Have you ever needed to monitor your yogurt in the community fridge because there’s a yogurt thief loose at work? Or have you ever needed the lights to flick on when walking in a room because your hands were full of groceries? The Qwiic IR breakout is the solution to all your people-detecting needs.

This board utilizes Kemet Corporation’s lensless passive infrared sensor, PL-N823. It uses the pyroelectric effect of ceramic by absorbing infrared rays emitted from the human body. This sensor has a 60 degree viewing angle, low power consumption, and low profile which makes it ideal for gathering visual requirements.

Though this is a lensless infrared sensor, placing the sensor behind a material like glass, acrylic, or polyethylene may amplify the distance at which it can detect. The detecting distance varies by what material is used, but Kemet claims the PL-N823 can detect up to 2 meters with a matching lens. This product does not include a lens so expect ranges closer to 10cm out-of-the-box.

We’ve written some example code using the ADS1015 library. The qwiic IR breakout board includes an ADC which quantifies the amplified source voltage of the IR sensor. There’s also a rudimentary peak detection example that could notify the user when someone waves their hand across the sensor.

We do not plan to regularly produce SparkX products so get them while they’re hot!

• PL-N823 Datasheet
• ADS1015 Datasheet
• Product Description
• Qwiic IR Breakout Examples
• Schematic
• Arduino Library
• Hardware Repo
• Eagle Files