PWM/Servo shield 16 channel for Arduino

Description

You have an Arduino and you would like to build a cool robot like a hexapod walker, or a nice art piece with a lot of moving parts, or a driving a lot LEDs with PWM signals!
You are on the right product, this PWM/servo shield can overcome the limited amount of PWM output available on Arduino.
You could just get this handy SERVO / PWM driver shield. It is the same as the popular Adadruit PWM / Servo breakout but this one is ready for Arduino. Il will work with any arduino that uses shield like Arduino Uno, Leo, Mega, ADK.

The PCA9685 chip use only two I2C pin and control 16 free-running PWM outputs! You can even stack up 62 shields to control up to 992 PWM outputs. As the I2C bus is a shared bus, it allows you to also connect other I2C sensors and devices. All the I2C devices cas share the same SCL/SDA pins as long as there is no addresses conflict (this shield has address 0x40).

This shield:

• Has an I2C-controlled PWM driver with a built in clock. Thank to the clock, you do not need to continuously send it signal to keep the PWM in sync with desired output PWM. Its completely free running!
• Is 5V compliant. You can control it from a 3.3V Arduino and drive up to 6V outputs (really useful to drive white or blue LEDs which have 3.4+ volts  forward voltages)
• Has 6 address pins. By selecting the addresses, you can stack up to 62 PWM shield (so up to 992 outputs, that's a lot of servos or LEDs)
• Has adjustable PWM frequency (up to ~1.6 KHz)
• Has outputs with 12-bits resolution (0 to 4096).
  For servos, this means a ~4us resolution @ update rate = 60Hz
• Has configurable push-pull or open-drain output

Adafruit has create the PWM shield around the PCA9685 with a couple of goodies:

• Terminal block for power input -or- the 2.54mm breakouts on the side
• Reverse polarity protection (on the terminal block input)
• Green and red power-good LEDs
• Groups of 3 pin connectors to connect servos (up to 16 servos at once).
• Stackable by design. Stacking headers are need and you will need to use right angle 3x4 headers to stack the shield togheter.
• Connection pads to solder a big capacitor on the V+ line (to regulate power peak)
• Outputs are protected with a 220 ohm series resistors. You can drive LEDs directly from rhe controler.
• 6 address pins (solder jumper)
• A prototyping area 5x20 holes for any extra components you would like to add

Content

This product is a shield fully tested and assembled. It contains the following extra:

• 4 pieces of 3x4 male straight header (for servo/LED plugs)
• 2-pin terminal block (for power)
• a strip of 2.54mm header (to plug into an Arduino).

A little soldering will be required to assemble the header and connectores (it is a 15 minute task, even for a beginner).

Servos and Arduino not included - but you will find many of them on our shop!