MMA8451 on Raspberry Pi returns incorrect whoami

tsnealon — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 22:20:10 GMT

I'm currently working on connecting and reading an MMA8451 with a raspberry pi running C code. I've got the code up and running, and i can't find any reason why the accelerometer should be returning an incorrect whoami (currently sending 0xff). Here is the code i use to initialize the accelerometer:

mma8451 mma8451_initialise(int device int addr)
{
mma8451 handle;
handle.file = -1;
handle.address = addr;
char buf[15];
printf("Initalising MMA8451 sensor at address %#02x\n", addr);
//Open /dev/i2c-x file without a buffer
sprintf(buf, "/dev/i2c-%d", device);
if ((handle.file = open(buf, O_RDWR)) < 0)
{
handle.file = -2;
return handle;
}
//Configure slave i2c address via ioctl
if(ioctl(handle.file, I2C_SLAVE, addr) < 0)
{
handle.file = -3;
return handle;
}
//Check if we read correctly from the sensor
char whoami = mma8451_read_byte(&handle, 0x0D);
printf("whoami read %#02x\n", whoami);
//Undefined behavior for the rest of device operation if the device is not returning hex 1A
if(whoami != 0x1A) perror("mma451_pi warning: Device correctly intialized but not returning 0x1A at WHO_AM_I request.\n"
"Are you sure you are using a MMA8451 accelerometer on this address?");
//Send reset request
mma8451_write_byte(&handle, 0x2B, 0x40);
printf("Waiting for accelerometer to be reset\n");
while(mma8451_read_byte(&handle, 0x2B) & 0x40); //reset done
printf("Done\n");
mma8451_set_range(&handle, 2);
mma8451_write_byte(&handle, 0x2B, 0x02); //high resolution mode
mma8451_write_byte(&handle, 0x2A, 0x01 | 0x04); //high rate low noise
//Deactivate fifo
mma8451_write_byte(&handle, 0x09, 0);
//turn on orientation configuration
mma8451_write_byte(&handle, 0x11, 0x40);
printf("MMA8451 at address %#02x configured for real time sampling, in high rate, low noise mode, at high resolution, on a 2G max range\n", addr);
return handle;
}

This is directly from the mma8451_pi library found here: https://github.com/Ybalrid/mma8451_pi

Any ideas what could be causing it to return an incorrect whoami?

Re: MMA8451 on Raspberry Pi returns incorrect whoami

TomasVaverka — Thu, 31 May 2018 10:52:08 GMT

Hi Tim,

If you have an oscilloscope or a logic analyzer, can you please post here a plot illustrating what is going on the bus when you read the WHO_AM_I register?

Also please make sure you are using correct slave address depending on the connection of the SA0 pin.

Best regards,

Tomas

mma8451 mma8451_initialise(int device int addr)
	{
	mma8451 handle;
	handle.file = -1;
	handle.address = addr;
	char buf[15];

	printf("Initalising MMA8451 sensor at address %#02x\n", addr);

	//Open /dev/i2c-x file without a buffer
	sprintf(buf, "/dev/i2c-%d", device);
	if ((handle.file = open(buf, O_RDWR)) < 0)
	{
	handle.file = -2;
	return handle;
	}

	//Configure slave i2c address via ioctl
	if(ioctl(handle.file, I2C_SLAVE, addr) < 0)
	{
	handle.file = -3;
	return handle;
	}

	//Check if we read correctly from the sensor
	char whoami = mma8451_read_byte(&handle, 0x0D);
	printf("whoami read %#02x\n", whoami);

	//Undefined behavior for the rest of device operation if the device is not returning hex 1A
	if(whoami != 0x1A) perror("mma451_pi warning: Device correctly intialized but not returning 0x1A at WHO_AM_I request.\n"
	"Are you sure you are using a MMA8451 accelerometer on this address?");

	//Send reset request
	mma8451_write_byte(&handle, 0x2B, 0x40);
	printf("Waiting for accelerometer to be reset\n");
	while(mma8451_read_byte(&handle, 0x2B) & 0x40); //reset done
	printf("Done\n");

	mma8451_set_range(&handle, 2);
	mma8451_write_byte(&handle, 0x2B, 0x02); //high resolution mode
	mma8451_write_byte(&handle, 0x2A, 0x01 \| 0x04); //high rate low noise

	//Deactivate fifo
	mma8451_write_byte(&handle, 0x09, 0);
	//turn on orientation configuration
	mma8451_write_byte(&handle, 0x11, 0x40);

	printf("MMA8451 at address %#02x configured for real time sampling, in high rate, low noise mode, at high resolution, on a 2G max range\n", addr);

	return handle;
	}

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MMA8451 on Raspberry Pi returns incorrect whoami

Re: MMA8451 on Raspberry Pi returns incorrect whoami