Adafruit TSL2591 High Dynamic Range Digital Light Sensor

This Adafruit TSL2591 High Dynamic Range Digital Light Sensor is an advanced digital light sensor, ideal for use in a wide range of light situations. Compared to low cost CdS cells, this sensor is more precise, allowing for exact lux calculations and can be configured for different gain/timing ranges to detect light ranges from 188 uLux up to 88,000 Lux on the fly.

The best part of this sensor is that it contains both infrared and full spectrum diodes! That means you can separately measure infrared, full-spectrum or human-visible light. Most sensors can only detect one or the other, which does not accurately represent what human eyes see (since we cannot perceive the IR light that is detected by most photo diodes) This sensor is much like the TSL2561 but with a wider range (and the interface code is different). This sensor has a massive 600,000,000:1 dynamic range! Unlike the TSL2561 you cannot change the I2C address, so keep that in mind.

Specifications:

• Approximates Human eye Response
• Extremely wide dynamic range 1 to 600,000,000 Counts
• Lux Range: 188 uLux sensitivity, up to 88,000 Lux input measurements.
• Temperature range: -30 to 80 *C
• Voltage range: 3.3-5V into onboard regulator
• Interface: I2C
• This board/chip uses I2C 7-bit address 0x29 (fixed)

• Dimensions: 19 x 16 x 1mm
• Weight: 1.1g
• Datasheets, Fritzing object and PCB CAD files available in tutorial