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.
In stock
DEV-16790
The SparkFun Qwiic Shield for Thing Plus makes it so you can use SparkFun's Qwiic connect ecosystem with development boards t…
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:
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WRL-15663
The SparkFun ESP32 Thing Plus is the next step to get started with Espressif IoT ideations while still enjoying all the ameni…
13
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WRL-15574
The SparkFun Artemis Thing Plus takes our popular Feather footprint and adds in the powerful Artemis module for ultimate func…
2
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DEV-14713
With a 32-bit ARM Cortex-M4F MCU, the SparkFun SAMD51 Thing Plus is one of our most powerful microcontroller boards yet!
2
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:
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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.
20
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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…
8
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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
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PRT-15187
These stackable headers are made to work with the [SparkFun ESP32 Thing Plus](https://www.sparkfun.com/products/14689) to con…
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:
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GPS-15712
The SparkFun NEO-M9N GPS Breakout is a high quality GPS board with equally impressive configuration options.
5
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SEN-15805
The SparkFun Qwiic TMP117 Breakout is a high precision temperature sensor equipped with an I2C interface.
4
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ROB-15451
The SparkFun Qwiic Motor Driver takes all the features of the Serial Controlled Motor Driver and miniaturizes them, adding Qw…
3
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SEN-15177
The SparkFun Proximity Sensor Breakout is a simple IR presence and ambient light sensor utilizing the VCNL4040.
1
You will need some of our Qwiic cables to connect your devices to the shield. Below are a few options:
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PRT-14426
This is a 50mm long 4-conductor cable with 1mm JST termination. It’s designed to connect Qwiic enabled components together …
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PRT-14427
This is a 100mm long 4-conductor cable with 1mm JST termination. It’s designed to connect Qwiic enabled components together…
Retired
PRT-14429
This is a 500mm long 4-conductor cable with 1mm JST termination. It’s designed to connect Qwiic enabled components together…
1
Retired
Retired
PRT-14428
This is a 200mm 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:
Only 10 left!
DEV-14495
The SparkFun Qwiic Adapter provides the perfect means to make any old I2C board into a Qwiic enabled board.
4
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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…
Retired
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:
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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
Only 14 left!
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…
7
Suggested Reading
If you aren't familiar with the Qwiic system, we recommend reading here for an overview:
We would also recommend taking a look at the following tutorials if you aren't familiar with them:
I2C
An introduction to I2C, one of the main embedded communications protocols in use today.
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.
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.
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.
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DEV-17712
With a 32-bit ARM® Cortex®-M4 RISC core, the SparkFun STM32 Thing Plus brings power and precision to your projects.
1
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DEV-19030
The SparkFun Qwiic MP3 Trigger takes care of all the necessary requirements for playing sound files, all you need to do is se…
2
Out of stock
KIT-19516
The SparkFun Qwiic PIR Starter Kit (1µA) comes with just the basics of what you need to get started working with passive inf…
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DEV-22632
Arduino UNO R4 is a 32-bit microprocessor offering more speed, memory, connectors and connectivity options than any version o…
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Before you go, here are some other tutorials using the Qwiic Connect System you may want to look through:
Qwiic Distance Sensor (RFD77402) Hookup Guide
The RFD77402 uses an infrared VCSEL (Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser) TOF (Time of Flight) module capable of millimeter precision distance readings up to 2 meters. It’s also part of SparkFun’s Qwiic system, so you won’t have to do any soldering to figure out how far away things are.
Qwiic pHAT for Raspberry Pi Hookup Guide
Get started interfacing your Qwiic enabled boards with your Raspberry Pi. The Qwiic pHAT connects the I2C bus (GND, 3.3V, SDA, and SCL) on your Raspberry Pi to an array of Qwiic connectors.
SparkFun GPS-RTK Dead Reckoning ZED-F9R Hookup Guide
The u-blox ZED-F9R is a powerful GPS-RTK unit that uses a fusion of IMU, wheel ticks, a vehicle dynamics model, correction data, and GNSS measurements to provide highly accurate and continuous position for navigation in the difficult conditions. We will quickly get you set up using the Qwiic ecosystem through Arduino and Python so that you can start reading the output!