Datasheet

Using the TSL2561 Sensor

To use this sensor and calculate Lux, there's a lot of very hairy and unpleasant math. You can

check out the math in the datasheet (http://adafru.it/aJR) but really, its not intuitive or educational -

its just how the sensor works. So we took care of all the icky math and wrapped it up into a nice

Arduino library.

(http://adafru.it/aZ9)

You can find the Arduino library repository on github (http://adafru.it/aZ9) To install it, click the

button below to download the compressed ZIP file then install it. This guide (http://adafru.it/aYM) will

help you with the install process if you have never installed an Arduino library.

Download Adafruit_TSL2561 V2

Library

http://adafru.it/d7d

You will also need the Adafruit Sensor Library (http://adafru.it/aZm) if you do not already have it

installed. You can download it by clicking this button to get the compressed Zip. Then install as you

did above.

Download Adafruit_Sensor Library

http://adafru.it/cMO

Restart the IDE

Now you can run the File->Examples->Adafruit_TSL2561->sensorapi example program which

will read and calculate the lux readings for you.

Open up the serial monitor at 9600 baud to see the measurements. Use a lamp or your hand to

illuminate/shade the sensor to see the values change.