Adafruit Feather M0 and TLV493D magnetic sensor circuitpython example

In this article we connect a TLV493D magnetic sensor  to an Adafruit Feather M0 running Circuitpython

Sensor Information

The Infineon TLV493D-A1B6 magnetic sensor offers accurate three dimensional sensing with extremely low power consumption in a small 6-pin package.

With an opportunity to detect the magnetic field in x, y, and z-direction the sensor is ideally suited for the measurement of 3D movements, linear movements and rotation movements.

It is usable in any kind of industrial and consumer applications that require a low power consumption.

Applications include joysticks, control elements, or electric meters and any other application that requires accurate angular measurements or low power consumptions

Features

• 3D magnetic sensing
• Very low power consumption = 10 µA during operations (10 Hz, typ.)
• Power down mode with 7 nA power consumption
• Digital output via 2-wire based standard I2C interface up to 1 MBit/sec
• 12-bit data resolution for each measurement direction
• Bx, By and Bz linear field measurement up to +130 mT
• Excellent matching of X/Y measurement for accurate angle sensing
• Variable update frequencies and power modes (configurable during operation)
• Supply voltage range = 2.7 to 3.5 V operating supply voltage, Temperature range = -40 °C to 125 °C
• Small, industrial 6 pin TSOP package
• Triggering by external µC possible
• Interrupt signal available to wake up a microcontroller
• Temperature measurement

Parts Required

The sensor you can pick up in the $6 price range – you can connect to the sensor using a standard header the classic dupont style jumper wire.

I used a Qwiic cable – since a few sensors seem to use these but this is optional

Name	Link
Adafruit Feather M0 Express	Amazon link Ebay link
TLV493D-A1B6 magnetic sensor
Connecting cables	Aliexpress product link Ebay link

Schematic/Connection

I used the Adafruit TLV493D magnetic sensor  and in this case used the Stemma connection

For the STEMMA QT cables, it uses the Qwiic convention:

Black for GND
Red for V+
Blue for SDA
Yellow for SCL

So color coded for ease of use, this layout shows a connection to the module

Code Example

I used Thonny for development

The following is based on a library, I copied the adafruit_tlv493d.mpy library for this device to the lib folder on my Feather M0 Express – https://circuitpython.org/libraries

This is the basic example that comes with the library

# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2021 ladyada for Adafruit Industries
# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT

import time
import board
import adafruit_tlv493d

i2c = board.I2C()  # uses board.SCL and board.SDA
# i2c = board.STEMMA_I2C()  # For using the built-in STEMMA QT connector on a microcontroller
tlv = adafruit_tlv493d.TLV493D(i2c)

while True:
    print("X: %s, Y: %s, Z: %s uT" % tlv.magnetic)
    time.sleep(1)

Output

Here is what I saw in Thonny REPL window

Adafruit CircuitPython 8.0.5 on 2023-03-31; Adafruit Feather M0 Express with samd21g18
>>> %Run -c $EDITOR_CONTENT
X: 0.0, Y: 0.0, Z: 0.0 uT
X: -196.0, Y: 0.0, Z: 0.0 uT
X: -98.0, Y: 0.0, Z: 0.0 uT
X: -196.0, Y: -98.0, Z: -98.0 uT
X: 0.0, Y: 294.0, Z: -98.0 uT
X: -196.0, Y: -98.0, Z: 0.0 uT
X: 0.0, Y: 0.0, Z: 0.0 uT
X: -196.0, Y: 0.0, Z: 0.0 uT

Links