Connecting Pimoroni Audio + PiicoDev Ultrasonic Rangefinder to Raspberry Pi Pico

Support Pimoroni
1

Hi all,

I am a beginner to electronics and am working on a project where I want to play a sound file whenever an object comes within 20cm of the ultrasonic range sensor. I am looking at combining the following components to make this happen:

I was initially looking at connecting the Raspberry Pi Pico to the Piicodev Rangefinder with a I2C cable and a Piicodev LiPo Expandsion Boards (https://core-electronics.com.au/piicodev-lipo-expansion-board-for-raspberry-pi-pico.html).

However, as I understand it, the Pimoroni Pico Audio Pack needs to be plugged into the Raspberry Pi Pico directly to work. I was contemplating a Pimoroni Pico Omnibus (https://core-electronics.com.au/pimoroni-pico-omnibus-dual-expander.html) to connect the Raspberry Pi and the Pimoroni Pico Audio Pack together, while still being able to access the pins for the Piicodev Rangefinder (which I would look at connecting through either the LiPo Expansion board or a through a JST PH 4-Pin to Female Socket Cable).

Is it possible to wire these components together for the desired outcome and if so, what would be the best way to go about this? If anyone has any recommendations for other components that would make this project possible / better / easier / cheaper, that would be fantastic as well!

Thanks for the support,
Nathan

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Hey @Nathan243765 - i reckon you’re on the money with the omnibus. you can mount the Pico and the Audio pack onto the Omnibus, and with the remaining exposed pins you could use a PiicoDev Prototyping Cable (female) to wire in the PiicoDev bus.

  • Red: 3v3
  • Black: GND
  • Blue: SDA (GP8)
  • Yellow: SCL (GP9)

There is another (cheaper) way. Use a Pico with Stackable headers. Plug that into the audio pack and use the PiicoDev Prototyping Cable (male) on the upward-facing female headers.

1 Like
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Thanks for the super speedy reply @Michael . Just to clarify, did you mean that I could plug the pico with stackable headers into the pimoroni audio pack and then use the male prototyping cable to connect the rangefinder? I think that’s what you meant, but you said plug the pico with the stackable headers into the omnibus and I just wanted to make sure!

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@Nathan243765 yes that’s what I mean :sweat_smile: fixed in original reply

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Hi @Michael,

It seems that whenever I plug the black cable into the ground pin on the Pico that the sound on the Pimoroni Audio stops. The MP3 file and the script continues to play, but I am no longer able to hear the sound. From a bit of reading, I am thinking it may have to do with Pimoroni Audio Pack running on CircuitPython, rather than MicroPython. Is there any way to make the two components compatible? It would be great to use the Pimoroni Audio Pack with the other components I am using!

Looking forward to hearing your reply!
Nathan

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Instead of using the Pimoroni Pico Audio Pack directly with the Raspberry Pi Pico, you can use the Pimoroni Pico Omnibus Dual Expander board. The Omnibus board will allow you to connect both the Pico Audio Pack and the Ultrasonic Rangefinder to the Raspberry Pi Pico simultaneously.