Breakout Garden i2c connector
Pimoroni's solderless PCB edge connector. Adds a 5th interrupt pin the JST systems lack.
Pinout
Breakout Garden pinout
Breakout Garden runs a 5-pin 5-pin edge at 2.54 mm pitch, wired 3V3 → SDA → SCL → INT → GND looking into the socket. The pin order is the part that actually matters: a connector that physically fits but is wired differently will land SDA where SCL should be, and the bus simply goes quiet. Compare it against the others in the pinout visualizer before you trust a cable that merely fits.
Specs
Breakout Garden at a glance
| Vendor | Pimoroni |
|---|---|
| Connector | 5-pin edge |
| Pins | 5 |
| Pitch | 2.54 mm |
| Logic voltage | 3.3 V only |
| Chainable | no |
| Interrupt pin | yes |
| Official docs | Pimoroni's Breakout Garden documentation ↗ |
Watch out: It's a 3.3 V edge connector, not a plug — you need an adapter to reach the JST-SH world.
Voltage & chaining
Living with Breakout Garden on a real bus
Breakout Garden is 3.3 V only. That single fact causes most of the damage people do to these chains: a 5 V host will happily drive 5 V into 3.3 V-only parts. If your board is an Arduino Uno rather than a Pi or ESP32, put a level shifter in first.
Breakout Garden boards aren't built to chain board-to-board, so you branch from a hub or the host instead of running them in series. That keeps the pull-up maths simpler, at the cost of more wiring back to one point.
Cable length is the other quiet limit — i2c budgets 400 pF of total bus capacitance, and every extra centimetre spends it. Inside an enclosure you'll never notice; if you're reaching across a room, read how far i2c actually goes first. If a chain stops responding, an i2c scan tells you whether it's a wiring or an addressing problem.
Compatibility
Connecting Breakout Garden to other standards
Every pairing below is pre-answered — whether it's a direct cable, an adapter, or a level shifter first. Or skip to the compatibility checker and pick both ends.
Questions
Breakout Garden FAQ
What connector does Breakout Garden use?
A 5-pin 5-pin edge at 2.54 mm pitch, wired 3V3 / SDA / SCL / INT / GND. The pin order matters as much as the plug — a connector that fits but is wired differently will swap SDA and SCL.
What voltage does Breakout Garden run at?
3.3 V only. Feeding 5 V into a Breakout Garden chain can damage the boards on it — if your host is a 5 V Arduino, level-shift first.
Can you daisy-chain Breakout Garden?
Not by design — Breakout Garden boards aren't built to chain board-to-board, so you branch from a hub or host instead of running them in series.
Does Breakout Garden have an interrupt pin?
Yes — Breakout Garden carries a dedicated interrupt line alongside power, ground, SDA and SCL, so a sensor can signal "data ready" instead of being polled.
What should I watch out for with Breakout Garden?
It's a 3.3 V edge connector, not a plug — you need an adapter to reach the JST-SH world.