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HOME / PRODUCT CATEGORIES / LEVEL SHIFTERS / SPARKFUN LOGIC LEVEL CONVERTER - BI-DIRECTIONAL
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SparkFun Logic Level Converter - Bi-
Directional
BOB-12009 ROHS
84
DESCRIPTION FEATURES DOCUMENTS
0.63 x 0.52" (16.05 x 13.33mm)
SparkFun Logic Level Converter - Bi-Directional Product Help and Resources
TUTORIALS SUPPORT TIPS SKILLS NEEDED
MicroView Digital Compass
OCTOBER 24, 2016
Build a portable digital compass
using the SparkFun MicroView
and the MAG3110 Magnetometer
Breakout.
COMMENTS 45 REVIEWS 84
Customer Reviews
4.6 out of 5
Based on 84 ratings:
6 of 6 found this helpful:
Great to talk to 3.3v device from 5V Arduino
about 3 years ago by Member #307348 verified purchaser
Used this with an Arduino UNO to talk to a 3.3v ESP8266. Been working for a few hours and no magic smoke
has left so I think that’s a good sign.
1 of 1 found this helpful:
Perfect problem solver for voltage level shifting.
about 3 years ago by Member #13807 verified purchaser
It was a perfect solution for me. I had been using the Raspberry Pi which uses 3.3V on its GPIO buss. Really
useful now that I am using a break out board with a FT245. Inexpensive, small, easy to use.
1 of 1 found this helpful:
This thing converts logic levels, bi-directionally!
about 3 years ago by MarmotXing verified purchaser
It turned my 5v signal into a 3v signal! And vice versa!
2 of 2 found this helpful:
Works fine, nice design, priced right.
about 3 years ago by Member #22666 verified purchaser
Small systems today often incorporate a mix of peripheral sensors or actuators which operate on different logic
levels. Especially 3.3 and 5 volt. It’s easy enough to lash up your own bi-directional converter with a MOSFET
and a couple resistors but at the price for this 4-channel device, why bother! An easy to use product and
reasonably priced.
2 of 2 found this helpful:
Switching Speed too slow
about 2 years ago by Member #782766 verified purchaser
I assume this logic level converter would work fine with i2c or some slower protocol, but, with high speed SPI
the RC constant is far to slow with a 10k resistor.
1 of 1 found this helpful:
Meets the description
about 3 years ago by Member #633974 verified purchaser
I am very pleased with the product and price. Just as described
3 of 3 found this helpful:
Works for me on LocoNet 3.3-12v
about 3 years ago by Member #114250 verified purchaser
I am using a 3.3v micro-controller on my model railroad to interface DIY sensors and signals to Digitrax
LocoNet runing at 12v. So far so good on a breadboard. Have yet to see what happens on a longer bus.
5 star 54
4 star 27
3 star 1
2 star 2
1 star 0
Currently viewing all customer reviews.
1 of 1 found this helpful:
Easy to use - works great
about 3 years ago by Member #344378 verified purchaser
Quick soldering and easy to use. Straightforward and intuitive.
2 of 2 found this helpful:
Diversification test
about 2 years ago by Headhunter verified purchaser
While these were built to translate the voltage levels of TTL data streams, I found additional applications, such
as MOSFET driver to isolate the sensitive IO ports on our Beaglebone Blacks, bring raw encoder outputs down
from 5 to 3v3, isolate a high voltage SSR from the IO’s and raise the input from 3v3 to 5v for more positive
actuation. These have one more use for us, We originally tried to drive some high power MOSFETs with poor
response, but after adding pull up resistors to the gates, and IO static with a pull down resistor set internally on
the pin, we get very reliable control. In fact bandwidth of transmitted PWMs has almost tripled. This MOSFET
controls large 12vdc coils for a hydraulic valve. Control response went from 97% - 99.9% range to 74% -
99.9%, giving tremendous improvement. Another feature is the bidirectional function of all ports. This allowed
me to have two encoders on one chip. Two more permitted controlling 7 MOSFETS and one SSR with a tiny
footprint of 1" x 2" x ¾" including 33 wires for all three boards.
That tiny footprint saved me. Like I mentioned earlier, there are 9 TO 220 transistors, three with their own
heatsinks, six more bonded to a common sink, 9 screw terminals for wiring the MOSFETs to their coil leads all
crammed on a tiny business card sized computer development proto board. Similar to this: DEV-12774
If it could drive those big Mossy"s by itself I’d give it 5 Stars. Bryan
1 of 1 found this helpful:
easy and effective
about 3 years ago by Kyleser verified purchaser
Very simplistic and easy to use. I’ve used it on the Nokia Display and it works like a champ. For you can’t beat it
and should buy a couple for your project prototypes.
1 of 1 found this helpful:
Works better than the competition!
about a year ago by Member #679961 verified purchaser
I got a competitors level shifter and it was terrible. I had no idea such a simple thing could be executed so
terribly. After figuring out what the problem was I ordered a handful of these Sparkfun boards and won’t go
back. Rock solid especially with I2C and SPI. The competitor’s product seemed to generate a lot of AC for very
little work. Some things are just better from Colorado I guess. Nothing against New York City but then again, I
am a country boy…
1 of 1 found this helpful:
Works fine for 3.3v to 1.8v conversion
about 3 years ago by ao2 verified purchaser
I used this converter with a BeagleBone Black to flash a SPI EEPROM which needed 1.8v.
Details and pictures on http://ao2.it/111
1 of 1 found this helpful:
Perfect
about 3 years ago by Member #650966 verified purchaser
Long delivery time but perfect.
5 of 5 found this helpful:
about 3 years ago by Chiel verified purchaser
There is only one real limitation with these. namely that they rely on both devices to be “Open collector”. which
means the devices need to be able to actively pull the signal down to ground to work. not all devices do that so
it is best to make sure they do this. if your device works by actively pulling the signal up and not down this
won’t work.
However when used appropriately these are pretty fantastic. great for communication busses like I2C,1-wire
and such.
1 of 1 found this helpful:
about 3 years ago by Member #605759 verified purchaser
Came fast, worked as expected. Data sheet easily found on the website.
1 of 1 found this helpful:
It works....
about 3 years ago by Member #526435 verified purchaser
….because it was designed properly. Thanx.
1 of 1 found this helpful:
Robust board, easy to use
about 3 years ago by Member #500384 verified purchaser
Easy to use board. Just set high and low reference voltage and instant bidirectional communications between
board with different source voltages.
1 of 1 found this helpful:
Exactly what I wanted!
about 3 years ago by Member #612456 verified purchaser
this was a simple board but suited perfectly for level shifting in breadboard prototypes!
1 of 1 found this helpful:
Driving ST Micro SWIM Lines Down an 8 foot Cable
about 3 years ago by Member #322079 verified purchaser
ST Micro SWIM (Single Wire Interface Module) is not meant to go very far … SparkFun Logic Level Converter -
Bi-Directional did the trick. I did have to decrease the pull up resistors on the HV side to about 1K to get
enough “voom” to shape up the edges but it worked which is saving me from some serious headaches.
3 of 3 found this helpful:
WS2811 LEDs
about 3 years ago by Nomic verified purchaser
I managed to get this working with a Teensy 3.1 and the OctoWS2811 library using 3.3v as the input voltage
and 12v as the output to control a string of LEDs. This was straightforward once I realized that the Teensy’s
TTL output was at 3.3v and not the 5v I was using as the Teensy VIN.
I’ve only tested a single strand of lights with this, however, so YMMV with different variations.
2 of 2 found this helpful:
Works Great!
about 3 years ago by Member #496669 verified purchaser
I use it to convert logic levels from my Arduino and ESP8266. Haven’t had any issues so far.
2 of 2 found this helpful:
Works well
about 3 years ago by Member #442329 verified purchaser
Used to talk between my 5V arduino and a 12V IC. Needed to slow down the arduino SPI bus otherwise the
converter would not be able to send an adequate signal. Once the bus was slowed down however, converter
worked well.
1 of 1 found this helpful:
Good,small package.
about 3 years ago by Member #488671 verified purchaser
I use these all the time in designs that require tight packaging. This works well for my needs.
1 of 1 found this helpful:
about 3 years ago by Member #681097 verified purchaser
Best size, 4lines. Good price. Would be usefull single an bi/lines modules too
2 of 2 found this helpful:
Did just what I needed.
about 3 years ago by Member #8833 verified purchaser
I needed to get my Arduino (5V) talking to a Gumstix (1.8V) module via Serial/UART. This level converter does
the trick.
2 of 2 found this helpful:
Excellent level shifter
about 3 years ago by Member #420461 verified purchaser
small footprint, easy to use, reliable. I use it to interface 3.3 volt MCUs to 5 volt devices
4 of 4 found this helpful:
Doing the job perfectly for my ESP8266 module.
about 3 years ago by Member #650977 verified purchaser
When it’s critical for your component to have those back and forth signals pulled down to 3.3v from the
standard UNO/MEGA board 5v signal, this is perfect. Thanks, Sparkfun Team! (NOTE: I should have ordered
two though, one for the breadboard prototype, and one for the final project assembly.)
3 of 4 found this helpful:
Does its job
about 3 years ago by Member #635576 verified purchaser
I got this to connect my Edison (1.8V I/O) to a Sparkfun LSM9DS0 breakout (3.3V I/O) using i2c. It’s working
perfectly, so far.
My only complaint is that I wouldn’t have needed this at all if the LSM9DS0 breakout had brought out the
Vdd_IO pin rather than tying it to Vdd.
6 of 8 found this helpful:
Doesn't work with WS2812 LED control IC
about 3 years ago by Member #648524 verified purchaser
I needed something to translate the 3.3V GPIO control signals coming out of my Raspberry Pi to 5V in order to
control a WS2812 LED controller (specifically https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12877). The control signals
for the WS2812 run at 800kHz, with an allowable delay time of +/-150ns.
The data sheet for this converter says that the turn-on time, rise time, and delay time are all in the sub 40ns
range–so it should work fine, right?
Wrong. The WS2812 glitches like crazy when I try to control it through this logic level converter, so for my
purposes, this part is useless. On the plus side, it was only , so it’s not like I wasted much money.
Worked great for my project
about 2 years ago by Member #512476 verified purchaser
I used the bi-directional board to connect a small OLED screen (https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13003) to
a RedBoard. The screen required 3.3 V signal from a variety of pins. Using this bi-directional board was very
simple to make the necessary connections between pins on the redboard and OLED board.
Works just as advertised, quick shipping, good value
about 2 years ago by Member #831458 verified purchaser
Works just as advertised, quick shipping, good value.
The board is a high quality PCB, and the workmanship is great.
No problems here.
Works Perfectly
about a year ago by Member #705913 verified purchaser
I used it to level shift signals between a PSOC5 and a Playstation 2 controller. Worked like a charm.
Needed for Arduino and BME280
about a year ago by jlmyra verified purchaser
Used this with an Arduino communicating with two BME280’s over I2C. Since they are strictly 3.3V devices, the
bi-directional logic level convertor is required. It works great and is very small allowing it to be incorporated
without taking up much space.
Great Product
about a year ago by Member #792466 verified purchaser
I used this in a project to interface a FPGA and a SNES controller. Works flawlessly.
Excellent!
about a year ago by Member #833501 verified purchaser
Works exactly as stated.
Works just as expected
about a year ago by Member #436375 verified purchaser
Makes connecting to 3.3V from arduino extremely easy
My enduser says, "They work!"
last year by Member #262063 verified purchaser
Though short on words, my enduser is a mechanical engineer who’s long on usefulness. His succinct summary
of this product is, “They work!”
Exactly what it says on the tin
about 9 months ago by Member #840131 verified purchaser
It was easy to solder, and worked exactly as needed for the project I was working on. The only thing missing is
if it could somehow only require one reference voltage as input, but that would likely increase board complexity
compared to the simple workhorse we have here.
Easy and Straightforward
about 9 months ago by Member #103607 verified purchaser
Purchased this level shifter for a 5V to 3V I2C connection and it worked out of the box without a hitch. I didn’t
do too much digging but I believe the onboard resistors worked nicely for the I2C pullups. I also thought the
price was very good considering.
Works great
about 9 months ago by Member #1037121 verified purchaser
Performed as expected, got my project back on track, thanks!
Works great!!!
about 8 months ago by Member #386694 verified purchaser
In setting up a Parallax Propeller micro-controller(3.3v) to work with a Matrix Orbital LK204-25 LCD (5v) using a
I2C interface, I needed a bi-directional logic-level converter. This module/board worked out great. I needed
only two channels for the SDA & SCL I/O lines, but having an additional two channels on this module/board will
be useful for future expansion.
Works great!
about 8 months ago by Member #554349 verified purchaser
I realized that I need 6-bit converter. So I’ve re-designed and laid out 6-bit converter with BSS138 MOSFET.
Now waiting for my board to arrive from being fabricated. That way, this board will make a nice interface board
for the SparkFun Micro OLED Breakout (LCD-13003). Less wiring!
Used it to connect a 5V Photo-Interrupter to a 3.3V ESP8266
about 7 months ago by Brad10 verified purchaser
It took a bit of convincing before I believed I knew how to hook it up. Nothing could be easier: connect the two
power supplies to the HV and LV inputs, connect the grounds, then connect your high level and low level
signals and Voila!
I bought the bi-directional part so I could use it for ESP8266 outputs as well as inputs.
Worked for me right out of the box. I expect I’ll be using more of these as I connect 5V parts to my 3.3V
ESP8266 Thing boards.
Excellent product
about 7 months ago by Member #361203 verified purchaser
The product does exactly what it claims, i.e. convert from 5v to 3.3v. I’m using three on a cape I’ve designed for
the Beaglebone Black which requires the 3.3v signals. My only complaint is that I’m using it with a through hole
circuit board so leads would be nice instead of having to do surface mount soldering.
Great
about 6 months ago by Member #399399 verified purchaser
Works fine. No problems.
Great for I2C, UART, less great for SPI
about 6 months ago by Member #851078 verified purchaser
I used this with my dev kit which has a logical voltage of 1V8 to drive several 5V and 3V3 devices. The 3V3 I2C
LEDs worked like a charm and UART seems to work fine, but I had a 5V SPI device going at 1MHz that was not
responding correctly. Scoping it out showed that the clock signal was only going to about 2.3V at its height, not
enough to trigger a rising edge. Still a great little device though, and I can reuse for other prototyping.
Great little interfaces
about 5 months ago by Member #732313 verified purchaser
If you’re working between 3.3v and 5v you need this little baby. Makes the job of converting logic level easy.
The Price is Right
about 4 months ago by Member #1182964 verified purchaser
Caution, object in the picture is much smaller that it appears. Other than that, it works as advertise at a price
that is right.
It works!
about 3 months ago by Member #673028 verified purchaser
Worked the first time for me. I don’t really know much about electronics but I wired it up and it worked, so there
you have it.
Perfect in Performance and Simplicity
about 3 months ago by Member #402835 verified purchaser
I wish all components were like this one! I soldered the header pins and then connected 5V to one of the HV
pins and checked the voltage on the corresponding LV pin. It was spot on 3.3V. Not much more than you can
say other than the price was great too! The folks and products at Sparkfun are great!
The Four independent channels make it universal ! Wish I had it a long time
ago..
about 2 months ago by DaveW2 verified purchaser
Many times I had to add resistors or transistors / resistors to the breadboard circuit before I had to layout the
prototype I was working on that took way too much time. Well, here it is already to put to work for your without
any lost time. The Four Independent channels are easy to hook-up with this breadboard ready module. Easy
hook up to 5 volts to the HV input, 3.3 volts to the LV input. Then hook your LV device to the LV terminal and
your 5 volt device to the HV terminal. That is all there is to it !
Worked as stated
about a month ago by Kerns verified purchaser
Used 3 to bump up the signal lines from my smoothie board to some external drivers. Haven’t seen any issues
yet. Hope to have them under full load soon.
about 3 weeks ago by Member #891730 verified purchaser
Hookup guide could explain much more.
Works well with I²C
about 2 years ago by Member #712371 verified purchaser
Here’s are some demo videos of using this product with I²C
https://youtu.be/LwOlzQDhr-A https://youtu.be/dP9_afbdtBU
A must have.
about 2 years ago by RuralGuru verified purchaser
I bought 4 so that I have plenty for future projects. I constantly run into the need to talk between 1 voltage
system and another. This made it possible to use a wider variety of chips without consulting logic voltage
before purchase. Great board to have in my candybox.
Works as expected. Quick and easy!
about 2 years ago by bau verified purchaser
Works as expected. Quick and easy! Soldered the headers for prototyping and the thing can plug into a
breadboard just fine no matter which side of the PCB you solder your pin headers. Pretty cool!
Flawless!!!
about 2 years ago by Member #152425 verified purchaser
Used this board on 2 different projects. Absolutely no hitches or problems!!! Highly recommend it.
Indispensable when interfacing I2C 5V with 3V3
about 2 years ago by Elecdonia verified purchaser
I’ve used this to connect a 3V3 I2C device to a 5V Arduino board. Have also used it to connect 5V I2C devices
to 3V3 Teensy boards. Always works perfectly.
It works
about 2 years ago by Member #489102 verified purchaser
As advertised. No Complaints.
Good Level converter
about 2 years ago by Machasoftware verified purchaser
Excellent product
Level converter
about 2 years ago by Member #450824 verified purchaser
Works fine, as advertised and as expected. I don’t expect any problems. I would recommend this product from
sparkfun.
Goodie
about 2 years ago by Fezder verified purchaser
This is nerve-saver, no need to ‘'play’‘ with resistors, but resistors have benefit of taking small space if only 1
or 2 lines are needed.
it is perfect for my application
about 2 years ago by Member #435422 verified purchaser
My PCBs that I create are very flexable
does exactly what it's supposed to do
about 2 years ago by ozzloy verified purchaser
bbb <- serial -> arduino uno. i got my bbb and arduino uno talking to each other using serial. thanks!
Works as advertised
about 2 years ago by Member #358847 verified purchaser
Works great for level shifting (UART in my case). Well thought out pin layout for breadboarding. Also, having
the schematic available is very handy.
Simple and effective
about 2 years ago by Member #764931 verified purchaser
This essential building block is achieved with just one transistor and two resistors (with the help of the internal
diode). It simply works very well with a small footprint.
Easy to hook up and it works!
about 2 years ago by Member #765283 verified purchaser
This is a great converter to go from 3.3v to 5v. Makes it very easy to connect ESP8266 WiFi board to a 5v
Arduino Uno.
Perfect and minimizes circuit components
about 2 years ago by Member #727317 verified purchaser
WEoks perfectly, and does not take up unnecessary wiring space on your circuit board.
Great Device, works as advertised
about 2 years ago by Member #775168 verified purchaser
Bought 2 for use in a dual SPI sensor project, Both level shifters worked just as advertised. Cheap insurance
as a go-between on arduino projects.
Perfect for devices which don't play nice
about 2 years ago by Member #318821 verified purchaser
I had a Kinetis FRDM-K64F that spoke 3v3 I2C, and an Adafruit LCD Backpack that only spoke 5v I2C, and
couldn’t trigger off 3v3. This converter was exactly the thing to get the two talking.
Great product.
about 2 years ago by cbmeeks verified purchaser
I only wished this product came in an eight channel version.
Tiny, inexpensive, does what it should
about 2 years ago by Member #518913 verified purchaser
It’s a quality product. I used it to process signals from rasp pi 3. It works perfectly.
Immensely practical when level conversion is needed
about 2 years ago by mwgrabau verified purchaser
Very easy to use: just solder in the headers, hook up the two levels (e.g. 5V and 3.3V) to the inputs/outputs
from a 3.3V device (e.g. an I2C device) and you are done in five minuted compared to researching and
building it yourself.
Worked as advertised ..
about 2 years ago by Member #42446 verified purchaser
Connected it to the RFM69 using a 5V Arduino UNO and it worked perfectly
Essential gear
about 2 years ago by Member #709445 verified purchaser
In this world of 3.3v and 5V chips, this is the easiest way to get between them, I’d love an 8 bit version at some
point. Pretty simple to use, and if you aren’t driving LEDs or counting on tri-state logic it works well. I found it
useful to talk to 5V SPI interfaces from a 3.3V microprocessor.
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