QWIIC Question RPi + pHAT

Qwiic System
1

Just a QWICC question…

I’m new to the QWICC system and unsure whether it’s suited to connect non QWICC devices to a pHAT.

I’m thinking of following setup:

A few RPi3B+s and RPi4s. Each board has a few things connected to it:

  • MPL3115A2 Altimeter (I2C)

  • Garmin LIDAR-Lite V3HP (I2C)

  • GPS-RTK-SMA Breakout - ZED-F9P (USB; potentially Qwiic)

I’d like to clean up the breadboard setup and add a pHAT to the Pis, to then connect the sensors to it.

I’m wondering whether it’s possible (and a good idea) to solder some sort of connector to the “non QWICC” devices like the Altimeter. A connector like this one with jumpers attached to it: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/17912 or the female version to the LIDAR.

Will I be able to normally connect via I2C through the pHAT? I read a few guides like this one: https://www.sparkfun.com/news/2958 and I’m unsure how the communication between Pi, pHAT and devices would work. Eg. do I need the python drivers only for discovery etc. What if I wanted to develop in Rust/JS/C++

Cheers,

John

2

Yes, you will have to solder male headers to the Altimeter. By doing that you can connect that to a breadboard. You will also be able to connect the altimeter to other boards via jumper wires.

3

Ok, that’s great to know

So just to clarify…

I’m wondering whether it’s possible (and a good idea) to solder some sort of connector to the “non QWICC” devices like the Altimeter. A connector like this one with jumpers attached to it: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/17912 or the female version to the LIDAR.

Will I be able to normally connect via I2C through the pHAT? I read a few guides like this one: https://www.sparkfun.com/news/2958 and I’m unsure how the communication between Pi, pHAT and devices would work. Eg. do I need the python drivers only for discovery etc. What if I wanted to develop in Rust/JS/C++

4

Bumping this for a potential response from SparkFun staff

5

qwiic is fine for what is listed

soldering the pins themselves with a qwiic breakout is also fine

pHat uses i2c by default, which is a protocol/bus…not a language; just follow this https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/qw … okup-guide to get it going

Then google stuff like “Raspberry Pi Rust” to see articles on how to use Rust on a Pi (which is wholly separate from our products) https://opensource.com/article/19/3/phy … spberry-pi

6

Thanks for the reply Russel,

I’m aware it’s a protocol, I just wanted to make sure there wasn’t any sort of driver dependency for the pHAT. I haven’t used HATs much, that’s why I’m asking

Either way, thanks for answering! I highly appreciate it!

Cheers

7

The QWIIC PiHat is just a bunch of connectors; no specific software or drivers are used by it. You can see the schematic under the “documents” tab on the pHat page

https://cdn.sparkfun.com/assets/a/4/b/9 … rry_Pi.pdf