[BH1750] Device is not configured!

[dhanushmk]

i am getting this in serial monitor
t: 0 lx
BH1750 Test
[BH1750] Device is not configured!

[claws]

That error gets reported from readLightLevel if BH1750_MODE attribute is not set. The BH1750_MODE attribute is set in configure which is called from the begin function. It is initialised to UNCONFIGURED and is defaulted to CONTINUOUS_HIGH_RES_MODE in the declaration of the the begin function.

The typical usage of this library is:

#include <BH1750.h>

BH1750 lightMeter;

void setup(){
  lightMeter.begin();
}

void loop() {
  uint16_t lux = lightMeter.readLightLevel();
}

My best guess would be that perhaps you are not calling begin to initialise and configure the BH1750 library.

The serial output you pasted does not look like any of the examples. Was this output from an example?
Are you using the current version of the library?
What platform are you running on?
What is the code you are running?

[Amy1610]

@claws I am having the exact same problem...

Here is my code:

#include <Wire.h>
#include <BH1750.h>

BH1750 lightMeter(0x23);

void setup(){

Serial.begin(9600);

Wire.begin();

lightMeter.begin();
Serial.println(F("test"));

}

void loop() {

uint16_t lux = lightMeter.readLightLevel();
Serial.print("Light: ");
Serial.print(lux);
Serial.println(" lx");
delay(1000);

}

[Amy1610]

I downloaded the library yesterday and need to use it for a uni project due soon,

could it be the way I have set up my arduino?:

[Amy1610]

I just found that the 12C scanner cannot find the device

[claws]

It looks like you have wired it up correctly from the pictures.

The BH1750 library returns a boolean value from begin to indicate whether the device was configured successfully. You could print that out to check what it says. Modify your setup function to initialise the lightMeter like this:

  if (lightMeter.begin()) {
    Serial.println(F("BH1750 initialised"));
  }
  else {
    Serial.println(F("Error initialising BH1750"));
  }

When I run the i2c_scanner you mentioned I see the following output:

I2C Scanner
Scanning...
I2C device found at address 0x23  !
done

I'm going to guess that perhaps your sensor device is faulty. Do you have access to another to test this out?

I have just run all three of the examples on 2 separate sensor devices and they work as I expect.
When I run the simple example without plugging in the light sensor board I observed the following output:

BH1750 Test begin
[BH1750] Device is not configured!
Light: 0 lx

You could remove the wire connect ADD to GND. It is not required. The library uses the i2c address of 0x23 by default. I see you were explicitly defining the device address as 0x23 and wiring the ADD line to ground. That is fine and explicit. The same configuration would be achieved by not wiring the ADD line at all and not explicitly passing 0x23 when instantiating the lightMeter - such as in the simple example.

[Amy1610]

I modified my setup function to initialise the lightmeter as you have stated and it returns:
"[BH1750] Device is not configured!
Light: 0 lx" still rather than either printing "BH1750 initialised" or "Error initialising BH1750"

Yeah, the light sensor is probably faulty. I have ordered another one which should arrive Friday. Meanwhile I will have to hope that the code i have written, to include the device in my project, is correct as I have no way of testing it until the sensor arrives :-/

Thanks for your help and the speedy reply!

Would you be willing to look over my project code to see if it makes sense? It would be really helpful as I am very new to using arduino. Although I understand if you don't want to or do not have time to.

[EdrickeAPM]

Hi! I'm Working on my BH1750 Light Sensor. I tried running the codes from this forum but there are no readings from my sensor the Serial monitor just displays:

BTW this is my code:

Thank you in advance for your response

[priema]

@EdrickeAPM I have the exact same issue .. have you fixed it yet? :)

[coelner]

@priema @EdrickeAPM Do you tried another I2C device? Maybe the cable are not in a good shape.
Change following:
uint16_t lux = lightMeter.readLightLevel(); --> uint16_t lux = lightMeter.readLightLevel(true);

[dvbahder]

I have the exact same issue .. have you a better fix? thx

[coelner]

@dvbahder No. Has your sensor worked in the past?

[dvbahder]

no, I bought the sensor three weeks ago. OneWire DS18B20 works, wire DHT22 works, Display I2C works, as a single sensor BH1750 does not work, I read from a scanner for I2C and want to try it tomorrow. I'll let you know. thx to coelner

[dvbahder]

The scanner says the address is correct (0x23 GND default), (0x5c high).
PIN SCL SDA was swapped, correct SDA / SCL (D4, D3) ...
is runnig :) thx

[Xj98]

what is the purpose for adding readLightLevel (true)?

[coelner]

BH1750/BH1750.h

Line 63 in 68afd58

uint16_t readLightLevel(bool maxWait = false);

It activates a different delay value for the measurement. This value is maximum wait value and the sensor will have a new measurement ready to deliver.