HMC5883L - 3 Axis Digital Compass

HMC5883L is a surface-mount, multi-chip module designed for low-field magnetic sensing with a digital interface for applications such as lowcost compassing and magnetometry.

Documentation

• HMC5883L datasheet

Usage

Important: make sure you properly setup the I2C pins especially for ESP32 before creating the I2cDevice, make sure you install the nanoFramework.Hardware.ESP32 nuget:

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// when connecting to an ESP32 device, need to configure the I2C GPIOs
// used for the bus
Configuration.SetPinFunction(21, DeviceFunction.I2C1_DATA);
Configuration.SetPinFunction(22, DeviceFunction.I2C1_CLOCK);

For other devices like STM32, please make sure you're using the preset pins for the I2C bus you want to use.

I2cConnectionSettings settings = new I2cConnectionSettings(1, Hmc5883l.DefaultI2cAddress);
I2cDevice device = I2cDevice.Create(settings);

using (Hmc5883l sensor = new Hmc5883l(device))
{
    // read direction vector
    Vector3 directionVector = sensor.DirectionVector;
    // read heading
    double heading = sensor.Heading;
    // read status
    Status status = sensor.DeviceStatus;
}

From the HMC5883L sample, you can go further with the following:

I2cConnectionSettings settings = new I2cConnectionSettings(1, Hmc5883l.DefaultI2cAddress);
I2cDevice device = I2cDevice.Create(settings);

using (Hmc5883l sensor = new Hmc5883l(device))
{
    while (true)
    {
        // read heading
        Debug.WriteLine($"Heading: {sensor.Heading.ToString("0.00")} °");
        Debug.WriteLine();

        // wait for a second
        Thread.Sleep(1000);
    }
}

Hardware Required

• HMC5883L
• Male/Female Jumper Wires

Circuit

• SCL - SCL
• SDA - SDA
• VCC - 5V
• GND - GND

Result