Adafruit Joy FeatherWing User Manual

Joy Featherwing

Created by Dean Miller

https://learn.adafruit.com/joy-featherwing

Last updated on 2021-11-15 07:02:13 PM EST

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Table of Contents

Overview

Pinouts

• Power and Reset Pins

• I2C Data Pins

• I2C Addressing

• Optional Interrupt Pin

Assembly

• Prepare the header strip:

• Add the FeatherWing:

• And Solder!

Arduino Wiring & Test

• Adafruit seesaw Library

• Running the Example Code

• FeatherJoyWing library!

Circuit Python Wiring & Test

• Download Adafruit_CircuitPython_seesaw Library

Downloads

• Files

• Schematic

• Dimensions

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Overview

Make a game or robotic controller with this Joy-ful FeatherWing.This FeatherWing has

a 2-axis joystick and 5 momentary buttons (4 large and 1 small) so you can turn your

feather board into a tiny game controller. This wing communicates with your host

microcontroller over I2C so it's easy to use and doesn't take up any of your precious

analog or digital pins. There is also an optionalinterrupt pinthat can alert your feather

when a button has been pressed or released to free up processor time for other

tasks.

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This FeatherWing features Adafruit Seesaw technology - a custom programmed little

helper microcontroller that takes the two analog inputs from the joystick, and 5 button

inputs, and converts it into a pretty I2C interface. This I2C interface means you don't

'lose' any GPIO or analog inputs when using this 'Wing, and it works with any and all

Feathers! You can easily stack this with any other FeatherWing because I2C is a

shared bus. If you have an I2C address conflict, or you want to connect more than

one of these to a Feather, there are two address-select jumpers so you have 4

options of I2C addresses

There's an optional IRQ (interrupt) line that you can use if you'd like the Wing to let

you know when a button has been pressed. Since its optional (and most Feathers are

perfectly happy polling the Wing for data) we left a bunch of solder jumpers so you

can select what pin has the IRQ on it. Or just leave it disconnected!

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We have an Adafruit Seesaw library for Arduino, Python and CircuitPython so you can

get started with the Joy FeatherWing in a jiffy.

Pinouts

Power and Reset Pins

The power to the Joy Featherwing comes from the host Feather's 3.3V regulator, 3.3V

and ground are both required and are highlighted above

The Feather's Reset pin ends up coming from the left-most circled pin and connects

to the on-board reset button. This is great for resetting when you have the Wing on

top

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I2C Data Pins

All data and control is done over I2C so it works with any and all Feathers! SDA and

SCL are highlighted above. There are 10K pullups to 3.3V on each.

I2C Addressing

Because multiple featherwings of all kinds can be stacked, the I2C address can be

changed if necessary. The Joy Featherwing's default I2C address is 0x49, but

soldering jumpersA0and/orA1 can change this:

A0 A1 Addr

open open 0x49 (default)

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closed open 0x4A

open closed 0x4B

closed closed 0x4C

Optional Interrupt Pin

Soldering one of the jumpers for the optional interrupt will connect that pin of your

Feather to the interrupt line on the Joy Featherwing. This will allow your Feather to

know whether a button has been pressed or released without having to read each

button over and over in a loop.

Each Feather has different pin names/numbers so check your mainboard for which

pin you want to use then solder that jumper closed

×

Add Table Row

Text

Image

Formats

<p>5</p>

Remove Column

Text

Image

Formats

<p>6</p>

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Remove Column

Text

Image

Formats

<p>9</p>

Remove Column

Text

Image

Formats

<p>10</p>

Remove Column

Text

Image

Formats

<p>11</p>

Remove Column

Text

Image

Formats

<p>12</p>

Remove Column

Text

Image

Formats

<p>13</p>

Remove Column

DELETECANCELSAVE

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Assembly

Prepare the header strip:

Cut the strip to length if necessary. It will

be easier to solder if you insert it into a

breadboard -long pins down

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Add the FeatherWing:

Place the featherwing over the pins so

that the short pins poke through the two

rows of breakout pads

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And Solder!

Be sure to solder all pins for reliable

electrical contact.

(For tips on soldering, be sure to check

out ourGuide to Excellent

Soldering(https://adafru.it/aTk)).



Start by soldering the first row of header

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Now flip around and solder the other row

completely

You're done with the two header strips.



Check your solder joints visually and

continue onto the next steps

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OK You're done! You can now plug your

FeatherWing into your Feather and get

your JOY on!

Arduino Wiring & Test

Adafruit seesaw Library

To use with the Arduino IDE, you will need to install the Adafruit_seesaw library

(here'sthe Github repository(https://adafru.it/BrV).)

It is available from the Arduino library manager so we recommend using that.

From the IDE open up the library manager...

And type in adafruit seesaw to locate the library. Click Install

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For more details on how to install Arduino libraries, check out our detailed tutorial!(ht

tps://adafru.it/aYM)

Running the Example Code

The library comes with a Joy Featherwing example to get you started fast. Plug the

Wing into the Feather and connect the Feather to your computer with the USB cable.

Open the Arudino IDE and load File->Examples->Adafruit_seesaw-

>joy_featherwing_example

The example assumes the interrupt pin is connected to pin 5 on the Feather via

the first solder jumper on the far left. If you have not soldered this jumper the

example code will need to be modified.

Click the Upload button and open the Serial Monitor at 115200 baud speed.

When you move the joystick you should see data appear in the formatx,y

When you press a button, a notification should appear in the monitor.

FeatherJoyWing library!

If you'd like an all-in-one library that abstracts some of the FeatherWing for you, check

out Leonid(https://adafru.it/ven)'s FeatherJoyWing library https://github.com/

leonidlezner/FeatherJoyWing(https://adafru.it/Bsi)

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Circuit Python Wiring & Test

Download Adafruit_CircuitPython_seesaw Library

To begin reading data from your Joy Featherwing, you will need to download Adafru

it_CircuitPython_seesaw from our github repository.You can do that by visiting

the github repo and manually downloading or, easier, just click this button to

download the zip

CircuitPython SeeSaw library

https://adafru.it/A0u

Extract the zipped folder. And rename thefolder it contains to Adafruit_seesaw.

Plug your CircuitPython device into your computer via the USB cable, and you should

see the CIRCUITPY drive appear.

you should have thelibfolder already on the drive. If you do not have thelib folder, or

you encounter errors due to missing libraries, you can download the latest library

packagehere(https://adafru.it/Bsl).

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Drag the Adafruit_seesaw folder you just renamed to theCIRCUITPY/lib folder on

your CircuitPython drive. The folder should look like this:

open thecode.py file in the root of theCIRCUITPY drive and copy and paste the

following code:

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

import time

import board
from micropython import const

from adafruit_seesaw.seesaw import Seesaw

BUTTON_RIGHT = const(6)
BUTTON_DOWN = const(7)
BUTTON_LEFT = const(9)
BUTTON_UP = const(10)
BUTTON_SEL = const(14)
button_mask = const(
(1 << BUTTON_RIGHT)
| (1 << BUTTON_DOWN)
| (1 << BUTTON_LEFT)
| (1 << BUTTON_UP)
| (1 << BUTTON_SEL)
)

i2c_bus = board.I2C()

ss = Seesaw(i2c_bus)

ss.pin_mode_bulk(button_mask, ss.INPUT_PULLUP)

last_x = 0
last_y = 0

while True:

x = ss.analog_read(2)
y = ss.analog_read(3)

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if (abs(x - last_x) > 3) or (abs(y - last_y) > 3):
print(x, y)
last_x = x
last_y = y

buttons = ss.digital_read_bulk(button_mask)
if not buttons & (1 << BUTTON_RIGHT):
print("Button A pressed")

if not buttons & (1 << BUTTON_DOWN):
print("Button B pressed")

if not buttons & (1 << BUTTON_LEFT):
print("Button Y pressed")

if not buttons & (1 << BUTTON_UP):
print("Button x pressed")

if not buttons & (1 << BUTTON_SEL):
print("Button SEL pressed")

time.sleep(0.01)

Plug your Joy Featherwing onto the top of your CircuitPython Feather board.

When you open the REPL you should see output when you press buttons or move the

joystick.

Downloads

Files

Fritzing object in Adafruit Fritzing Library(https://adafru.it/aP3)

•

PCB files (EAGLE format)(https://adafru.it/Bsm)

•

Schematic

click to enlarge

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Dimensions

in Inches

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