# Photon with many pins

**URL:** <https://community.particle.io/t/photon-with-many-pins/30139>\
**Category:** Getting Started\
**Created:** [March 2, 2017, 8:05pm UTC](https://community.particle.io/t/photon-with-many-pins/30139 "2017-03-02T20:05:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![nweine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5f8ce5/32.png) [@nweine](https://community.particle.io/u/nweine)\
**Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 8:05pm UTC](https://community.particle.io/t/photon-with-many-pins/30139/1 "2017-03-02T20:05:18Z")

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Hi there,

I’ve just begin learning robotics and we’ve been using a Photon microcontroller in class. My project needs something with a lot more pins than a Photon. Is there a similar product out there that will do that?

Thank you!

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**Author:** ![Moors7](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/community.particle.io/moors7/32/588_2.png) [@Moors7](https://community.particle.io/u/Moors7)\
**Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 8:16pm UTC](https://community.particle.io/t/photon-with-many-pins/30139/2 "2017-03-02T20:16:43Z")

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Define ‘a lot more’?  
Also, take a look at GPIO expanders, which can give you as many pins as you need on the Photon 😄

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**Author:** ![nweine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5f8ce5/32.png) [@nweine](https://community.particle.io/u/nweine)\
**Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 8:20pm UTC](https://community.particle.io/t/photon-with-many-pins/30139/3 "2017-03-02T20:20:43Z")

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Oh, that’s perfect! Thanks. One more question: with the Photon, you can define pins in the code. I note that the expander doesn’t have numbers on each of the pins. How would I define each pin in the code?

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**Author:** ![jtzemp](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/community.particle.io/jtzemp/32/20650_2.png) [@jtzemp](https://community.particle.io/u/jtzemp)\
**Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 8:32pm UTC](https://community.particle.io/t/photon-with-many-pins/30139/4 "2017-03-02T20:32:42Z")

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Here’s an expander that does PWM for driving a whole bunch of servos: [https://www.adafruit.com/product/815](https://www.adafruit.com/product/815). It’ll do 16 by itself, and it’s chainable, so you can do a lot more if needed.

Adafruit has a tutorial that should be easily adapted to the Photon: [https://learn.adafruit.com/16-channel-pwm-servo-driver](https://learn.adafruit.com/16-channel-pwm-servo-driver)