Adafruit 16-Channel 12-bit PWM/Servo Shield – I2C Interface

• Adafruit 16-Channel 12-bit PWM/Servo Shield – I2C Interface
• Comes with a fully tested and assembled shield
• Features an I2C-controlled PWM driver
• Uses I2C 7-bit addresses between 0x60-0x80, selectable with jumpers
• Interface: I2C
• Note: Servos and Arduino are not included

The Adafruit 16-Channel 12-bit PWM/Servo Shield – I2C Interface comes with a fully tested and assembled shield as well as 4 pieces of 3×4 male straight header (for servo/LED plugs), a 2-pin terminal block (for power) and a stick of 0.1 inch header so you can plug into an Arduino. A little light soldering will be required to assemble and customize the board by attaching the desired headers but it is a 15-minute task that even a beginner can do.

Using only two I2C pins, control 16 free-running PWM outputs! You can even stack up 62 shields to control up to 992 PWM outputs. Because I2C is a shared bus you can also connect other I2C devices and sensors to the SCL/SDA pins as long as their addresses don’t conflict (this shield has address 0x40).

There’s an I2C-controlled PWM driver with a built-in clock. That means that, unlike the TLC5940 family, you do not need to continuously send it to signal to tie up your microcontroller, it’s completely free running. It is 5 V compliant, which means you can control it from a 3.3 V Arduino and still safely drive up to 6 V outputs (this is good for when you want to control white or blue LEDs with 3.4+ forward voltages)