Since the slave addresses are 7 bits long, why is it that the number of slaves can be only 127? Is one of the addresses reserved for some special purpose?
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\$\begingroup\$ There are in fact 16 reserved addresses out of the possible 128. Addresses 000 0XXX are reserved as are 111 1xxx. The zero address is "general call". \$\endgroup\$ – Kaz Nov 5 '13 at 4:53
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\$\begingroup\$ I see, thanks. Also found this useful link : i2c-bus.org/addressing \$\endgroup\$ – Codename Nov 5 '13 at 5:02
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\$\begingroup\$ Also, just figured out what I actually wanted to know, the address 0000 000 is sent on the SDA line during the start sequence, so sending it again would be like resending the start sequence. \$\endgroup\$ – Codename Nov 5 '13 at 5:05
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From NXP document UM10204, "I2C-bus specification and user manual", section 3.1.12, "Reserved addresses":
Two groups of eight addresses (0000 XXX and 1111 XXX) are reserved [...]
This leaves only 112 addresses available. However, it continues:
If it is known that the reserved address is never going to be used for its intended purpose, a reserved address can be used for a slave address.
So technically you can have 128 slave devices if you are architecting all the slaves yourself, but in a general system you should not assume that any of the reserved addresses are available.
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\$\begingroup\$ But you still cant use 0000 000 right? Since it is same as the start sequence. So shouldn't it be 127? \$\endgroup\$ – Codename Nov 5 '13 at 5:07
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\$\begingroup\$ @Dez: If you're following the rest of the standard strictly, yes. \$\endgroup\$ – Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams Nov 5 '13 at 6:09
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Actually, most I2C devices cannot take any I2C address. They usually have a fixed address. Some can have an address chosen in a reduced set, usually less than 16 possibilities. In that case, the device address is chosen at design time by driving a few dedicated pins, for instance: Microchip temperature sensor MCP9804, chapter 3.1
http://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/en/DeviceDoc/22203C.pdf
So at the end of the day, the size of the I2C address space is not really important.
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The LSB in the byte is used as a R/W-flag, leaving 7 bits for addressing. This allows for 127 slaves (check with @Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams why this is not necessarily entirely true) + "general call address 0000 0000". The general call adrress is used to "broadcast" to all devices on the bus.
From NXP document UM10204, "I2C-bus specification and user manual", section 3.1.13 "General call address".
The general call address can for example be used for a software reset (3.1.14).
