Adafruit
Adafruit Qwiic / Stemma QT Breakout Board
· MPN: ADA5961
The Adafruit Qwiic / STEMMA QT Breakout Board bridges the gap between the STEMMA QT / Qwiic connector world and standard 0.1" breadboard pins. One end has a ...
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The Adafruit Qwiic / STEMMA QT Breakout Board bridges the gap between the STEMMA QT / Qwiic connector world and standard 0.1" breadboard pins. One end has a JST SH-compatible connector for plug-and-play I2C, and the other has four 0.1" spaced pads for soldering headers or wires to a breadboard.
Built-in 10 K pull-up resistors on SDA and SCL keep your I2C bus tidy, and a green power LED confirms proper wiring. Use it with I2C controllers (Feather, Metro, QT Py) or I2C devices (sensors, OLEDs, GPIO expanders) — the lines pass straight through, so it works with both 3.3 V and 5 V logic.
Key Features
- STEMMA QT / Qwiic Connector – JST SH-compatible plug-and-play I2C port
- 0.1" Breakout Pads – Four pads (VCC, GND, SDA, SCL) for headers or wires
- 10 K Pull-Up Resistors – On SDA and SCL lines (can be disabled by cutting traces on the back)
- Power LED – Green indicator confirms power and ground are connected
- 3.3 V and 5 V Compatible – Passive pass-through works at either voltage level
- Bidirectional – Use as a controller-side or device-side breakout
Ideal For
- Connecting STEMMA QT / Qwiic devices to breadboards
- Adding a STEMMA QT port to boards without one
- Prototyping I2C circuits with standard 0.1" headers
- Quick I2C bus debugging and testing
Jargon buster
Plain-language definitions for the technical terms used above.
- breakout
- A breakout board carries a small or fine-pitched component and brings its connections out to standard, breadboard- and header-friendly pins. Describing a part as a breakout means it can be wired into a project without soldering directly to the component's tiny contacts.
- GND
- GND is the ground or reference connection (0 V) for a circuit. When connecting two devices together, their grounds must be joined so both agree on what counts as a low or high signal.
- GPIO
- General-purpose input/output pins are microcontroller pins you can set in software to read signals, switch devices on and off, or connect to peripherals. The number of GPIO pins matters because it limits how many buttons, LEDs, sensors, and other parts you can wire directly to the board.
- Headers
- Rows of connector contacts on a fixed pitch (commonly 2.54 mm) used to link a board to a breadboard, jumper wires, or another board. They come as male pin headers and female socket headers; when a module ships with pre-soldered headers it can be used straight away, whereas bare pads require soldering the pins yourself.
- I2C
- I2C is a two-wire communication bus used by many sensors and small modules. It matters because several I2C devices can share the same two wires, but each device needs a compatible address and your controller must support I2C.
- LED
- A light-emitting diode (LED) is a small electronic component that emits light when current flows through it in the correct direction. Because it only conducts one way, its polarity matters, and a through-hole LED must be soldered the correct way around to light up.
- Qwiic
- Qwiic is a plug-in connector system for I2C devices that uses small 4-pin cables, so you can connect compatible sensors without soldering. It matters because your controller or adapter also needs Qwiic, or you will need a cable or breakout to wire it up.
- STEMMA
- A plug-and-cable connection system used on some maker electronics boards to make wiring simpler. If a product uses STEMMA, you need the matching cable or connector type to plug it in without soldering.
- STEMMA QT
- A small plug-in connector system for I2C boards that lets you connect compatible sensors and controllers without soldering. It matters because it can make wiring faster and less error-prone, especially when adding several small modules to a project.
- VCC
- VCC is the positive power-supply connection on a chip or module. Connecting it to the correct supply voltage is needed for the part to power on and helps avoid damaging the electronics.
