I’ve been learning CircuitPython library implementation for Adafruit Memento (a.k.a. PyCamera) with the goal of doing something interesting beyond published examples. After brainstorming a few candidates, I decided to add an AMG8833 thermal sensor alongside. Mainly because I bought an Adafruit breakout board thinking it was neat and had yet to unwrap it. Today is the day.

According to my Adafruit order history, I bought this way back in 2018. Look at how faded that label has become. Over the past six years several project ideas had come and gone, the most recent one I can remember being an ESP32 web app like what I had built for the AS7341 spectral/color sensor. But none of them got far enough for me to unwrap this roll of pink bubble wrap.

Since the time I bought my sensor, Adafruit has added a higher-resolution thermal sensor to their product list. I told myself not to spend money on the newer fancier sensor until I actually use the one I had already bought. During this time Adafruit has also evolved the design, adding a STEMMA QT connector.

If I had one of the newer boards, I wouldn’t need to do any soldering. The Memento has a STEMMA QT port and this little cable would connect them together.

But since I have the old board, I cut the cable in half so I can solder wires and plug the other end into Memento.

For mechanical mounting, I thought I would use one of the existing mounting holes and bolt it to a Memento corner post. It’d be quick and easy but unfortunately the hole diameter is just a tiny bit too small for this idea to work.

With that idea foiled, my brain started thinking about alternate approaches that grew more and more elaborate. I didn’t want to invest in the time and effort because I didn’t even know if this idea would work. I taped it down for the sake of expedient experimentation until a proof-of-concept first draft is up and running. Time to start coding.