Vishay has many light sensors on the market, and it is a simple and pleasant light sensor that is easy to add to any microcontroller. Most light sensors simply give you a number for brighter or darker ambient lighting. The VEML7700 makes your life easier by calculating lux, which is an SI unit for light. You will get more consistent readings between several sensors because you are not dealing with values without units.

The sensor has a 16-bit dynamic range for ambient light detection from 0 lux to about 120 klux with a resolution up to 0.0036 lx/ct, with software adjustable gain and integration time.

The interface is simple - this sensor uses the simple and universal I2C. We have placed this sensor on a power supply board with a 3.3 V regulator and a logic level switch so that you can use it with 3.3 V or 5 V power/logic microcontrollers. We have written libraries for Arduino (C/C++++) as well as CircuitPython (Python 3) so you can use this sensor with just about any device, even a Raspberry Pi !

This is Kattni's first PCB design for Adafruit, it is even signed on the back!

Technical details

Product dimensions : 16.6 mm x 16.5 mm x 4.0 mm / 0.7" x 0.6" x 0.6" x 0.2" x 0.2

Product weight : 1.0g / 0.0oz