I have a quick question about the MCP23017 and I2C in general. When reading about i2c I read that it uses 7 bits to address slaves, allowing it to address 127 different slaves.
Yet when it comes to the MCP23017 we only get 3 address bits, with the rest "pre-defined", allowing us to address only 8 of these (0-7).
A commonly proposed solution is to use a multiplexer to get extra i2c buses, which works.
Now to my actual question, is there an alternative to the MCP23017 that actually has more address bits, thus allowing to use the full potential of the i2c? Or am I missing something about why we can only use 3 bits?
jremington:
Please describe what you are actually trying to do, so we can help solve the real problem.
The manufacturer designed the device to allow choices for 3 address bits. Why should that be a problem?
I never said it's a problem, I'm just asking if there's another MCP* or similar chip that uses more bits for the address.
