PIMORONI STORE

• Download Pirate brand MicroPython (special Badger edition)
• Getting Started with Badger 2040
• C++ examples
• MicroPython examples
• MicroPython function reference

You can also use?CircuitPython?on your Badger 2040. CircuitPython drivers are designed to work on a bunch of different microcontrollers so you won’t get the fancy RP2040-architecture specific tweaks that you’ll find in our library, but you will get access to all the nice conveniences of Adafruit’s ecosystem.

• Download CircuitPython for Badger 2040
• Getting Started with CircuitPython
• CircuitPython examples
• BadgerOS ported to CircuitPython by Stephane BeBoX

Connecting Breakouts

If your breakout has a QW/ST connector on board, you can plug it straight in with a?JST-SH to JST-SH cable, or you can easily connect any of our I2C Breakout Garden breakouts with a?JST-SH to JST-SH cable?coupled with a?Qw/ST to Breakout Garden adaptor.

• List of breakouts?currently compatible with our C++/MicroPython build.

Printables

Want to protect Badger from knocks and scrapes? Check out these nifty 3D printable cases and enclosures!

• Badger Guard?(simple backplate with standoffs)
• Badger 2040 stand?by samuelmcdermott
• Case for Pimoroni Badger 2040?by hsavior
• Badger 2040 enclosure?by?Andreas K?nner
• Badger 2040 keypad?by?Andreas K?nner

Notes

• Measurements: 85.6mm x 48.7mm x 10mm (L x W x H, including connectors). The mounting holes are M2 and 2.9mm in from each edge. The corner radius is 3mm.
• Badger 2040 is fairly accommodating about input voltage (2.7V – 6V), so it’s possible to use a variety of different batteries and battery packs. A?2x AAA battery pack?fits behind Badger nicely (double/triple AA and AAA battery packs will also work though).
• 2x AAA?rechargeable (NiMH) batteries?only puts out 2.4V which is, strictly speaking, not enough for Badger. However, in our tests it keeps on truckin’ down to an input voltage of 2.05V (without the LED), so if you want to use rechargeable batteries that should be fine.
• Alternatively, you can plug a?LiPo/LiIon battery?into the battery connector, with the following caveats. Please only consider this if the person wearing the badge is an adult and knows what they’re doing with LiPos!
  • A solid enclosure or backplate to protect the battery from damage whilst being worn is a very good idea.
  • There’s no battery protection included on Badger 2040, so you should only use it with LiPo batteries that include internal protection (all ours do).
  • Unlike some of our other boards, Badger 2040 doesn’t have battery charging circuitry onboard. You’ll need an external LiPo charger to charge the battery (like a?LiPo Amigo).
• With older versions of the Badger firmware, reset behaviour?is slightly different when running on battery. If you’re running on battery power, you will need to?tap?the reset button on the back, and then?hold any of the front buttons?to wake it up and trigger a refresh. With?version 1.18.5?or later of the Badger firmware you won’t need to do this.

• Eight APA102 RGB LEDs
• Individually controllable pixels
• Sits directly on top of your Pi in a tiny footprint
• Fits inside most Pi cases
• Doesn’t interfere with PWM audio
• Blinkt! pinout
• Compatible with all 40-pin header Raspberry Pi models
• Python library
• Comes fully assembled

Software

Our?Blinkt! Python library?will have you blasting out rainbows in two shakes of a unicorn’s tail! There’s a stack of examples too, from binary clocks to cheerlights and flickering candles to Larson scanners!

Notes

• Be careful to plug in your Blinkt! the correct way round, it has curves on the top that match the corners of your Raspberry Pi
• If you want to access the rest of the GPIO at the same time as using Blinkt! then our?Mini Black HAT Hack3r?is the ideal accompaniment, allowing you to combine Blinkt! with another HAT or pHAT, or just prototype using the GPIO pins for your own project
• The dimensions of Blinkt! are 65mm long x 8mm wide x 8.5mm thick (thickness includes header and pixels)
• Additional accessories shown in photos not included

We featured Blinkt! on a special episode of Bilge Tank where we tried to come up with as many different code examples as possible in one morning.

• Bosch BME280 temperature, pressure, humidity sensor (datasheet)
• I2C interface, with address select via cuttable ADDR trace (0x76 or 0x77)
• Qwiic/STEMMA QT connector
• 3.3V or 5V compatible
• Reverse polarity protection (on Breakout Garden connector)
• Raspberry Pi-compatible pinout (pins 1, 3, 5, 7, 9)
• Compatible with Arduino
• Compatible with Raspberry Pi (Python library)
• Compatible with Raspberry Pi Pico (C++/MicroPython libraries)
• Schematic

Kit includes

• BME280 breakout
• 1×5 male header
• 1×5 female right angle header

We’ve designed this breakout board so that you can solder on the piece of right angle female header and pop it straight onto the bottom left 5 pins on your Raspberry Pi’s GPIO header (pins 1, 3, 5, 7, 9). The right angle header also has the advantage of positioning the breakout away from the Pi’s CPU so as to minimise radiated heat.

Software

We’ve put together a?Python library?for using the BME280 sensor with a Raspberry Pi, with handy functions to read all of the values, and?a few nice little examples.

You can also use this breakout with Raspberry Pi Pico and other RP2040 boards, using?C++ or Pirate brand MicroPython?or?CircuitPython.

Notes

• In our testing, we’ve found that the sensor requires some burn-in time (at least 20 minutes) and that readings may take a couple of minutes to stabilise after beginning measurements
• The trace on the back (marked ADDR) can be cut to change the I2C address from the default of 0x76 to 0x77, meaning that you can use up to two sensors on the same Raspberry Pi or Arduino.
• The BME280, BME680, and BMP280 breakouts all share the same I2C addresses, so if you’re using two together then you’ll need to change the I2C address on one of them using the cuttable trace.
• Dimensions: 19x19x4.7mm (LxWxH, including connectors)

• Powered by RP2040 (Dual Arm Cortex M0+ running at up to 133Mhz with 264kB of SRAM)
• 2MB of QSPI flash supporting XiP
• Compatible with 5V WS2812/Neopixel/SK6812 and APA102/Dotstar/SK9822 LEDs
• Screw terminals for attaching your LED strip.
• USB-C connector for power and programming (3A max)
• Qw/ST (Qwiic/STEMMA QT) connector
• Low side current sensing (accessible via ADC3)
• Reset, BOOT and two user buttons (the BOOT button can also be used as a user button)
• RGB LED
• Fully-assembled (no soldering required)
• Measurements: approx 50 x 28 x 12mm (L x W x H, including connectors)
• C++/MicroPython libraries
• Schematic

LED strip and connectors are sold separately, check out the extras tab for some options!

Getting Started

Plasma 2040 is firmware agnostic! You can program it with C/C++ or MicroPython in the same way as you would a Raspberry Pi Pico. You can find (lots) more information on how to do that (as well as download links for the firmware/SDK) on the?RP2040 landing page. You can find documentation for our MicroPython Plasma module?here.

You can also use CircuitPython on your Plasma 2040! CircuitPython is an easy to use, well-established ecosystem with lots of example code and drivers for interfacing with different kinds of hardware.?Click here?to download the CircuitPython firmware for Plasma 2040 and?click here?for a getting started guide.

Click?here?for a beginner friendly tutorial that covers how to hook up different kinds of LEDs to Plasma 2040 and how to use it to build a simple busy light. It includes both MicroPython and CircuitPython code!

Connecting Breakouts

If your breakout has a QW/ST connector on board, you can plug it straight in with a?JST-SH to JST-SH cable, or you can easily connect any of our I2C breakouts with a?JST-SH to JST-SH cable?coupled with a?Qw/ST to Breakout Garden adaptor.

You can find a list of which breakouts are currently compatible with our C++/MicroPython build?here.

We’ve also broken out a set of I2C pins, analog pins and debug pins so you can solder things like breakouts or analog potentiometers directly to them (or solder on a strip of header and plug the whole shebang into a breadboard).

Notes

• Our C++/MicroPython software uses the RP2040’s PIO state machines to drive each strip separately – this board only has one set of LED strip connectors, but if you’re up for some inventive wiring it’s possible to drive multiple strips simultaneously, even if they’re of different types!
• If you’re curious about how much current your LEDs are consuming, we’ve incorporated some current sensing circuitry onto this board, which you can measure by reading ADC3. You could use this in your code to do things like adjusting the brightness of your LEDs based on available power!

About RP2040

Raspberry Pi’s RP2040 microcontroller is a dual core ARM Cortex M0+ running at up to 133Mhz. It bundles in 264kB of SRAM, 30 multifunction GPIO pins (including a four channel 12-bit ADC), a heap of standard peripherals (I2C, SPI, UART, PWM, clocks, etc), and USB support.

One very exciting feature of RP2040 is the programmable IOs which allow you to execute custom programs that can manipulate GPIO pins and transfer data between peripherals – they can offload tasks that require high data transfer rates or precise timing that traditionally would have required a lot of heavy lifting from the CPU.