PCA9685 4-Channel 8W Open Collector FET Driver 4-Channel GPIO w/ I2C Interface Datasheet
PCA9685 All information provided in this document is subject to legal disclaimers. © NXP Semiconductors N.V. 2015. All rights reserved.
Product data sheet Rev. 4 — 16 April 2015  2 of 52
NXP Semiconductors
PCA9685
16-channel, 12-bit PWM Fm+ I
2
C-bus LED controller
The active LOW Output Enable input pin (OE) allows asynchronous control of the LED 
outputs and can be used to set all the outputs to a defined I
2
C-bus programmable logic 
state. The OE
 can also be used to externally ‘pulse width modulate’ the outputs, which is 
useful when multiple devices need to be dimmed or blinked together using software 
control.
Software programmable LED All Call and three Sub Call I
2
C-bus addresses allow all or 
defined groups of PCA9685 devices to respond to a common I
2
C-bus address, allowing 
for example, all red LEDs to be turned on or off at the same time or marquee chasing 
effect, thus minimizing I
2
C-bus commands. Six hardware address pins allow up to 
62 devices on the same bus.
The Software Reset (SWRST) General Call allows the master to perform a reset of the 
PCA9685 through the I
2
C-bus, identical to the Power-On Reset (POR) that initializes the 
registers to their default state causing the outputs to be set LOW. This allows an easy and 
quick way to reconfigure all device registers to the same condition via software.
2.  Features and benefits
 16 LED drivers. Each output programmable at:
 Off
 On
 Programmable LED brightness
 Programmable LED turn-on time to help reduce EMI
 1 MHz Fast-mode Plus compatible I
2
C-bus interface with 30 mA high drive capability 
on SDA output for driving high capacitive buses
 4096-step (12-bit) linear programmable brightness per LED output varying from fully 
off (default) to maximum brightness
 LED output frequency (all LEDs) typically varies from 24 Hz to 1526 Hz (Default of 1Eh 
in PRE_SCALE register results in a 200 Hz refresh rate with oscillator clock of 
25 MHz.)
 Sixteen totem pole outputs (sink 25 mA and source 10 mA at 5 V) with software 
programmable open-drain LED outputs selection (default at totem pole). No input 
function.
 Output state change programmable on the Acknowledge or the STOP Command to 
update outputs byte-by-byte or all at the same time (default to ‘Change on STOP’).
 Active LOW Output Enable (OE
) input pin. LEDn outputs programmable to logic 1, 
logic 0 (default at power-up) or ‘high-impedance’ when OE
 is HIGH.
 6 hardware address pins allow 62 PCA9685 devices to be connected to the same 
I
2
C-bus
 Toggling OE
 allows for hardware LED blinking
 4 software programmable I
2
C-bus addresses (one LED All Call address and three LED 
Sub Call addresses) allow groups of devices to be addressed at the same time in any 
combination (for example, one register used for ‘All Call’ so that all the PCA9685s on 
the I
2
C-bus can be addressed at the same time and the second register used for three 
different addresses so that 
1
⁄
3
 of all devices on the bus can be addressed at the same 
time in a group). Software enable and disable for these I
2
C-bus address.
 Software Reset feature (SWRST General Call) allows the device to be reset through 
the I
2
C-bus










