Adafruit MLX90640 User manual

Adafruit MLX90640 IR Thermal Camera

Created by Kattni Rembor

Last updated on 2021-02-09 12:10:57 PM EST

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Guide Contents

Guide Contents Overview Pinouts

Power Pins I2C Logic Pins STEMMA Connectors

Arduino Libraries

Library Installation

Arcada Libraries Install Libraries

Adafruit Arcada If you aren't running Arduino IDE 1.8.10 or later, you'll need to install all of the following! Adafruit NeoPixel

Adafruit FreeTouch Adafruit Touchscreen

Adafruit SPIFlash Adafruit Zero DMA Adafruit GFX Adafruit ST7735 Adafruit ILI9341 Adafruit LIS3DH Adafruit Sensor

Adafruit ImageReader ArduinoJson Adafruit ZeroTimer Adafruit TinyUSB Adafruit WavePlayer

SdFat (Adafruit Fork)

Audio - Adafruit Fork Arduino Docs Arduino Thermal Camera

Loading the Example

Python & CircuitPython

CircuitPython Microcontroller Wiring Python Computer Wiring CircuitPython Installation of MLX90640 Library Python Installation of MLX90640 Library CircuitPython & Python Usage

Python Docs CircuitPython Thermal Camera

CircuitPython Microcontroller Wiring CircuitPython Installation of Additional Libraries CircuitPython PyBadge/PyGamer Thermal Camera

Downloads

Files

Schematic Fab Print

Overview

You can now add affordable heat-vision to your project with an Adafruit MLX90640 Thermal Camera

Breakout. This sensor contains a 24x32 array of IR thermal sensors. When connected to your

microcontroller (or Raspberry Pi) it will return an array of 768 individual infrared temperature readings

over I2C. It's like those fancy thermal cameras, but compact and simple enough for easy integration.

There are two versions: one with a wider 110°x70° field of view (https://adafru.it/IDi) and one with a

narrower 55°x35° field of view (https://adafru.it/HNe).

This part will measure temperatures ranging from -40°C to 300°C with an accuracy of +- 2°C (in the 0-

100°C range). With a maximum frame rate of 16 Hz (the theoretical limit is 32Hz but we were not able to

practically achieve it), It's perfect for creating your own human detector or mini thermal camera. We have

code for using this sensor on an Arduino or compatible (the sensor communicates over I2C) or on a

Raspberry Pi with Python. If using an Arduino-compatible, you'll need a processor with at least 20KB RAM

- a SAMD21 (M0) or SAMD51 (M4) chipset will do nicely. On the Pi, you can even perform interpolation

processing with help from the SciPy python library and get some pretty nice results!

This sensor reads the data twice per frame, in a checker-board pattern, so it's normal to see a checker-

board dither effect when moving the sensor around - the effect isn't noticeable when things move slowly.

To make it easy to use, we hand-soldered it on a breakout board with a 3.3V regulator and level shifting.

So you can use it with any 3V or 5V microcontroller or computer. We've even included SparkFun

qwiic (https://adafru.it/Fpw) compatible STEMMA QT (https://adafru.it/Ft4) connectors for the I2C bus

so you don't even need to solder! Just plug-n-play with any of our STEMMA QT (JST SH) cables.

Even better - We've done all the hard work here, with example code and supporting software libraries to

get you up in running in just a few lines of Arduino (https://adafru.it/IDj) or Python

code (https://adafru.it/IBv).

Pinouts

There is no difference between the breakout for the 55°x35° field of view and the 110°x70° field of view

thermal cameras. There is also no difference in the code used with either thermal camera. The only

difference is the length of the lens. The only way to tell which thermal camera breakout you have is to

identify the length of the lens. The longer lens, shown above on the left, is on the 55°x35° field of view

thermal camera and is approximately 11.25mm long. The shorter lens, shown above on the right, is on the

110°x70° field of view thermal camera and is approximately 5.7mm long.

Power Pins

VIN - this is the power pin. Since the sensor chip uses 3 VDC, we have included a voltage regulator

on board that will take 3-5VDC and safely convert it down. To power the board, give it the same

power as the logic level of your microcontroller - e.g. for a 5V microcontroller like Arduino, use 5V

3V - this is the 3.3V output from the voltage regulator, you can grab up to 100mA from this if you like

GND - common ground for power and logic

 I2C Logic Pins

SCL - I2C clock pin, connect to your microcontroller I2C clock line. This pin is level shifted so you

can use 3-5V logic, and there's a 4.7K pullup on this pin.

SDA - I2C data pin, connect to your microcontroller I2C data line. This pin is level shifted so you can

use 3-5V logic, and there's a 4.7K pullup on this pin.

STEMMA Connectors

STEMMA QT (https://adafru.it/Ft4) - These connectors on the back of this breakout allow you to

connect to dev boards with STEMMA QT connectors or to other things with various associated

accessories (https://adafru.it/Ft6)

Arduino Libraries

You're going to need to install a few libraries to use this sensor. These are all in the Arduino Library

Manager, so they're quite easy to install.

Library Installation

You're going to need to install a few libraries to use this sensor. These are all in the Arduino Library

Manager, so they're quite easy to install.

You can install the Adafruit MLX90640 Library for Arduino using the Library Manager in the Arduino IDE.

Click the Manage Libraries... menu item, search for Adafruit MLX90640, and select the Adafruit

MLX90640 library:

Then follow the same process for the Adafruit BusIO library.

In the next page, you'll install all the libraries used for Arcada, which is another dependency.

Arcada Libraries

OK now that you have Arduino IDE set up, drivers installed if necessary and you've practiced uploading

code, you can start installing all the Libraries we'll be using to program it.

There's a lot of libraries!

Install Libraries

Open up the library manager...

And install the following libraries:

Adafruit Arcada

This library generalizes the hardware for you so you can read the joystick, draw to the display, read files,

etc. without having to worry about the underlying methods

 If you use Arduino 1.8.10 or later, the IDE will automagically install all the libraries you need to run all

the Arcada demos when you install Arcada. We strongly recommend using the latest IDE so you don't

miss one of the libraries!

If you aren't running Arduino IDE 1.8.10 or later, you'll need to install

all

of the following!

Adafruit NeoPixel

This will let you light up the status LEDs on the front/back

Adafruit MLX90640 User manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual