SparkFun Ambient Light Sensor - VEML6030 (Qwiic)

Sensing ambient light accurately means more than just detecting brightness; it requires understanding light the way the human eye does. The SparkFun Ambient Light Sensor is a highly sensitive 16-bit resolution sensor capable of mirroring human visual response and is powered by the VEML6030 from Vishay. It reads ambient light levels from 0 to an intense 120,000 lux, providing highly accurate environmental data for your custom electronics.

Smart Alerts and Power Saving

This Ambient Light Sensor is designed to be proactive and efficient rather than having your microcontroller constantly ask the sensor for brightness levels.

• Custom Interrupts: You can program specific high- and low-light thresholds directly into the sensor. If the ambient light crosses those boundaries, the sensor triggers an optional hardware interrupt, instantly alerting your main processor.
• High Efficiency: Built-in power-saving features reduce the active current draw to single-digit microamps, and the low standby current typically hovers around 0.5 uA, making this an ideal sensor for battery-powered, long-term deployments.
• Ready-to-Use Software: A fully featured Arduino library provides complete access to these power and threshold settings. We've also added some pretty extensive example code to get your sensor reading lux as fast as possible.

Solderless I²C Integration

Outfitted with the Qwiic Connect System, this sensor integrates with your I²C bus with absolutely no soldering. Dual Qwiic connectors allow you to easily daisy-chain the board with other sensors. Don't worry! We've still provided standard 0.1-inch spaced pins that are broken out along the edge for those who prefer to prototype on a breadboard.

The back of the board includes jumpers to disable the power LED or remove the onboard pull-up resistors. You can also configure the default 0x48 I²C address to 0x10 using a simple solder jumper. Please keep in mind that a multiplexer (Mux) is required to communicate with multiple VEML6030 sensors over a single bus. If you need to use more than one VEML6030 sensor, consider using the Qwiic Mux Breakout.

• Schematic
• Eagle Files
• Hookup Guide
• Datasheet (VEML6030)
• Libraries:
  • Arduino
  • Python / MicroPython / CircuitPython
• GitHub Hardware Repo