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If you’re like me, you’ve dreamed of being a dolphin – smoothly gliding through the water. Using your echo-location abilities to detect tasty fish treats. Until genetic modifications catches up with our desires, we’ll just have to make do with this handy US-100 Ultrasonic Sonar Distance Sensor and a pair of flippers. The US-100 is very similar to the popular HC-SR04 ultrasonic sensors, and even looks the same, but has a few extra tricks
This sensor can run from 3-5V so you don’t need any logic level shifters or dividers. Just power from whatever your microcontroller provides
You can use in “HC-SR04” mode or in “Serial UART” mode.
When the jumper on the back is removed, it acts like an HC-SR04 with a trigger and echo pin. When the jumper is in place, you use 9600 baud UART to communicate with the sensor. In UART mode, send 0x55 and read back two bytes (16 bit value) that is mm distance, or 0x50 to read the temperature in degrees C. Handy if you want to use with a computer and a USB-serial converter, or some other device that can’t do the special timing needed for the HC-SR04 trigger/echo.
These ubiquitous sensors are really common in robotics projects, but they can also be used for automation, interactive art and motion sensing. They work at about 2cm to 450cm away, but we think 10cm-250cm will get you the best results.
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Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat and our Discord!
Python for Microcontrollers – Adafruit Daily — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: CircuitPython 2025 Wraps, Focus on Using Python, Open Source and More! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi
EYE on NPI – Adafruit Daily — EYE on NPI Maxim’s Himalaya uSLIC Step-Down Power Module #EyeOnNPI @maximintegrated @digikey
