🎉  Happy 13th Birthday Raspberry Pi!   🎂   1,000+ deals in store!   🥳
🎉  Happy 13th Birthday Raspberry Pi!   🎂   1,000+ deals in store!   🥳

Explorer pHAT

by Pimoroni

Explorer pHAT is the perfect prototyping side-kick for your Raspberry Pi!

A more diminutive version of our popular Explorer Hat Pro, it's cheaper and designed to fit perfectly on a Raspberry Pi Zero!

We've added a heap of useful input and output options that will take your projects to the next level. Great for driving motors, using analog sensors, and interfacing with 5V systems (like Arduino).

Perfect for building a tiny robot, or use it with our Explorer HAT Pro parts kit to prototype all sorts of circuits with its LEDs, analog dials, and temperature sensor.

Features

  • Four buffered 5V tolerant inputs (perfect for Arduino compatibility)
  • Four powered 5V outputs (up to 500mA total across all four channels)
  • Four analog inputs
  • Two H-bridge motor drivers (up to 200mA per channel; soft PWM control)
  • Explorer pHAT pinout
  • Compatible with all 40-pin header Raspberry Pi models
  • Python library
  • Female headers require soldering

    Software

    Explorer pHAT uses the same easy-to-use Python library as Explorer HAT Pro, that includes a bunch of examples to demonstrate Explorer pHAT's functions.

    Notes

    The inputs use a 5-channel buffer that will accept anything from 2V-5V as logic high.

    16 customer reviews

    3 years ago
    Just what I needed for my STS-Pi robot kit. Ordering as easy as ever from Pimoroni, and delivered next day. I now have a robot running round my kitchen floor, (usually) managing to avoid obstacles.
    by Rob about Explorer pHAT via REVIEWS.io
    4 years ago
    Great way of powering a range of items including (robot) motors through dedeciated controller.
    by Nick about Explorer pHAT via REVIEWS.io
    6 years ago
    This is an excellent pHAT for the RPi Zero. I've been using it as a motor controller for the Zumo Chassis and works flawlessly with little difficulty using code from the internet. It seems to be identical to the Explorer HAT Pro just in a smaller form factor, hence why it shares a GitHub with the Explorer Hat. The only issue there doesn't seem to be examples within that git for the motor drivers. Not that it's a major problem as there's plenty other resources on the web. All in all a great product that extends the functionality of the Pi greatly in a small form factor.
    by James about Explorer pHAT via REVIEWS.io
    6 years ago
    Got so good at soldering (see my review of Antex Replacement bits) that I soldered the 40 pin female header in under 5 minutes but on the wrong side :DD Still planning on testing this with male headers and breadboards though!
    by pedro about Explorer pHAT via REVIEWS.io
    7 years ago
    Great product as always! Super handy and compact for building a small raspberry pi zero robot!
    by Sam about Explorer pHAT via REVIEWS.io
    7 years ago
    How about making a good quick start guide that lists the library commands and shows some examples of analog and digital IO, motors, etc. The documentation is lagging compared to other Pi hats.
    by James about Explorer pHAT via REVIEWS.io
    7 years ago
    It's been a miracle for building a robot! The python library is super easy to use!
    by Robert about Explorer pHAT via REVIEWS.io
    7 years ago
    Used this for a simple remote control robot and got another for another tiny robotн ЅнёЂ plenty of support on the code for it too.
    by Rob about Explorer pHAT via REVIEWS.io
    8 years ago
    I used the explorer pHat with the STS Pi to create my first robot, very easy to setup
    by Youssef about Explorer pHAT via REVIEWS.io
    8 years ago
    A great little board, slap it ontop of your pi zero, add a couple of motors and some wheels and you basically have a mini robot base. Included library is simple to use and covers most of what you might want to do with this board. The buffered arduino compatible pins are just the icing on the cake.
    by Kea about Explorer pHAT via REVIEWS.io
    8 years ago
    I used the explorer phat in a trailcam to operate an IR filter and receive the input from an IR sensor and a couple of buttons. It works perfectly and the motor control element operating the IR filter has helped me to reduce the size of the project,. I wanted to control a relay with the output and it is worth noting that the output is not the same as using a gpio - in the end I simply connected the gpio pin and used it as normal, bypassing the phat to avoid extra faffing about - Luckily I'd soldered a taller 40 pin header to it so that I could use other hats simultaneously. The output connection method is described in a forum post here: http://forums.pimoroni.com/t/controlling-sparkfun-beefcake-relay-with-explorer-hat-pro/2886/2 (forum poster is not me!) + Motor controller is really versatile Lovely pimoroni quality - Would be nice if it had a simpler output (e.g. an exposed 3v3 gpio pin)
    by Gary about Explorer pHAT via REVIEWS.io
    9 years ago
    It's so generic you can do anything you imagine with it! Documentation for the library is great but there is not much documentation for how to do the hardware side.
    by Raul about Explorer pHAT via REVIEWS.io
    9 years ago
    Great sized board plus adding to a zero equals great robot projects.
    by Paul about Explorer pHAT via REVIEWS.io
    9 years ago
    Yes, I know it's just a PCB, but it's so beautifully finished! I was tempted to use colour-coded male headers on the top pins, but I couldn't bare to spoil the look. Oh, and it's also extremely useful.
    by Darren about Explorer pHAT via REVIEWS.io