# AMB82-Mini + VL53L5CX: I2C detected but sensor.begin() returns false

**URL:** <https://forum.amebaiot.com/t/amb82-mini-vl53l5cx-i2c-detected-but-sensor-begin-returns-false/4619>\
**Category:** Peripherals\
**Tags:** evb-amb82\
**Created:** [December 27, 2025, 7:05am UTC](https://forum.amebaiot.com/t/amb82-mini-vl53l5cx-i2c-detected-but-sensor-begin-returns-false/4619 "2025-12-27T07:05:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![xs428810](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.amebaiot.com/xs428810/32/3006_2.png) [@xs428810](https://forum.amebaiot.com/u/xs428810)\
**Post date:** [December 27, 2025, 7:05am UTC](https://forum.amebaiot.com/t/amb82-mini-vl53l5cx-i2c-detected-but-sensor-begin-returns-false/4619/1 "2025-12-27T07:05:07Z")

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Hi everyone,

I’m testing a **VL53L5CX ToF sensor** on **AMB82-Mini** using **Arduino SDK 4.0.9**.

The **I2C scanner can reliably detect the device at address 0x29** , which indicates the sensor is powered and responding with ACK.  
However, when using the **SparkFun / ST official VL53L5CX library** , the program gets stuck during initialization:

- `sensor.begin()` returns **false**

- Serial output shows **“Sensor not found”**

- Ranging never starts

From previous discussions, I understand that **AMB82-Mini may not fully support I2C slave multi-byte read/write (burst / repeated start)**, which seems to be required for VL53L5CX initialization.

I’d like to confirm:

1. Is **VL53L5CX currently unsupported on AMB82-Mini due to I2C limitations**?

2. Are there any **recommended workarounds** or **future SDK plans** for supporting such ToF sensors?

Thanks in advance for any clarification.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Pammy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.amebaiot.com/pammy/32/936_2.png) [@Pammy](https://forum.amebaiot.com/u/Pammy)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2025, 2:15am UTC](https://forum.amebaiot.com/t/amb82-mini-vl53l5cx-i2c-detected-but-sensor-begin-returns-false/4619/2 "2025-12-29T02:15:59Z")

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Hi @xs428810

We have ToF sensor VL53L5CX examples available in SDK v4.0.9.

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/ameba/original/2X/1/15d83e484e2c4012065fd727d82b75f45a3e7b80.png)

You can refer to the example guides here: [I2C — Ameba Arduino AIoT Documentation v1.1 documentation](https://ameba-doc-arduino-sdk.readthedocs-hosted.com/en/latest/ameba_pro2/amb82-mini/Example_Guides/I2C/index.html)

Please give this example a try and let us know if the issue still occurs on your side.