TLV493D magnetic sensor and Raspberry Pi 4 python example

In this example we take a look at the TLV493D magnetic sensor to a Raspberry Pi 4

Description

The 3D magnetic sensor TLV493D offers accurate three-dimensional sensing with extremely low power consumption in a small 6-pin package.

With its magnetic field detection in x, y, and z-direction the sensor reliably measures three dimensional, linear and rotation movements.

Applications include joysticks, control elements (white goods, multifunction knops), or electric meters (anti tampering) and any other application that requires accurate angular measurements or low power consumptions.

Features

• 3D magnetic sensing
• Very low power consumption = 10 µA during operations (10 Hz, typ.)
• Power down mode with 7 nA power consumption
• Digital output via 2-wire based standard I2C interface up to 1 MBit/sec
• 12-bit data resolution for each measurement direction
• Bx, By and Bz linear field measurement up to +130 mT
• Excellent matching of X/Y measurement for accurate angle sensing
• Variable update frequencies and power modes (configurable during operation)
• Supply voltage range = 2.8 V…3.5 V, Temperature range Tj = -40°C…125°C
• Triggering by external µC possible
• Interrupt signal available to wake up a microcontroller
• Temperature measurement

Parts Required

Various parts used in this example

Name	Link
`TLV493D`	ADA Adafruit (PID 4366) TLV493D Triple-Axis Magnetometer – Stemma QT/Qwiic

Raspberry Pi P4	Raspberry Pi 4 Model B 2019 Quad Core 64 Bit WiFi Bluetooth (4GB)Official Original Raspberry Pi 4 Model B Dev Board Kit RAM 2G 4G 8G 4 Core CPU 1.5Ghz
Connecting cables	Free shipping Dupont line 120pcs 20cm male to male + male to female and female to female jumper wire

Schematic/Connection

I connected the TLV493Dto the Raspberry Pi 4 like this, an I2C sensor so fairly straightforward

pi and tlv493d layout

Installation

This is the library from https://github.com/Infineon/RaspberryPi_TLV

Supported hardware –> Raspberry pi Zero/3/3B+/4B

Update apt


sudo apt update

Enable i2c (Interfacing options menu and then I2C enable). For detailed steps see this article.


sudo raspi-config

Install pip3


sudo apt install python3-pip

Install smbus


pip3 install smbus
sudo apt-get install -y python-smbus i2c-tools

Installing from PyPI

On supported GNU/Linux systems like the Raspberry Pi, you can install the driver from PyPI

For current user:


pip3 install TLV493D

To install system-wide (this may be required in some cases):


sudo pip3 install TLV493D

Code Example

I used Thonny for development and the library from above

And here is the code example for the above library

[codesyntax lang=”python”]

import TLV

from time import sleep

tlv493d = TLV.TLV493D()

while True:
    tlv493d.update_data()
    x = tlv493d.get_x()
    y = tlv493d.get_y()
    z = tlv493d.get_z()

    print("x: ", x, "y: ", y, "z: ",z)
    sleep(0.5)

[/codesyntax]

Output

Run this example in Thonny and you will see something like this in the Shell window

%Run tlv493d.py
x: -1.568 y: 0.0 z: 0.0
x: -1.568 y: 0.0 z: -1.568
x: -1.568 y: 0.0 z: 0.0
x: 0.098 y: 0.196 z: 0.098
x: -1.568 y: 0.196 z: -1.568
x: 0.0 y: 0.098 z: 0.0
x: 0.0 y: 0.0 z: 0.0

Links

Infineon datasheet

Python TLV493D