Scribd
Upload
777 views

Arduino ADS1115 Module Getting Started Tutorial

The document provides an overview of the Arduino ADS1115 16-bit analog to digital converter module. It discusses the module's pinouts, addressing, resolution (15-16 bits), measurement ranges, and includes a simple tutorial to take single-ended voltage measurements from an Arduino using the Adafruit ADS1X15 library. The tutorial shows the module can measure voltages with high precision, with fluctuations of less than 1mV between readings.

Uploaded by

joeragan 2006
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
777 views

Arduino ADS1115 Module Getting Started Tutorial

The document provides an overview of the Arduino ADS1115 16-bit analog to digital converter module. It discusses the module's pinouts, addressing, resolution (15-16 bits), measurement ranges, and includes a simple tutorial to take single-ended voltage measurements from an Arduino using the Adafruit ADS1X15 library. The tutorial shows the module can measure voltages with high precision, with fluctuations of less than 1mV between readings.

Uploaded by

joeragan 2006
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 7

Arduino ADS1115 Module Getting

Started Tutorial
Contents [hide]
 1 Introducing A Low Cost and Precise Arduino Measurement
 2 Getting One
 3 Arduino ADS1115 16 Bit DAC Module Pin Outs
 4 Arduino ADS1115 16 Bit DAC Module Addressing
 5 Understanding the ADS1115 Resolution
o 5.1 Is it 15 or 16 bits?
o 5.2 ADS1115 Full Scale and the Value of Bit
 6 ADS1115 Maximum Measurement Range
 7 Arduino ADS1115 Analog to Digital Converter Simple Tutorial
o 7.1 Download and Install the Adafruit ADS1X15 Library
o 7.2 Connect the ADS1115 Module to Your Arduino
o 7.3 Copy, Paste and Upload the ADS1115 Arduino Sketch
o 7.4 Verify Your Tutorial Output

Introducing A Low Cost and Precise Arduino


Measurement

The ADS1115 is a 16 bit Analog Digital Converter that can greatly


improve your Arduino resolution and measurement accuracy. It has four input channels that can
be configured for Single Ended, Differential or Comparator Measurements.
This Tutorial will focus on showing you how to make your first single ended 16 bit measurement
with the ADS1115. Even this mode provides a substantial improvement in resolution over your
Arduino Analog input.

Other tutorials will demonstrate other powerful features.

See how to make a differential measurement using your ADS1115. This type of measurement
allows you to make negative voltage measurements as well.
Getting One
As depicted in pin-out drawings below, the ADS1115 module comes in a couple common
varieties. They are available from any of the outlets below.

eBay Amazon AliExpress Bang Good

Arduino ADS1115 16 Bit DAC Module Pin


Outs
The module below is the most common. It will require addressing ( see the next section ). There
are four addresses available.

This next module is less common. The address is preset to 0x48. It also does not include the
Alert/Ready signal. In most applications, you will not require this signal.

Arduino ADS1115 16 Bit DAC Module


Addressing
The four addresses for the ADS1115 are set by connecting the ADDR pin to SCL, SDA, GND or
VDD. The image below illustrates how these connections are make and provides the address
number for those connections.

Understanding the ADS1115 Resolution


Is it 15 or 16 bits?
The output of the ADS1115 is what as known as a signed integer. That means one of the bits in
the 16 bit words is going to be used to tell us if it’s a positive or negative value being
reported. This will be discussed more later, but what is important to grasp is that only 15 of the
16 bits are used to communicate the value of the voltage measurement.

What this means is that there are 32,768 possible output values, where zero is the first and
32,767 is the last.

Bottom line is that is indeed a 16 bit device, but only 15 of those bits are use to communicate the
magnitude of the measurement.
ADS1115 Full Scale and the Value of Bit
The value of a bit is determined by the Programmable Gain Amplifier (PGA) setting as is this
setting establishes full scale. This differs from the Arduino where full scale is determined by a
reference voltage. (The PGA will be discussed in another article).
In the default mode, the setting is +/-6.144 volts.

Thus the value of 32767 would represent a value of 6.144 volts.

Dividing 6.144 volts by 32767 yields a scale factor of 0.1875 mV per bit. This is a significant
improvement over the Arduino ADC which resolution of approximately 5 mV per bit. In fact, its
about 26 times better!
The neat thing about this is that this is worst case. In another PGA setting, you can establish a
full scale of +/- 2.048 volts. That provides us a resolution of 0.0635 mV.

ADS1115 Maximum Measurement Range


The PGA setting of +/- 6.144 range can be a little misleading as it seems to infer that you can
measure voltages that high. You can’t.

Instead, the maximum measurable voltage is established by the supply voltage to the
chip. Specifically, the maximum measurable voltage is 0.3 volts more than the supply
voltage. In fact, exceeding this voltage at your analog input may damage your chip.

Note the differentiation here between the PGA range and the maximum measurable voltage. The
programmed range determines the value of a bit (or scale factor), while the maximum
measurable range determines what your analog input can safely handle.

Arduino ADS1115 Analog to Digital Converter


Simple Tutorial
This is a simple tutorial because all you’re going to do is make a simple measurement while
observing the resolution and repeat-ability (or precision) of the measurement.

In running this tutorial, we’re going to make use of a library distributed by Adafruit.

Download and Install the Adafruit ADS1X15 Library


As previously mentioned, you will need the Adafruit ADS1X15 Library. It is available HERE.
If your are unfamiliar with installing libraries, you can read this article on the Arduino website
found HERE.
Connect the ADS1115 Module to Your Arduino
In this tutorial, we’re going to keep it real simple. We’re just going to measure the 3.3 volt pin
on our Arduino.
Copy, Paste and Upload the ADS1115 Arduino Sketch
Notice the constructor where I insert the address 0x48. Notice how I also did not make any
attempts to set the Programmable Gain Amplifier. This is because default value is already +/-
6.144 volts. In my loop, you will notice that I applied the 0.1875 mV scale factor related to this
full scale range to my result.

#include <Wire.h>
#include <Adafruit_ADS1015.h>

Adafruit_ADS1115 ads(0x48);
float Voltage = 0.0;

void setup(void)
{
Serial.begin(9600);
ads.begin();
}

void loop(void)
{
int16_t adc0; // we read from the ADC, we have a sixteen bit integer as a result

adc0 = ads.readADC_SingleEnded(0);
Voltage = (adc0 * 0.1875)/1000;
Serial.print("AIN0: ");
Serial.print(adc0);
Serial.print("\tVoltage: ");
Serial.println(Voltage, 7);
Serial.println();

delay(1000);
}

Verify Your Tutorial Output


If you are successful, your output will look a lot like the picture below.

Notice how rock steady the result is. The difference between readings is less than one millivolt.

Now, what’s hard to determine is if that fluctuation is due to the 3.3 volt output from the
Arduino, the ADS1115 or a combination of the two.

Never-the less, what we clearly have is a measurement that is very repeatable (precise). In fact,
repeat-ability is often a lot more useful in measurements than accuracy. We can quantify the
error in a very repeatable measurement and apply a little math to make it very accurate.

When the measurement is not very precise, we are stuck with a degree of uncertainty that is very
difficult to correct for.

You might also like