Tutorial to Interface HMC5883L Compass Sensor With Arduino

Description

HMC5883L is a 3-axis digital compass used for two general purposes: to measure the magnetization of a magnetic material like a ferromagnet, or to measure the strength and, in some cases, the direction of the magnetic field at a point in space. Communication with the HMC5883L is simple and all done through an I2C interface. There is an on board regulator. The breakout board includes the HMC5883L sensor and all filtering capacitors. The power and 2-wire interface pins are all broken out to a 0.1" pitch header. Uses famous HMC5883L magnetometer chip. Supports 3.0V to 5.0V IO levels on I2C SCL and SDA pins.

Specification

Power supply :3V - 5V
IO Voltage Level: 3V - 5V
Communication: Standard IIC communication protocol
Module Dimensions: 14.35 mm (L) x 13.16 mm (W) x 3.40 mm (H)
PCB thickness: 1.60 mm
Measuring range: ± 1.3-8 Gauss

Step 1: Materials Preparation

In this tutorial, you will need :

1. Arduino Uno Board and USB Cable.
2. HMC 5883L Compass Sensor
3. Jumper Wires
4. LCD 16X2
5. Breadboard
6. 10K Potentiometer
7. Arduino IDE Software

Step 2: Pin Description

VCC : Power supply

GND : GND power

SCL: I2C Clock Input

SDA : I2C Data IO

DRDY: Data Ready Output

Step 3: Pin Connection

Connect HMC5883L to Arduino Uno Board as following :

VCC to +5V
GND to GND
SCL tO A5
SDA to A4

Connect LCD to Arduino Uno Board as following :

VSS to +5V
VDD to GND
RS to 12
RW to GND
E to 11
D4 to 5
D5 to 4
D6 to 3
D7 to 2
A/VSS to +5V
K/VDD to GND

Connect 10K Potentiometer to LCD as following (refer image for potentiometer pinout) :

GND to GND
Data to v0
VCC to +5V

Step 4: Connect Arduino to Computer

After u have complete your circuit, connect your Arduino Uno Board to your computer via USB Cable. You can see your LCD is on.

Step 5: Sample Source Code

You may download this sample source code and open it on your Arduino IDE. Choose the correct board and port. Then, upload your Code into your Arduino Uno Board.

HMC5833L.rar
Download

Step 6: Library

You have to download these libraries before uploading the sample source code into your Arduino IDE to allow Arduino to communicate with LCD and HMC5883L. Download the ZIP file below > Open Zip File > Extract to your Arduino Uno Library folder. Refer the image above for your references.