SparkFun BME280 Breakout Hookup Guide

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Contributors: MTaylor
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Introduction

The BME280 Breakout Board is the easy way to measure pressure and humidity, and without taking up a lot of room. It gives you easy to solder 0.1" headers, runs I2C or SPI, takes measurements at less than 1mA and idles less than 5uA (yes, microamps!).

SparkFun Atmospheric Sensor Breakout - BME280

SparkFun Atmospheric Sensor Breakout - BME280

SEN-13676
$21.50
17
SparkFun Atmospheric Sensor Breakout - BME280 (with Headers)

SparkFun Atmospheric Sensor Breakout - BME280 (with Headers)

SEN-13905
$21.95

The BME280 can be used to take pressure, humidity, and temperature readings. Use the data to get relative altitude changes, or absolute altitude if the locally reported barometric pressure is known.

Ranges:

  • Temp: -40C to 85C
  • Humidity: 0 - 100% RH, =-3% from 20-80%
  • Pressure: 30,000Pa to 110,000Pa, relative accuracy of 12Pa, absolute accuracy of 100Pa
  • Altitude: 0 to 30,000 ft (9.2 km), relative accuracy of 3.3 ft (1 m) at sea level, 6.6 (2 m) at 30,000 ft.

Covered In This Tutorial

This tutorial gives you all you need to get going with the BME280. First we'll take a look at the IC and hardware, then we'll use the SparkFun BME280 Arduino library to get data out of it by SPI or I2C.

The tutorial is split into the following pages:

Required Materials

Get the datasheet and application notes now. Keep a copy to refer to once you get off the charted path.

This tutorial explains how to use the BME280 Breakout Board with an RedBoard (or Arduino). To follow along, you'll need the following materials:

The BME280 is a 3.3V device! Supplying voltages greater than ~3.6V can permanently damage the IC. As long as your Arduino has a 3.3V supply output, and you're OK with using I2C, you shouldn't need any extra level shifting. But if you want to use SPI, you may need a Logic Level Converter.

If you use a 3.3V-based micro -- like the Arduino Pro 3.3V or 3.3V Pro Mini -- there is no need for level shifting.

Suggested Reading

Connection of the BME280 uses some basic concepts shared by a lot of our products. If you want to get more familiar with these basic tasks, these articles can help you out.

If the concepts of pressure are weighing on you, check out these links.