Day: January 14, 2018
This tutorial was originally posted on the 10kohms.com website, which now seems to be no longer with us, so we have reproduced it here.
In my last post I discussed using the built in EEPROM to store permanent data on the Arduino. All though this is a very easy and effective way of storing data on the Arduino the built in EEPROM only offers 512 bytes of storage. When working with larger or more advanced Arduino projects we may need to store additional data so an external memory solution like the 24LC256 I²C EEPROM IC becomes necessary.
We’re using a 256kbit eeprom which is actually 32kbytes of space. 262,144 bits / 8 bits in a byte = 32,768 bytes. That’s 62 times the Arduino’s built-in storage!
I got my hands on an AT24C256 (256 kbit = 32 kbyte serial EEPROM). I found no library for it, so I created a small sketch with few functions to show how the i2c_eeprom_write_page and i2c_eeprom_read_byte functions work.
Because this chip is I2C, it only uses the analog pins 4 & 5 (SDA and SCL), and of course the power (5V) and GND.
Connect as follows:
Arduino analog pin 4 to EEPROM pin 5
Arduino analog pin 5 to EEPROM pin 6
Arduino 5V to EEPROM pin 8
Arduino GND to EEPROM pin 1,2,3,4