More VL53L1X sensors

[WirelessMind]

How can I use multiple sensors of this type on the same raspberry pi? I can't use Breakout Garden because I have to position them in a specific way. I read about the change-address.py script. Do I have to use that to change address? And how do I connect both of them on the GPIO pins of the raspberry pi? Thank you

[Gadgetoid]

Your best bet is to look into the multiplexer example here: https://github.com/pimoroni/vl53l1x-python/blob/master/examples/distance_multiplexer.py

And get hold of a tca9548a.

You could potentially use software i2c (i2c-gpio dtoverlay) to create multiple i2c busses on your Pi, but I haven't tried this.

While you can change the address of each sensor and avoid the use of these workarounds, it will usually get you into a chicken-and-egg problem. If all the sensors are wired to the Pi at boot time then their addresses will conflict. I think ST explain it better than I could: https://www.st.com/content/ccc/resource/technical/document/application_note/group0/0e/0a/96/1b/82/19/4f/c2/DM00280486/files/DM00280486.pdf/jcr:content/translations/en.DM00280486.pdf

You would- and this is not possible with our breakout anyway- have to hold each sensor in reset, boot them one at a time, change address and boot the next. I think most people opt for the tca9548a because it's much easier and the library supports it.