Hello!, im searching for the best I/O expander to use with the ESP32CAM, if you know this module you'll know that has REALLY FEW pins available! i had used MCP23017 succesfully, but it just gives you an expansion of digital ON/OFF pins, doesnt support PWM modulation and doesnt give you analog capabilities. And i need all of that! im making a really huge project that uses camera, wifi, bluetooth , analog and digital sensors! obviously i can make this module work together with an arduino uno, but its not the idea. I saw this module: Pimoroni IO Expander Review: ADC and 14 GPIO Pins for Your Pi | Tom's Hardware , Its an IO expander with PWM and analog read capability , i dont know if it will work with ESP32CAM cause it says its for raspberry, so if you know if exist a module that can do the same feel free to share. Thank You!
The ESP32 cam is awfully busy taking an image, why not use another ESP as the workhorse?
Yeah i know that, but im not going to make the ESP32cam take images frequently, so normally is not doing big effort, and it would be computing the other things.
Then how about using another ESP32 as a IO expander? Simplifies the BOM and you could connect them all together over EspNow.
That's a great solution, thank you! i'll consider that if i dont find a better solution, because use other ESP will increase a lot the cost of the project, so ill rather stick to find an I/O expander for a while. I know the ESP32CAM is capable to manage all the info by itself, because by now im using wifi, bluetooth, Camera, a DHT11, a Water level sensor, MCP23017, Leds, buttons, relay. And is working pretty fine! it should still work fine with a couple more things connected, but it dont have pins!
There isn't a device solution for all requirements. So I guess another microcontroller is the best bet for flexibility.
The following are individual components each addressing one of your requirements
- For digital IO, you already have the I2C port expander.
- For PWM, have a look at the PCA9685 (e.g. Overview | Adafruit 16-channel PWM/Servo Shield | Adafruit Learning System).
- For analog inputs, have a look at multiplexers like 74HC4051 and 74HC4067.
Hi,
In my sketch below I include the option to connect a MCP23017 chip to pins 12 and 13 to give you 16 gpio pin which may be of interest/help?
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