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Barometric Pressure Sensor: BMP280 / BME280 – Basics, Wiring, and Arduino Example

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2025, October 10 - 12:53
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owen000821
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2 months 4 days

Hello everyone,

I wanted to share some insights about the BMP280 and BME280 barometric pressure sensors. These modules are widely used in environmental monitoring, IoT, and weather-related projects.

Overview

  • The BMP280 measures temperature and pressure.

  • The BME280 adds humidity measurement to the same compact design.

  • Both communicate through I²C or SPI interfaces.

  • They typically operate between 1.7 V and 3.6 V, so they are not directly 5 V tolerant.

Key Specifications

  • Pressure Range: 300–1100 hPa

  • Accuracy: ±1 hPa (typical)

  • Temperature Range: –40 °C to +85 °C

  • Humidity Range (BME280): 0–100 % RH, with ±3 % accuracy

Arduino Example Notes

When wiring to a microcontroller:

  • Connect SDA and SCL lines with pull-up resistors (usually 4.7 kΩ).

  • Use the 3.3 V power supply pin.

  • Typical I²C addresses are 0x76 or 0x77, depending on board configuration.

  • The Adafruit BME280 library works well for both BMP280 and BME280.

Discussion Points

  1. Has anyone compared accuracy between BMP280 and BME280 in long-term use?

  2. What kind of digital filtering or averaging methods do you use to smooth out noisy pressure readings?

  3. For battery-powered setups, which mode do you prefer — sleep, forced, or normal — for the best power efficiency?

  4. How do you handle level shifting when using these sensors with 5 V microcontrollers?

  5. Any experience using these sensors for indoor altitude estimation?

These sensors are compact, reliable, and quite easy to integrate. I’d love to hear how others are using them in their weather or IoT projects!