class I2C – a two-wire serial protocol

I2C is a two-wire protocol for communicating between devices. At the physical level it consists of 2 wires: SCL and SDA, the clock and data lines respectively.

I2C objects are created attached to a specific bus. They can be initialised when created, or initialised later on.

Example:

from machine import I2C

i2c = I2C(0)                         # create on bus 0
i2c = I2C(0, I2C.MASTER)             # create and init as a master
i2c.init(I2C.MASTER, baudrate=20000) # init as a master
i2c.deinit()                         # turn off the peripheral

Printing the i2c object gives you information about its configuration.

A master must specify the recipient’s address:

i2c.init(I2C.MASTER)
i2c.writeto(0x42, '123')        # send 3 bytes to slave with address 0x42
i2c.writeto(addr=0x42, b'456')  # keyword for address

Master also has other methods:

i2c.scan()                          # scan for slaves on the bus, returning
                                    #   a list of valid addresses
i2c.readfrom_mem(0x42, 2, 3)        # read 3 bytes from memory of slave 0x42,
                                    #   starting at address 2 in the slave
i2c.writeto_mem(0x42, 2, 'abc')     # write 'abc' (3 bytes) to memory of slave 0x42
                                    # starting at address 2 in the slave, timeout after 1 second

Constructors

class machine.I2C(bus, ...)

Construct an I2C object on the given bus. bus can only be 0. If the bus is not given, the default one will be selected (0).

General Methods

I2C.init(mode, *, baudrate=100000, pins=(SDA, SCL))

Initialise the I2C bus with the given parameters:

  • mode must be I2C.MASTER
  • baudrate is the SCL clock rate
  • pins is an optional tuple with the pins to assign to the I2C bus.
I2C.deinit()

Turn off the I2C bus.

Availability: WiPy.

I2C.scan()

Scan all I2C addresses between 0x08 and 0x77 inclusive and return a list of those that respond. A device responds if it pulls the SDA line low after its address (including a read bit) is sent on the bus.

Note: on WiPy the I2C object must be in master mode for this method to be valid.

Primitive I2C operations

The following methods implement the primitive I2C master bus operations and can be combined to make any I2C transaction. They are provided if you need more control over the bus, otherwise the standard methods (see below) can be used.

I2C.start()

Send a start bit on the bus (SDA transitions to low while SCL is high).

Availability: ESP8266.

I2C.stop()

Send a stop bit on the bus (SDA transitions to high while SCL is high).

Availability: ESP8266.

I2C.readinto(buf)

Reads bytes from the bus and stores them into buf. The number of bytes read is the length of buf. An ACK will be sent on the bus after receiving all but the last byte, and a NACK will be sent following the last byte.

Availability: ESP8266.

I2C.write(buf)

Write all the bytes from buf to the bus. Checks that an ACK is received after each byte and raises an OSError if not.

Availability: ESP8266.

Standard bus operations

The following methods implement the standard I2C master read and write operations that target a given slave device.

I2C.readfrom(addr, nbytes)

Read nbytes from the slave specified by addr. Returns a bytes object with the data read.

I2C.readfrom_into(addr, buf)

Read into buf from the slave specified by addr. The number of bytes read will be the length of buf.

On WiPy the return value is the number of bytes read. Otherwise the return value is None.

I2C.writeto(addr, buf, *, stop=True)

Write the bytes from buf to the slave specified by addr.

The stop argument (only available on WiPy) tells if a stop bit should be sent at the end of the transfer. If False the transfer should be continued later on.

On WiPy the return value is the number of bytes written. Otherwise the return value is None.

Memory operations

Some I2C devices act as a memory device (or set of registers) that can be read from and written to. In this case there are two addresses associated with an I2C transaction: the slave address and the memory address. The following methods are convenience functions to communicate with such devices.

I2C.readfrom_mem(addr, memaddr, nbytes, *, addrsize=8)

Read nbytes from the slave specified by addr starting from the memory address specified by memaddr. The argument addrsize specifies the address size in bits. Returns a bytes object with the data read.

I2C.readfrom_mem_into(addr, memaddr, buf, *, addrsize=8)

Read into buf from the slave specified by addr starting from the memory address specified by memaddr. The number of bytes read is the length of buf. The argument addrsize specifies the address size in bits (on ESP8266 this argument is not recognised and the address size is always 8 bits).

On WiPy the return value is the number of bytes read. Otherwise the return value is None.

I2C.writeto_mem(addr, memaddr, buf, *, addrsize=8)

Write buf to the slave specified by addr starting from the memory address specified by memaddr. The argument addrsize specifies the address size in bits (on ESP8266 this argument is not recognised and the address size is always 8 bits).

On WiPy the return value is the number of bytes written. Otherwise the return value is None.

Constants

I2C.MASTER

for initialising the bus to master mode

Availability: WiPy.