I’m beginning to plan out a project that would involve using the Servo pHAT (https://www.sparkfun.com/products/15316). I do, however, need to use the GPIO ports beyond what the hat needs to connect some sensors.
The text description says “Thanks to its I2C capabilities, this PWM HAT saves the Raspberry Pi’s GPIO pins, allowing you to use them for other purposes.” - which sounds great.
However, while the product photos appear to show a set of female headers on the bottom of the hat, but no corresponding male headers on the top - meaning the GPIO ports would be physically inaccessible when this hat is installed.
Is this perhaps an old photo that doesn’t match the current product?
Thanks,
Adam
Unfortunately, not physically. That description means that the other pins aren’t being electrically “used” by the shield itself so you can do more things with them. It is possible to solder wire to those pins or you can try replacing the whole header with an extended header similar to this one that’s used with Arduino: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11376. But keep in mind that this is physically altering your board and we can’t support any damage it may sustain from this modification.
Brandon,
Not the response I was hoping for, but thank you for the response nonetheless.
Consider this a feature request for a future revision of the board!
This might be helpful to you.
If you grab a 2x20 stackable header and solder wires onto the GPIO pins you’re needing access too you can plug that onto your Pi and then plug the hat onto the top of that. This way you have access and also get to use the hat.