Exciting Thursday news: we have four new PIR breakout boards! Passive Infrared (PIR) sensors are great for detecting motion in a specific area around the sensor. The sensors measure IR light coming from objects in their detection area, making them perfect for applications like automatically controlling power to lights, cameras, screens, etc., when motion is detected. It is often a key element in home security and automation systems, but engineers and hobbyists are finding many creative ways to use PIR to increase efficiency, such as sensing when someone is standing in front of a vending machine so the display only lights up when it needs to, saving energy and costs.

Get more active with your Passive Infrared!

These boards use two versions of the EKM-series PIR sensors from Panasonic® to offer low profile motion-sensing options over I2C for both battery-powered and continuously-powered applications. The Qwiic versions of these PIR breakouts feature an ATTiny84, with firmware that handles monitoring the sensor's output signal, debouncing that signal along with a configurable interrupt, and translating it all to the I2C interface (which means it’s easy to add a PIR to an existing Qwiic/I2C project).

SparkFun PIR Breakout - 170uA (EKMC4607112K)

SparkFun PIR Breakout – 170uA (EKMC4607112K)

SEN-17372

$19.95

SparkFun PIR Breakout - 1uA (EKMB1107112)

SparkFun PIR Breakout – 1uA (EKMB1107112)

SEN-17373

$29.95

SparkFun Qwiic PIR - 170uA (EKMC4607112K)

SparkFun Qwiic PIR – 170uA (EKMC4607112K)

SEN-17374

$20.95

SparkFun Qwiic PIR - 1uA (EKMB1107112)

SparkFun Qwiic PIR – 1uA (EKMB1107112)

SEN-17375

$30.95

Getting Started

To make getting started as easy as possible, SparkFun has developed tutorials and Arduino/Python libraries. You can always reach these from the product pages, but here are some quick links:

SparkFun Qwiic PIR Boards

  • Getting Started Guide
  • Arduino Library and Examples
  • Python Library and Examples
  • SparkFun PIR Boards

  • Getting Started Guide
  • Arduino Examples
  • Python Examples

  • Have any creative thoughts for PIR? Share them in the comments.

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