{"product_id":"trackball-breakout","title":"Trackball Breakout","description":"\u003cp\u003eA tiny, RGBW-illuminated, clickable Trackball Breakout that's perfect for adding navigation or control to your Raspberry Pi or Raspberry Pi Pico projects.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe've taken a trackball module from everyone's favourite fruit-flavoured phone and added a bunch of clever engineering to let you build old-school interaction into your projects. As well as \u003cstrong\u003ex\/y directional tracking and click\u003c\/strong\u003e, we've added an \u003cstrong\u003eRGBW (red\/green\/blue\/white) LED\u003c\/strong\u003e right under the clear trackball to illuminate it and allow you to add visual feedback.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUse Trackball Breakout with an Arduino that supports USB HID to use it as a tiny mouse. Or why not use it as a colour\/brightness control for an \u003ca rel=\"noopener\" href=\"\/en-eu\/products\/5x5-rgb-matrix-breakout\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eLED matrix breakout\u003c\/a\u003e, or a navigation controller for a \u003ca rel=\"noopener\" href=\"\/en-eu\/products\/space-unicorns\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eCosmic Unicorn\u003c\/a\u003e?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBecause the trackball has a grippy rubber surface you can also use it with the trackball facing downwards and track it as it rolls on a surface, like a traditional roller ball mouse.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt's compatible with our fancy \u003ca rel=\"noopener\" href=\"\/en-eu\/collections\/breakout-garden\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eBreakout Garden\u003c\/a\u003e system, where using breakouts is as easy just popping it into one of the six slots and starting to grow your project, create, and code. Trackball breakouts made after April 2024 are also \u003cstrong\u003eQw\/ST compatible\u003c\/strong\u003e so they can be plugged into a whole range of different \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/shop.pimoroni.com\/collections\/stemma-qt\" target=\"_blank\"\u003emicrocontrollers and HATs\u003c\/a\u003e with Qwiic or STEMMA QT connectors.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eFeatures\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMini trackball with click button\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRGBW LEDs beneath trackball for illumination\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMoulded plastic trackball casing\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMounting holes\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.nuvoton.com\/products\/microcontrollers\/8bit-8051-mcus\/industrial-8051-series\/ms51xb9ae\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-mce-href=\"https:\/\/www.nuvoton.com\/products\/microcontrollers\/8bit-8051-mcus\/industrial-8051-series\/ms51xb9ae\/\"\u003eNuvoton MS51XB9AE\u003c\/a\u003e MCU\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eI2C interface (address 0x0A\/0x0B (cut trace))\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eQwiic\/STEMMA QT connector\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e3.3V or 5V compatible\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eReverse polarity protection\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCompatible with Arduino\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCompatible with Raspberry Pi computers (\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/pimoroni\/trackball-python\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ePython library\u003c\/a\u003e)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCompatible with Raspberry Pi Pico (\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/pimoroni\/pimoroni-pico\" target=\"_blank\" data-mce-href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/pimoroni\/pimoroni-pico\"\u003eC++\/MicroPython libraries\u003c\/a\u003e)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eKit includes\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTrackball breakout\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e1x5 pin header\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e1x5 right-angle socket header\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe've designed this breakout board so that you can solder on the piece of right angle female header and pop it straight onto the bottom left 5 pins on your Raspberry Pi's GPIO header (pins 1, 3, 5, 7, 9).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eEngineering\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere's a remarkable amount of engineering packed into this diminutive breakout.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe trackball module itself has a tiny cylinder magnet at each corner that spins and is read by one of four Hall-effect sensors.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere's a tiny dome switch right under the trackball for detecting clicks, and four LEDs (red, green, blue, white) around the trackball to illuminate it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe've designed and injection-moulded a plastic trackball casing to hold the module in place and protect it, and this can be popped off to clean the trackball or roller, or to replace the module if necessary.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere's an on-board \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.nuvoton.com\/products\/microcontrollers\/8bit-8051-mcus\/industrial-8051-series\/ms51xb9ae\/\" data-mce-href=\"https:\/\/www.nuvoton.com\/products\/microcontrollers\/8bit-8051-mcus\/industrial-8051-series\/ms51xb9ae\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eNuvoton MS51XB9AE\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eMCU to read output from the trackball and dome switch, to control the LEDs, and to implement I2C.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eSoftware\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe've put together a \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/pimoroni\/trackball-python\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ePython library\u003c\/a\u003e for Trackball Breakout that makes it simple to read directional values, click events, and set the LED colour. There's a handful of examples of how to read the direction and click, make the LEDs rainbow, and use it as a mouse in Raspberry Pi OS.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eYou can also use this breakout with Raspberry Pi Pico and other RP2040 boards, using \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/pimoroni\/pimoroni-pico\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eC++ or Pirate brand MicroPython\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cspan\u003e.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eNotes\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe trackball breakout only works reliably with I2C speeds up to 250kHz due to limitations in the Raspberry Pi's clock-stretching implementation.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDimensions (click for image): \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0174\/1800\/files\/trackballbreakout.png?v=1599645804\" target=\"_blank\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e25x22x11mm\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOlder versions of this breakout use a \u003ca data-mce-fragment=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nuvoton.com\/hq\/products\/microcontrollers\/8bit-8051-mcus\/low-pin-count-8051-series\/n76e003\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-mce-href=\"https:\/\/www.nuvoton.com\/hq\/products\/microcontrollers\/8bit-8051-mcus\/low-pin-count-8051-series\/n76e003\/\"\u003eNuvoton N76E003AQ20\u003c\/a\u003e MCU.\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"Pimoroni","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":27672765038675,"sku":"PIM447","price":15.95,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0174\/1800\/products\/Trackball_1_of_4.JPG?v=1560173220","url":"https:\/\/shop.pimoroni.com\/en-eu\/products\/trackball-breakout","provider":"Pimoroni Ltd","version":"1.0","type":"link"}