Home Circuitpython Adafruit Feather M0 and TEMT6000 light sensor circuitpython example

Adafruit Feather M0 and TEMT6000 light sensor circuitpython example

by shedboy71

In this example we connect a TEMT6000 light sensor to an Adafruit Feather M0 running Circuitpython

First lets look at some information about the sensor from the manufacturer

Description

TEMT6000X01 ambient light sensor is a silicon NPN epitaxial planar phototransistor in a miniature transparent 1206 package for surface mounting. It is sensitive to visible light much like the human eye and has peak sensitivity at 570 nm.

Here is a picture of a module

 

APPLICATIONS

Ambient light sensor for control of display backlight dimming in LCD displays and keypad backlighting of mobile devices and in industrial on/off-lighting operation.

• Automotive sensors
• Mobile phones
• Notebook computers
• PDA’s
• Cameras
• Dashboards

Parts Required

The sensor is only $1, so is a low cost option for light detection

Name Link
Adafruit Feather M0 Express Adafruit (PID 3403) Feather M0 Express – Designed for CircuitPython – ATSAMD21 Cortex M0
TEMT6000 TEMT6000 ambient light sensor
Connecting cables Free shipping Dupont line 120pcs 20cm male to male + male to female and female to female jumper wire

 

Schematic/Connection

A very easy sensor to connect, you simply require power and an analog in pin, I chose A1 you can chose another if you want you would have to modify the code very slightly in the next section

Code Example

I used Mu for development

The example below simply returns the voltage on the A1 pin, you can also use the raw reading by uncommenting the print(pin.value) line

[codesyntax lang=”python”]

import time
import board
from digitalio import DigitalInOut, Direction, Pull
from analogio import AnalogIn

pin = AnalogIn(board.A1)

def get_voltage(pin):
	return (pin.value * 3.3) / 65536

while True:
    print(get_voltage(pin))
    #print(pin.value)
    time.sleep(1)

[/codesyntax]

Output

Here is what I saw in Mu REPL window for the voltage returned

0.0797607
0.0805664
0.0813721
0.0999023
0.242505
0.136963
0.31582
0.319043
0.323877
0.327905

A low value was me covering the sensor and the higher value was a desktop lamp

Links

Datasheet – https://www.vishay.com/docs/81579/temt6000.pdf

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