SparkFun Qwiic Shield for Thing Plus Hookup Guide

Introduction

The SparkFun Qwiic Shield for Thing Plus provides an easy-to-assemble way to add the SparkFun Qwiic ecosystem to any development board with the Thing Plus Footprint. This shield is also compatible with the Feather Footprint so you can add Qwiic functionality to any development board that uses the Thing Plus or Feather Footprints! It connects the I²C bus (GND, 3.3V, SDA, and SCL) on your Thing Plus to four SparkFun Qwiic connectors. The Qwiic ecosystem allows for easy daisy chaining so, as long as your devices are on different addresses, you can connect as many Qwiic devices as you'd like.

SparkFun Qwiic Shield for Thing Plus

DEV-16790

The SparkFun Qwiic Shield for Thing Plus makes it so you can use SparkFun's Qwiic connect ecosystem with development boards t…

$5.10

Required Materials

To follow along with this tutorial, you will need an Arduino development board with the Thing Plus footprint. This includes the all variants of the SparkFun Thing Plus boards and many other Thing Plus-compatible boards! Here are a few of the compatible boards:

SparkFun Thing Plus - ESP32 WROOM (Micro-B)

WRL-15663

The SparkFun ESP32 Thing Plus is the next step to get started with Espressif IoT ideations while still enjoying all the ameni…

$24.95

SparkFun Thing Plus - SAMD51

DEV-14713

With a 32-bit ARM Cortex-M4F MCU, the SparkFun SAMD51 Thing Plus is one of our most powerful microcontroller boards yet!

$25.50

SparkFun Thing Plus - Artemis

WRL-15574

The SparkFun Artemis Thing Plus takes our popular Feather footprint and adds in the powerful Artemis module for ultimate func…

$25.95

The Qwiic Shield includes a set of stackable headers to fit the Thing Plus footprint but you may also need some headers to solder to your Thing Plus. Or if you would prefer to use another header type for your shield assembly we've listed a few options below:

Break Away Headers - Straight

PRT-00116

A row of headers - break to fit. 40 pins that can be cut to any size. Used with custom PCBs or general custom headers.

$1.95

Female Headers

PRT-00115

Single row of 40-holes, female header. Can be cut to size with a pair of wire-cutters. Standard .1" spacing. We use them exte…

$1.95

Break Away Headers - Long

PRT-10158

These are a longer version of our [standard](http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=116) break away he…

$3.50

Feather Stackable Header Kit

PRT-15187

These stackable headers are made to work with the [SparkFun ESP32 Thing Plus](https://www.sparkfun.com/products/14689) to con…

$2.25

Now you probably would not want the Qwiic Shield for Thing Plus if you didn't have any Qwiic products to use with it, right? Well, if you don't have any Qwiic products, the following might not be a bad place to start:

SparkFun GPS Breakout - NEO-M9N, U.FL (Qwiic)

GPS-15712

The SparkFun NEO-M9N GPS Breakout is a high quality GPS board with equally impressive configuration options.

$70.95

SparkFun High Precision Temperature Sensor - TMP117 (Qwiic)

SEN-15805

The SparkFun Qwiic TMP117 Breakout is a high precision temperature sensor equipped with an I2C interface.

$16.95

SparkFun Proximity Sensor Breakout - 20cm, VCNL4040 (Qwiic)

SEN-15177

The SparkFun Proximity Sensor Breakout is a simple IR presence and ambient light sensor utilizing the VCNL4040.

$8.50

SparkFun Qwiic Motor Driver

ROB-15451

The SparkFun Qwiic Motor Driver takes all the features of the Serial Controlled Motor Driver and miniaturizes them, adding Qw…

$23.78

You will need some of our Qwiic cables to connect your devices to the shield. Below are a few options:

Qwiic Cable - 100mm

PRT-14427

This is a 100mm long 4-conductor cable with 1mm JST termination. It’s designed to connect Qwiic enabled components together…

$1.50

Qwiic Cable - 50mm

PRT-14426

This is a 50mm long 4-conductor cable with 1mm JST termination. It’s designed to connect Qwiic enabled components together …

Retired

Qwiic Cable - 200mm

PRT-14428

This is a 200mm long 4-conductor cable with 1mm JST termination. It’s designed to connect Qwiic enabled components together…

Retired

Qwiic Cable - 500mm

PRT-14429

This is a 500mm long 4-conductor cable with 1mm JST termination. It’s designed to connect Qwiic enabled components together…

Retired

Lastly, if you want to use a non-Qwiic I²C device, these adapters help to convert it to a Qwiic connector:

SparkFun Qwiic Adapter

DEV-14495

The SparkFun Qwiic Adapter provides the perfect means to make any old I²C board into a Qwiic enabled board.

$1.60

Qwiic Cable - Breadboard Jumper (4-pin)

PRT-14425

This is a jumper adapter cable that comes pre-terminated with a female Qwiic JST connector on one end and a breadboard hookup…

$1.50

Qwiic Cable - Female Jumper (4-pin)

CAB-14988

This is a jumper adapter cable that comes pre-terminated with a female Qwiic JST connector on one end and female connectors o…

Retired

Required Tools

You will need a soldering iron, solder, and general soldering accessories to solder the header pins to the Qwiic shields:

Solder Lead Free - 15-gram Tube

TOL-09163

This is your basic tube of unleaded (Pb-free) solder with a no clean, water soluble resin core. 0.031" gauge and 15 grams

$4.95

Soldering Iron - 30W (US, 110V)

TOL-09507

This is a very simple fixed temp, quick heating, 30W 110/120 VAC soldering iron. We really enjoy using the more expensive iro…

$11.50

Suggested Reading

If you aren't familiar with the Qwiic system, we recommend reading here for an overview:

Qwiic Connect System

We would also recommend taking a look at the following tutorials if you aren't familiar with them:

Hardware Overview

Qwiic Connectors

The Qwiic Shield for Thing Plus has four Qwiic connectors on it. The two on the edges are the standard horizontal connectors and the two in the middle are vertical connectors.

I²C Jumper

This jumper is a little different than our normal I²C pull up jumpers as it is open by default. The jumper only needs to be closed if your peripheral device does not have pull up resistors. Essentially all SparkFun I²C breakouts come with pull up resistors on them so if you are using a Qwiic I²C device or another SparkFun I²C device, you can most likely leave it open. When closed, the SDA and SCL lines are pulled to 3.3V by 4.7K resistors. If you have never worked with solder jumpers before, check out this tutorial for some tips and tricks for working with them.

Board Dimensions

The shield measures 2.00in x 0.90in (50.8mm x 22.86mm) and has four mounting holes that fit a 4-40 screw.

Hardware Assembly

All you need to get started using the Qwiic Shield for Thing Plus is to solder the included stackable headers or whichever headers you choose to the shield and, if necessary, to your Thing Plus (or compatible board). If you have never worked with an Arduino Shield before or need some tips, our Arduino Shields Tutorial provides detailed instructions on how to assemble and use them.

Once you have soldered headers to your shield and connected it to your Thing Plus, it's time to start connecting Qwiic devices! Below you can see the Qwiic Shield connected to a SparkFun Thing Plus - SAMD51 using the Feather Stackable Header Kit included with the shield along with a couple of Qwiic Devices chained to it.

Resources and Going Further

For more information, take a look at the resources below.

• Schematic (PDF)
• Eagle Files (ZIP)
• Board Dimensions
• GitHub Repository
• Qwiic System Landing Page
• SFE Product Showcase

If you are having trouble getting your Qwiic devices to connect using your newly assembled Qwiic Shield, you may want to take a look at these tutorials for help troubleshooting and reworking your shield.

• Troubleshooting Tips - Hardware Checks
• Arduino Shields Tutorial

Now that you have your Qwiic Shield ready to go, it's time to check out some Qwiic-enabled products. Below are a few to get started.

SparkFun GPS-RTK2 Board - ZED-F9P (Qwiic)

GPS-15136

The SparkFun GPS-RTK2 is a powerful breakout for the ZED-F9P module. The ZED-F9P is a top-of-the-line module for GNSS & GPS s…

$259.95

SparkFun MicroMod Qwiic Carrier Board - Single

DEV-17723

The Single MicroMod Qwiic Carrier Board can be used to rapidly prototype with other Qwiic devices.

$11.50

SparkFun Artemis Global Tracker

WRL-18712

With a clear view of the sky, the Artemis Global Tracker allows you to send and receive short data messages thanks to the Iri…

$419.95

SparkFun Pressure Sensor - BMP384 (Qwiic)

SEN-19662

The SparkFun Qwiic Pressure Sensor features the BMP384 and excels at high-resolution measurements (up to 21-bit).

$14.95

Before you go, here are some other tutorials using the Qwiic Connect System you may want to look through: