IoT
platforms and microcontrollers will
have driver support for such an I2C
sensor? The answer will be
disappointing since it is not an
industrial sensor with a huge sales
market.
Certainly, our company needs
everyone to be able to connect our
sensors. It is our customers who must
choose the type of controller or
platform. We need to provide versatility
for Arduino, ESP32 / ESP8266,
Raspberry Pi, or for NodeMCU,
Node-RED and ESPHome in Home
Assistant, and many other IoT
development environments that we
might not have even heard of.
GGreg20 is now supported by any
controller, development environment,
and IoT platform, precisely because it
has a versatile pulse output. If we
equipped the GGreg20 with an I2C
interface, we would have a completely
different result.
Note. What if you make two
interfaces on the GGreg20 module at
once – pulse output and I2C?
It would be very convenient,
but in this case we believe that these
costs at the expense of customers
would be unjustified.
© IoT-devices LLC - Kyiv - Ukraine
The companion controller
occupies a certain area on the
module board.
The I2C bus takes up twice as
many controller ports as the pulse
output.
All this significantly increases
the unit cost of the product.
While the Pulse interface takes
up only one GPIO controller with an
interrupt handler and is much easier
to program.
And if we talk about maximum
simplification, the GGreg20 module
can work without a controller at all.
The user can measure radiation
(in circumstances that require it)
only with a clock to record the
measurement time in minutes.
We will next consider another example
of two similar devices. They both have
an I2C interface, but different
application perspectives.
Example №2. I2CUI3,
I2CUI4 and I2C
We first developed I2CUI3 – a useful
and reliable product. It is a universal
module of user interfaces with the I2C
interface, which provides input of user
instructions with the help of five
navigation buttons and output of data
to the RGB LED and the buzzer about
the status or events of the IoT device.
It is based on the 8-bit NXP PCA9538 pre-programming at all, and therefore
port expander. For many years we can work even without the main
have been using this chip for various microcontroller.
tasks, including as the main And then it became clear that we need
component of the I2CUI3 module. not 8-bit, but 16-bit similar module for
certain tasks. So we created a new
The PCA9538 port expander is product with an I2C interface – I2CUI4
convenient, as it works module based on the MCP23017 port
semi-automatically after power supply expander chip.
and for some tasks does not require

Fig. IoT-devices I2CUI3_V1 User Interface module with I2C (PCA9538 8-bit)

© IoT-devices LLC - Kyiv - Ukraine

 Fig. IoT-devices I2CUI4_V1 User Interface module with I2C (MCP23017 16-bit)

There are only a few libraries for

For the new I2CUI4, we could use
NXP’s older expander in the line. They
have several 16-bit expander chips like
PCA6416, PCA9539, PCA9575,
PCA9673. But there are no official
libraries for any of the chips either on
the arduino.cc site or on the
esphome.io site. There are also no
drivers for the NodeMCU firmware.
PCA9539 on Github, but neither
Adafruit nor Seeed Studio has drivers
for any NXP chip.
That is why the new product I2CUI4 is
compatible with common platforms and
has probably the most popular chip
MCP23017 from Microchip Technology
with I2C interface.

© IoT-devices LLC - Kyiv - Ukraine

Thanks to that, our MCP23017-based
product can boast a wide range of
support by Arduino, NodeMCU,
ESPHome / Home Assistant,
Node-RED, Blynk, MicroPython,
Raspberry Pi, STM32, and other
brands. GitHub has hundreds of
repositories with drivers in C / C ++,
Python, JS, Lua, and other languages.
Conclusion
We gave two examples of identifying
and solving the problem of driver
support for devices equipped with an
I2C interface from our own experience.
Unless you plan to provide on your
own driver support for an I2C device
you are about to buy, please pay
attention to the hidden external risks
described in this publication.
You should choose a device, module,
or chip with an I2C interface, which, in
addition to other factors, will have the
widest driver support among third-party
systems.
Special attention concerning
compatibility and support should be
given to the target microcontrollers,
platforms, development environments.
You have to be sure that all of these
systems will support your chip before
using it in your designs.
We have used these principles to
develop two excellent products,
© IoT-devices LLC - Kyiv - Ukraine
GGreg20 and I2CUI4, to minimize the
risks and avoid the problems
mentioned above.
We hope you find this material useful.
Thank you for your attention.
To shop for GGreg20_V3 module
please follow the links:
Our Shop
Tindie
eBay
Amazon
To shop for I2CUI4_V1 module please
follow the links:
Our Shop
Tindie
xxx
Original Story:
https://iot-devices.com.ua/en/how-to-ch
oose-the-right-i2c-chips-en/
Ukrainian article translation:
https://iot-devices.com.ua/how-to-choo
se-the-right-i2c-chips-ukr/
Also read and listen at:
https://hackernoon.com/choosing-the-b
est-i2c-chips-the-hidden-software-probl
em-of-choosing-hardware-modules
Tags: I2C, DriverSupport, IoT,
GGreg20_V3, I2CUI4_V1, MCP23017,
PCA9538, IO, IoT-devices
About IoT-devices, LLC
IoT-devices is a Ukrainian private
company founded in 2020 in Kyiv,
which develops and manufactures its
own ecosystem of electronic modules
for building smart devices in the sphere
of the Internet of things.
The company's B2C business is
focused on the needs of customers
who deal with the consumer and
embedded electronics, home
automation, smart home and the
connected home. The company's
products allow users to learn, conduct
laboratory work and experiments,
make their own smart devices in the
best traditions of DIY.
The IoT-devices project was born
thanks to customer support, as well as
the team's experience and love for
Electronics. All IoT-devices products
are designed and manufactured with
freedom and wisdom in Ukraine.
For more information please visit our
site: https://iot-devices.com.ua/en/

See also

All My Links https://allmylinks.com/iot-devices

Tindie https://www.tindie.com/stores/iotdev/

Hackaday https://hackaday.io/iotdevicesdev

GitHub https://github.com/iotdevicesdev

Slideshare https://www.slideshare.net/IoTdevices

Reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/GGreg20_V3/

Twitter https://twitter.com/iotdevicescomua

Telegram https://t.me/s/iotdevices

Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/iotdevicesua/

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/IoT-devices-114746816966582

Youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHpPOVVlbbdtYtvLUDt1NZw/v
ideos

© IoT-devices LLC - Kyiv - Ukraine