Specification:

Features:

• Controls 16 PWM outputs independently from just 2 I2C pins.

• 12-bit resolution for high precision (4096 steps).

• Onboard oscillator and hardware-driven PWM – does not burden the main controller.

• Chainable via I2C – control up to 992 servos (with multiple boards).

• Dedicated power input for servo motors (5–6V, not tied to logic VCC).

• Fully compatible with Adafruit PWM Servo Driver library.

• Excellent for robot arms, hexapods, animatronics, and LED displays.

• Compatible with both 3.3V and 5V logic – ideal for Pi.

Description:

The PCA9685 16-Channel PWM Servo Driver is a powerful I2C-based PWM controller that enables precise control of up to 16 channels of servos or LEDs with 12-bit resolution. It’s perfect for projects where you need to control multiple PWM devices (such as servo motors in robotics, animatronics, or LED dimming systems) using just two I2C pins.

The module uses the PCA9685 IC from NXP and supports a frequency range of 24Hz to 1526Hz. It includes an onboard oscillator and is designed to work independently of the host microcontroller’s timers. This means you can offload PWM control from your Pi, or ESP board, leaving the CPU free for other tasks.

The board includes a dedicated power terminal block for driving servos at 5–6V and features daisy-chaining support to control even more channels via the same I2C bus.