HowTo: ESPEasy – Connect the PCA9685 PWM port extension to the ESP8266

The PCA9685 is quite a practical IC. This is connected to the microcontroller (e.g. ESP8266) via I2C and can then control up to 16 individual PWM channels.

You can control up to 16 LEDs, servos or motors with additional circuitry with just two (I2C) pins on the microcontroller.

Especially when you want to control servos, this IC or the breakout board makes your work a lot easier.

Thanks to ESPEasy and the appropriate plug-in, the PCA9685 is very easy to control and can ultimately also controlled via WiFi.

How to connect and configure the PCA9685 to your microcontroller is described in the following article.

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Safety instructions

I know the following hints are always a bit annoying and seem unnecessary. But unfortunately, many people who knew it "better" from carelessness lost their eyes, fingers or other things or hurt themselves. In comparison, a loss of data is almost not worth mentioning, but even these can be really annoying. Therefore, please take five minutes to read the safety instructions. Even the coolest project is worth no injury or other annoyance. https://www.nerdiy.de/en/sicherheitshinweise/

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Requirements

Helpful Articles:
You can find additional tips on ESPEasy in the following articles.

• ESPEasy – Execute commands and actions via HTTP, MQTT, UDP and directly
• ESPEasy – Compile firmware, flash it and configure WiFi access data
• ESPEasy/Wemos D1 Mini – Adapt ADC to a different maximum voltage

Required tools:

Required material:

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Connect the PCA9685 PWM port expander

The PC9685 breakout board must be connected to the Wemos D1 Mini via the I2C bus. To do this, you can connect the PCA9685 breakout board to a Wemos D1 Mini using the circuit diagram below, for example.

The connection pin “V+” defines the voltage with which the connected “consumers” are operated. For example, If you want to control a servo, you should supply this pin with 5-6V.

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Configuration of the PCA9685 in ESPEasy

The configuration of the PCA9685 is done quickly thanks to the matching plug-in.

If you want to use the PCA9685 to control servos, you should set the option “MODE2” to the value “0x6 6”. You can find more information about this in the article ESPEasy – Using a PCA9685 to control servos.

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Send PWM value to PCA9685

After you have finished configuring the PCA9685, you can test it.

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More sensors

You can also find more articles on the configuration of sensors and actuators using ESPEasy in the category

• ESPEasy – sensors & actuators

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Have fun with the project

I hope everything worked as described. If not or you have any other questions or suggestions, please let me know in the comments. Also, ideas for new projects are always welcome. 🙂

P.S. Many of these projects - especially the hardware projects - cost a lot of time and money. Of course I do this because I enjoy it, but if you appreciate it that I share these information with you, I would be happy about a small donation to the coffee box. 🙂