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I want to connect the PN532 NFC module to my Raspberry Pi.

The pin layout is as follows:

front back

The original product page is here on eBay.

The page says:

  • Operating Voltage: 3.3V
  • Power Supply Voltage: 3.3~5.5V
  • Max Supply Current: 150mA
  • Interface: SPI, Std Raspberry Pi 20 pins

I tried finding some tutorials on how to use this module on a Raspberry Pi and found these:

However the versions of the PN532 seems to be quite a bit different to the one I am using so I am having difficulties finding parallel, especially considering I am very new to electronics.

For example:

  • It says to connect the PN532 3.3V to Raspberry Pi 3.3V. From what I can see, this module only supports 5v.
  • I cannot find the MISO pin (is this the same as MI pin)
  • I cannot find the MOSI pin (is this the same as MO pin)
  • I cannot find the SSEL pin
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    Under interfaces it lists "Std Raspberry Pi 20 pins" can you not fit it over the first 20 pins of the Pi? On a related note you may want to reconsider where you purchase parts in future; one of the advantages that comes with the higher price of a part from adafruit is the software and support that accompany their products. Yes they cost more but for a beginner they can make the difference between success and failure. IMHO it is money well spent. – Steve Robillard May 5 '17 at 11:34
  • @SteveRobillard Yeah I understand what you mean. I just assumed they were the same part. I'm also not sure how to fit them into a Rapberry pi. like what position or orientation. The only label there is "RST_OUT" – Yahya Uddin May 5 '17 at 11:37
  • If you look at the other pics on the ebay listing they show it connected via ribbon cable to a chinese Pi (red board). – Steve Robillard May 5 '17 at 11:44
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    "is this the same as MI pin...is this the same as MO pin" -> Seems almost certain. If that's designed to fit on a 26-pin Pi, then likely if you look at the pathway/traces on the board those labelled holes/pins connect to corresponding ones on the 2x13 breakout. – goldilocks♦ May 5 '17 at 12:55
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    SSEL == NSS en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_Peripheral_Interface_Bus#Interface – goldilocks♦ May 5 '17 at 18:53
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If I remember correctly the PN532 device is supported by libnfc via the UART.

It might be simplest to use the UART solution as it's more likely to be usable out-of-the-box. The UART connection requires four connections:

  • Pi ground - PN532 ground
  • Pi 3V3 - PN532 5V
  • Pi TX - PN532 RX
  • Pi RX - PN532 TX

Note that by default the board appears to be jumpered for UART.

Search for libnfc, PN532, and Raspberry Pi.

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  • Thaks I'll try it out. Is libnfc only in C by the way. Is it possible to use any other language like Python or even C++? – Yahya Uddin May 5 '17 at 21:22
  • It's a library, I expect it's written in C but that doesn't prevent it being used by other languages. I've only used libnfc once so my knowledge is very limited. – joan May 5 '17 at 21:24
  • Another question? Why am I attaching the pi's 3v to the NFC 5V. Why not 5v to 5v? – Yahya Uddin May 6 '17 at 14:49
  • If you power the device from 5V the device UART will probably run at 5V. That means 5V will be fed into the Pi's UART which is risky (they are all 3V3 safe only). – joan May 6 '17 at 15:48

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