MPU6050 with Raspberry Pi Pico

Wiring for the MPU6050 (GY-521) accelerometer + gyro on the Raspberry Pi Pico (RP2040, 3.3 V logic), chosen with the same pin rules BoardPilot uses: default buses first, and no pins that are used for flash, USB, the debugger or booting.

Wiring

Check before you power it on

• Supply: 3.3 V from the 3V3(OUT) pin.
• I2C uses the board’s default pins GP4 (SDA) and GP5 (SCL). Most modules include pull-up resistors; if the part is not found, check them and swap-test SDA/SCL.
• To make sure it is the real chip, read register 0x75: a genuine part answers 0x68.

Test code (Arduino)

#include <Wire.h>

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(115200);
  Wire.begin();  // SDA = GP4, SCL = GP5 (the board's default I2C pins)
  Wire.beginTransmission(0x68);
  bool found = Wire.endTransmission() == 0;
  Serial.println(found ? "MPU6050 (GY-521) accelerometer + gyro found at 0x68" : "Not found: check power, GND and SDA/SCL");
}

void loop() {}

Arduino board: rp2040:rp2040:rpipico. If the board is not found, hold the BOOTSEL button while plugging in the USB cable.

Questions

Which Raspberry Pi Pico pins do I use for the MPU6050?

VCC → 3V3(OUT), GND → GND, SCL → GP5, SDA → GP4, INT → GP15.

Does the MPU6050 work with the Raspberry Pi Pico at 3.3 V?

Yes: the MPU6050 runs at 3.3-5 V and the Raspberry Pi Pico uses 3.3 V signals, so no level shifting is needed.

What is the I2C address of the MPU6050?

0x68 or 0x69. An I2C scan (BoardPilot does it for you) shows which one your module uses.

Full Raspberry Pi Pico pinout · MPU6050 (GY-521) accelerometer + gyro: all pins and data

The MPU6050 on other boards

ESP32 DevKit Arduino Mega 2560 R3 Arduino Nano Arduino Uno R3 WeAct Black Pill STM32F411CE ESP32-C3-DevKitM-1 ESP32-S3-DevKitC-1 Nordic nRF52840 DK NUCLEO-F401RE Raspberry Pi Pico 2 Raspberry Pi Pico W Teensy 4.1

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