ADC Pi

The ADC Pi is an 8-channel 17-bit adc converter designed to work with the Raspberry Pi and other compatible single-board computers. The ADC Pi is based on two Microchip MCP3424 high resolution analog to digital converters, each containing 4 analogue inputs. The MCP3424 is a delta-sigma A/D converter with low noise differential inputs.

Unlike many other Raspberry Pi ADC Hats, the ADC Pi can be stacked with up to three other ADC Pi boards or many of our other Raspberry Pi development  boards giving you up to 32 ADC inputs.

Not sure which ADC you need? Check our Analogue to Digital Buyers guide to compare our ADC development boards.

We designed the ADC Pi to work as a single-ended A/D converter using the internal 2.048V reference voltage with the -V pins tied to ground. A voltage divider on the ADC Pi board brings the input voltage range to a much more helpful 0 – 5.06V. In this configuration, the sample size is 17 bits for each channel. To sample a higher input voltage, you can use our ADC Pi Input Voltage Calculator to find the additional resistors and calculation values needed.

The ADC Pi is powered through the host Raspberry Pi using the GPIO port, and extended pins on the GPIO connector allow you to stack the ADC Pi along with other development boards.

The two MCP3424 A/D converters communicate via I2C to the host Raspberry Pi. A logic level converter is included on the ADC Pi board, giving you a buffered 5V I2C port making it easy to add other I2C devices which operate at 5 volts without damaging the raspberry pi 3.3 volt I2C port. The I2C buffer uses N-channel MOSFETs with a maximum drain current of 100mA.

The I2C address bits are selectable using the onboard jumpers. The MCP3424 supports up to 8 different I2C addresses, so with two A/D converters on each ADC Pi, you can stack up to 4 ADC Pi boards on a single Raspberry Pi, giving you 32 ADC inputs.

The MCP3424 contains a programmable Gain Amplifier giving the user a selectable gain of x1, x2, x4 or x8 before the analogue to digital conversion takes place.

The data rate for analogue to digital conversions is 3.75 (17-bit), 15 (15-bit), 60 (13-bit) or 240 (11-bit) samples per second. Data rate and resolution can be configured within the software using the I2C interface.

Features

• 8 x 17-bit 0 to 5V Single Ended ADC Inputs
• Control via the Raspberry Pi I2C port
• Stack up to 4 ADC Pi boards on a single Raspberry Pi
• Jumper selectable I2C addresses
• Buffered 5V I2C port
• Based on the MCP3424 from Microchip Technologies Inc
• Single Ended full-scale range of 5.0V
• On-board 2.048V reference voltage (Accuracy  ± 0.05%, Drift: 15 ppm/°C)
• On-Board Programmable Gain Amplifier (PGA): Gains of 1, 2, 4 or 8
• Programmable Data Rate Options:
     - 3.75 SPS (17 bits)
     - 15 SPS (15 bits)
     - 60 SPS (13 bits)
     - 240 SPS (11 bits)
• One-Shot or Continuous Conversion Options

We have a knowledge base article, ADC Sample Rate Comparison, with more detailed sample information and test scripts to compare the different MCP2424 ADC chip bits and sample rates.

Unused inputs should be tied to ground.

Technical Details

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Compatibility

We have tested the ADC Pi on the following platforms.

Model	Status
Raspberry Pi Pico series
Raspberry Pi Model A / B
Raspberry Pi 1 Model A+ / B+
Raspberry Pi 2 Model B
Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+ / B / B+
Raspberry Pi 4 Model B
Raspberry Pi 5
Raspberry Pi Zero
Raspberry Pi Zero W / Zero 2 W
Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 IO Board
Raspberry Pi 400
Orange Pi
Asus Tinker Board
Odroid

Code Libraries and Demos

This development board has Python, MicroPython, C, C++, Node.JS, .Net Core, Arduino and Home Assistant libraries available to get you started with your next project.  You can download all of the libraries from our GitHub repository or click on the logos below for your selected programming language.

Assembly Instructions

The ADC Pi is supplied with the 40-pin GPIO connector, and the 12-pin address connector is unsoldered. We provide the ADC Pi this way because the Raspberry Pi Zero is also supplied without a GPIO header, and the ADC Pi could therefore be fitted both above or below the Raspberry Pi Zero.

Before using the ADC Pi, you must solder both connectors onto the PCB. We suggest soldering the 40-pin GPIO connector first and then the address-select connector. Soldering the address select connector first will make it difficult to access the three corner pins on the GPIO connector.

The ADC Pi Plus assembly video shows the steps needed to assemble the ADC Pi.

Watch our assembly guide on YouTube. (opens in a new window)

PCB Header Assembly Jig

Download and print our PCB Header Assembly Jig to hold your circuit board when soldering the header pins.

I2C Address Selection

The MCP3424 analogue to digital converter contains two address select pins which can be tied to Vss, Vdd or left floating. This gives 8 possible I2C addresses for each chip. The ADC Pi contains two MCP3424 chips so that you can stack up to 4 ADC Pi boards on a single Raspberry Pi. To simplify address selection on the ADC Pi, we have included a set of address selection pins which can be configured using the included jumpers. The illustrations below show the four recommended configurations for your ADC Pi and the associated I2C addresses.

Note:
Disconnect the ADC Pi from the Raspberry Pi before changing the address pins. You may need to short the 5V and ground with a resistor to discharge the capacitors for the new addresses to be recognised.

Warning

Do not under any circumstances connect the two centre pins. This will create a direct short between the 5V and ground pins and damage or destroy your Raspberry Pi and ADC Pi Plus board.

I²C Address Table

Adr 0	Adr 1	I2C Address
Low or Float	Low or Float	0x68
Low	Float	0x69
Low	High	0x6A
Float	Low	0x6B
High	Low	0x6C
High	Float	0x6D
High	High	0x6E
Float	High	0x6F

Recommended Address Configurations

Configuration 1:

Analogue Channels 1-4 = I2C Address: 0x68
Analogue Channels 5-8 = I2C Address: 0x69

Configuration 2:

Analogue Channels 1-4 = I2C Address: 0x6A
Analogue Channels 5-8 = I2C Address: 0x6B

Configuration 3:

Analogue Channels 1-4 = I2C Address: 0x6C
Analogue Channels 5-8 = I2C Address: 0x6D

Configuration 4:

Analogue Channels 1-4 = I2C Address: 0x6E
Analogue Channels 5-8 = I2C Address: 0x6F