I2CChip.com: PCF8574 8 Bit IO Port

Contents Price Drop for PCF8574's and 8 bit I/O boards!

PCF8574, PCF8574A Buy Now!

The Philips PCF 8574 is an easy to use 8 bit IO port chip. An advantage over many more recent chips is 5V operation, that give you far more drive.
  • 2.5-6V supply
  • 8 Open Drain I/O's with low current pullup
  • Open-Drain Interrupt Output detects pin change
  • 25mA Latched Outputs With High-Current-Drive directly drives LEDs
  • 8 addresses from 0x40 plus 8 from 0x70

We have 2 simple modules to make them easy to use.

datasheetDatasheet

Philips has released a newer version the

datasheetPCA8574

Modules:

Keyboard + LEDs module for front panels of instruments. A single 8574 can drive 8 LED's and read 8 push buttons.

Takes 2 sizes of push buttons, the small ones shown, and larger 12mm buttons.

Ideal for behind Mylar front panels on 19" rack cases.

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8 bit I/O module can be fitted with LED's and external pullup resistors (needed for JLC1562)

You can fit 0.1" header pins, or SIP module pins, and just plug it onto Veroboard for instant I/O. The power and data are wired, you only have to connect the data pins you want to add.

Ideal to use as an 8 LED status indicator or for reading DIP switches. Even able to drive small relays directly.

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Driving Relays:

Very low current relays such as the NAIS TQ2-4.5V datasheet can be driven off a single pin. Most small 5V relays can be easily driven by just connecting 2 pins in parallel. No diode is needed as the internal diodes suffice.

Driving LCD Modules:

You can even drive the standard character type LCD module. See how. (Our BL301 IC is a better way though)

SPI Interface & Bit Bashing

As it is easy to write a series of bytes to the port, you can easily use it to bit-bash 74HC4094's to I2C bus, or SPI chips to the I2C bus. It won't be fast, but it works fine. Combining with a 74HC4094 is a cheap way of interfacing an 8 bit+control lines type peripheral to I2C. The JLC1562 won't be as suitable for this.

Bi-color & Tri-color LEDs

Bicolor (2 pin) LEDS are driven by connecting across 2 pins of the 8574. If one output is low, the LED will be either red or green. Tricolor (3 pin) leds are just connected to 2 pins, with the middle leg to ground.

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Usage

They are incredible easy to use from the I2C-2-PC adaptor or BL233 interface IC. Only simple ascii commands are needed, and you can try it from the Realterm screen.

To turn an LED on we write 0 to that bit, and 1 turns it off. So FF will be all leds off, 00 is all leds on, and FE turns led 1 on. So to turn Led 1 ON, we type:

S 40 FE P

[I2C Start][8574 Address=0x40][Data:0xFE][I2C Stop]. The command S sends an I2C Start. P is an I2C Stop, just like the Philips documents.

To toggle a pin or flash the LED you can just send a string of bytes to the port:

S 40 FE FF FE FF FE P

To read 1 byte from the port

S 41 01 P (adaptor replies with "FE")

If we are using the I2C Keyboard, then the LED and switch are both connected to the same pin. To read the switch we turn the LED's off (write FF), then read the buttons, then re-write the LED's. So if LED1 of on (FE) we send.

S 40 FF R 01 W FE P (adaptor replies with "7F" if switch 8 is pressed)

Any switch that is pressed will return 0. No switches will be pressed will be FF.


Electrical Description:

The 8574 has an 8-bit quasi-bidirectional I/O port (P0-P7), including latched outputs with high-current-drive capability for directly driving LEDs or small relays. Each quasi-bidirectional I/O can be used as an input or output without the use of a data-direction control signal.

At power on, the I/Os are high (inputs). In this mode, only a small current source to VCC is active. An additional strong pullup to VCC during the last clock pulse allows fast rising edges into heavily loaded outputs. This device turns on when an output is written high, and is switched off by the negative edge of SCL. The I/Os should be high before being used as inputs. (You should be aware that if the quasi bi-directional input is written high, while it is externally being forced low, there will be a 1 clock long pulse of higher current ~1mA drawn from VCC to the output)

The PCF8574 provides an open-drain output (INT)\ that can be connected to the interrupt input of a microcontroller. An interrupt is generated by any rising or falling edge of the port inputs in the input mode. Resetting and reactivating the interrupt circuit is achieved when data on the port is changed to the original setting or data is read from, or written to, the port that generated the interrupt. Resetting occurs in the read mode at the acknowledge bit after the rising edge of the SCL signal or in the write mode at the acknowledge bit after the high-to-low transition of the SCL signal. Interrupts that occur during the acknowledge clock pulse can be lost (or be very short) due to the resetting of the interrupt during this pulse. Each change of the I/Os after resetting is detected and, after the next rising clock edge, is transmitted as INT\. Reading from, or writing to, another device does not affect the interrupt circuit.

By sending an interrupt signal on this line, the remote I/O can inform the microcontroller if there is incoming data on its ports without having to communicate via the I2C bus. Therefore, the PCF8574 can remain a simple slave device. (Note on the JLC1562 this pin is the DAC output)

PCF8574's can have 8 addresses from 0x40. The PCF8574A has 8 addresses from 0x70, but is identical otherwise.

PCF8575 is a 16 bit version also at 0x40

Power On

At power on the outputs are off. That means they will be High. Arrange your circuit so this doesn't cause a problem.

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Alternatives:

OnSemi JLC1562

OnSemi (formerly Motorola) make a pin compatible part that is substantially cheaper the Philips 8574. At present difficult to obtain, we expect to stock these by March 2004.
  • 6 Bit DAC replaces the INT output of PCF8574
  • Address Input pins are pulled up to Vdd with internal resistor
  • I/O pins are Open Drain Outputs, but may have lower drive (4mA @ 0.3V vs 10mA @ 1V)
  • No internal pullup on I/O pins
  • 5 Analog Comparator Inputs on P0-4
  • Inputs Protected from External Bus Currents in Power Down mode
  • 8 addresses from 0x70 (same as 8574A)
  • 4.2-6V

datasheetDatasheet

 

The JLC1562B facilitates easy I2C Bus expandibility. Multiple devices (up to 8 on the same I2C Bus) are easily added as each device has its own selectable 3-bit address. The JLC1562B provides an 8-bit bidirectional input/output port and 6-bit resolution Digital to Analog Converter.

The device can also be used as an Analog to Digital Converter with 5 input signal lines each with 6-bit A/D resolution. The voltage on pins P0-P4 is compared with the DAC voltage and the results are readable through the I2C Bus.

The JLC1562 doesn't have internal pullups like the 8574. This means that external pullups are needed with switches etc. Our modules have a space for an external pullup resistor array.

The JLC1562 is slightly different for software. The second byte written is the DAC value. This means that you can just write a chain of bytes to the port like you can with the 8574. This means you have to send the start and address between each byte, so it will be slower. However it's still not difficult. With the BL233 just use the W (write) command between values eg to send 1,2,3,4 to the port

S70 01 W 02 W 03 W 04 P

PCF8575

A 16 Bit version of the 8574 at address 0x40. PCF8575C has a narrower voltage range (4.5-5.5V).

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SMD Beware

If you are using the surface mount parts beware:

PCF8574's are 0.3" wide packages. (normal 74XXX's are in 0.15" wide packages)

JLC1562 is in different 0.2" wide package.

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http://www.i2cchip.com
Phone +64 21 623-402

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