MPU6050 with ESP32 — accelerometer and gyroscope over I2C

The MPU6050 combines a 3-axis accelerometer and a 3-axis gyroscope; the GY-521 breakout adds a regulator and pull-ups, so it drops straight onto the ESP32’s I2C pins.

Power it from 3V3 and wire SDA/SCL to GPIO21/GPIO22. The sketch sets a ±4 g and ±500 °/s range with a 21 Hz filter — a good default for tilt sensing, robots and gesture projects — and prints all six axes twice a second.

Wiring

Every connection
ESP32 DevKit V1	MPU6050 (GY-521)	Wire	Notes
3V3	VCC	red	The GY-521 has its own 3.3 V regulator; from 3V3 it still works and its I2C pull-ups stay at 3.3 V.
GND	GND	black
D22	SCL	yellow
D21	SDA	blue

3.3–5 V (on-board 3.3 V regulator) part, 3.3 V board. The GY-521 has a 3.3 V regulator and pulls SDA/SCL up to 3.3 V, so it works on both 3.3 V boards and a 5 V Uno without a level shifter.

Board quirks

GPIO21 (SDA) and GPIO22 (SCL) are the ESP32’s default I2C pins — Wire.begin(21, 22) just makes that explicit.
AD0 is left unconnected, so the address is 0x68. Tie AD0 to 3V3 for 0x69 if you need two MPU6050s.
XDA, XCL and INT are not needed for basic readings.

Code

mpu6050-esp32.inoArduino C++Open in Playground Flash

// MPU6050 (GY-521) accelerometer + gyroscope on an ESP32 DevKit V1.
// VCC → 3V3, GND → GND, SDA → D21, SCL → D22. Address 0x68 (AD0 low).
#include <Wire.h>
#include <Adafruit_MPU6050.h>
#include <Adafruit_Sensor.h>

Adafruit_MPU6050 mpu;

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(115200);
  Wire.begin(21, 22);  // SDA, SCL
  if (!mpu.begin(0x68, &Wire)) {
    Serial.println("MPU6050 not found at 0x68 — check wiring, or try 0x69 if AD0 is high");
    while (true) delay(1000);
  }
  mpu.setAccelerometerRange(MPU6050_RANGE_4_G);
  mpu.setGyroRange(MPU6050_RANGE_500_DEG);
  mpu.setFilterBandwidth(MPU6050_BAND_21_HZ);
  Serial.println("MPU6050 ready");
}

void loop() {
  sensors_event_t a, g, t;
  mpu.getEvent(&a, &g, &t);
  Serial.printf("Accel X %.2f Y %.2f Z %.2f m/s²  Gyro X %.2f Y %.2f Z %.2f rad/s  Chip %.1f °C\n",
                a.acceleration.x, a.acceleration.y, a.acceleration.z,
                g.gyro.x, g.gyro.y, g.gyro.z, t.temperature);
  delay(500);
}

// MPU6050 (GY-521) accelerometer + gyroscope on an ESP32 DevKit V1.
// VCC → 3V3, GND → GND, SDA → D21, SCL → D22. Address 0x68 (AD0 low).
#include <Wire.h>
#include <Adafruit_MPU6050.h>
#include <Adafruit_Sensor.h>

Adafruit_MPU6050 mpu;

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(115200);
  Wire.begin(21, 22);  // SDA, SCL
  if (!mpu.begin(0x68, &Wire)) {
    Serial.println("MPU6050 not found at 0x68 — check wiring, or try 0x69 if AD0 is high");
    while (true) delay(1000);
  }
  mpu.setAccelerometerRange(MPU6050_RANGE_4_G);
  mpu.setGyroRange(MPU6050_RANGE_500_DEG);
  mpu.setFilterBandwidth(MPU6050_BAND_21_HZ);
  Serial.println("MPU6050 ready");
}

void loop() {
  sensors_event_t a, g, t;
  mpu.getEvent(&a, &g, &t);
  Serial.printf("Accel X %.2f Y %.2f Z %.2f m/s²  Gyro X %.2f Y %.2f Z %.2f rad/s  Chip %.1f °C\n",
                a.acceleration.x, a.acceleration.y, a.acceleration.z,
                g.gyro.x, g.gyro.y, g.gyro.z, t.temperature);
  delay(500);
}

Library: Adafruit MPU6050 (Adafruit (also install Adafruit Unified Sensor and Adafruit BusIO)) — compiled with Adafruit MPU6050 2.2.9.

Expected serial output

Serial Monitor · 115200Output

MPU6050 ready
Accel X 0.21 Y -0.34 Z 9.71 m/s²  Gyro X -0.02 Y 0.01 Z 0.00 rad/s  Chip 29.4 °C
Accel X 0.19 Y -0.36 Z 9.73 m/s²  Gyro X -0.03 Y 0.01 Z 0.01 rad/s  Chip 29.4 °C

MPU6050 ready
Accel X 0.21 Y -0.34 Z 9.71 m/s²  Gyro X -0.02 Y 0.01 Z 0.00 rad/s  Chip 29.4 °C
Accel X 0.19 Y -0.36 Z 9.73 m/s²  Gyro X -0.03 Y 0.01 Z 0.01 rad/s  Chip 29.4 °C

Common errors

“MPU6050 not found at 0x68”

Check SDA/SCL are not swapped, then run the I2C scanner. Some clones answer at 0x69 or carry a different chip ID.

Readings drift when the board is still

Normal gyro bias. Average a few hundred readings at rest and subtract that offset, or use the accelerometer for tilt.