Four ST parts on the Sense HAT, four different answers
Four STMicroelectronics parts on the Raspberry Pi Sense HAT are obsolete or not recommended for new designs, and ST answers each one differently. These are suggested candidates to validate in your own design, not drop-in equivalents.
Premise // One maker, one board
Why one board tests something a part page cannot
A single part page answers one question, which is what replaces that part. A board carrying four parts from one maker answers a second question, which is whether that maker hands back a consistent path across all four.
The Sense HAT makes that testable. All four parts are ST, and all four now carry a lifecycle flag. Every ST status below was read from ST’s own product pages on 2 August 2026.
ST’s answers are not consistent across the four. Four parts from one maker, read on one board on the same date, carry four different replacement outcomes.
No last-order or last-time-buy date was found for any of the four. ST’s product pages publish none, and on the LSM9DS1 the DigiKey page publishes none either. The only change notice DigiKey holds against the LSM9DS1 is an assembly-site addition dated 27 November 2020, which is a manufacturing-location change and not an obsolescence notice. Three of these parts are obsolete with no published clock, so the sequencing falls to the reader’s own consumption rate and requalification schedule.
Candidates // Read on 2 Aug 2026
The four parts
The replacement ST names is 6-axis. The magnetometer has to be added back as a second chip.
ST recommends the LSM6DSO, and that part is 6-axis. ST describes it as an “always-on 3-axis accelerometer and 3-axis gyroscope”, and the words “magnetometer” and “magnetic” appear nowhere on its product page, so the magnetometer function is not covered by the named part. The gyroscope ranges also differ, so a design sitting on ±245 dps has no identical setting and re-derives its scaling.
The LPS25HB keeps the LPS25H pinout and register addresses, and powers up at 16 times the pressure averaging, so the work is a firmware and mechanical check.
The LPS25H is the closest of the four to a straight part change. The pinout and the register addresses are identical, and WHO_AM_I at 0Fh resets to the same value on both parts, so firmware probing the device ID cannot detect the change. RES_CONF at 10h does not match. It resets to 05h on the LPS25H and to 0Fh on the LPS25HB, which is 32 pressure averages at power-up against 512. The package moves from a 1.0 mm HCLGA to a 0.76 mm HLGA.
The named replacement is a Sensirion part, carried under ST’s partner programme. The move is a supplier change.
This part carries the strongest status wording of the four, “Obsolete Out of Production.” The recommended SHT40-AD1B is a Sensirion part, carried on st.com under the ST Partner Program on a page headed “SHT40 replacing HTS221”, outside ST’s own catalogue. Sensirion’s ordering table fixes its I2C address at 0x44 by order code. The supplier change is the confirmed difference. A second vendor brings its own datasheet, quality record and supply relationship.
The LED2472G remains in volume production at NRND, and ST names no replacement.
ST’s page reads “NRND ... in volume production only to support customers ongoing production.” Unlike the other three, it carries no “We recommend you that replacement part” line, so ST names nothing. NRND is not obsolete, which leaves the LED2472G time the other three do not have. The absence of a named successor is what the plan has to cover.
ST’s own wording, “in volume production only to support customers ongoing production,” scopes supply to existing production rather than new demand, which keeps a lifetime buy open and rules out specifying the part into a new design. ST’s function string, “24-Channels LED driver with LED error detection and gain control,” bounds a cross-maker search to those three features rather than to channel count alone.
Reading // What separates the four
The pattern
The four outcomes separate on three gates: whether ST names a replacement, whether that part comes from ST, and whether it does the same job.
Obsolete is not one condition and cannot be planned as one. A migration plan assuming ST would name a same-maker part carrying the same function holds on the LPS25H alone. DigiKey’s substitutes list for the LSM9DS1TR tags its entries “MFR Recommended”, so ST’s own recommendation reaches the reader through a distributor’s tooling as well as through ST’s page.
Parametrics // Side by side
The comparison
| LSM9DS1 | LPS25H | HTS221 | LED2472G | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Function | 9-axis IMU | Barometer, 260-1260 hPa | Humidity and temperature | 24-channel LED driver |
| ST status, as published | OBSOLETE | OBSOLETE | Obsolete, Out of Production | NRND, Not recommended for New Design |
| Confidence | Confirmed, read 2026-08-02 | Confirmed, read 2026-08-02 | Confirmed, read 2026-08-02 | Confirmed, read 2026-08-02 |
| What ST states on production | Nothing beyond OBSOLETE | Nothing beyond OBSOLETE | “Out of Production” | “in volume production” |
| ST names | LSM6DSO | LPS25HB | SHT40-AD1B | nothing |
| Who makes it | ST | ST | Sensirion | n/a |
| Named part’s status | ACTIVE, ST product page, Confirmed 2026-08-02 | ACTIVE, ST product page, Confirmed 2026-08-02 | ST partner page, no status field published, Unverified | n/a |
| Same function | No, 6-axis | Yes | Yes | n/a |
| Work implied | second package, new BOM line, re-scaled calibration | same 2.5 x 2.5 mm outline and the same register addresses, different power-up defaults, and a package height change of about 0.24 mm | qualify a second supplier | none yet, and no path offered |
The LPS25H is the only part here whose named replacement keeps both the function and the maker.
ST’s HTS221 header read “OBSOLETE” on 28 July 2026 and “Obsolete Out of Production.” on 2 August 2026. Both reads are on file, the lifecycle word did not change, and the added sentence matches the body text saying the part “is in the process of being terminated”.
Next // Sequencing
What to do next
The route on the record is two packages, the LSM6DSO that ST names and the LIS2MDL that DigiKey lists beside it, which add a BOM line, a second supply and re-derived gyroscope and magnetometer scaling. The LIS2MDL is the only part number of the four the board has never carried, so its supply chain and lead time are the least proven, and the sequence starts there.
The LED2472G carries the lowest immediate supply pressure of the four and is the only one with no maker-named path.
The work is a firmware and mechanical qualification, covering the power-up defaults and a package height change.
The work is a supplier qualification, because the named part is a second vendor’s.
does not say
No candidate here is a validated replacement for any specific design.
Form, fit and function are properties of a system, so the pinout, the rails, the register access and the mechanical fit remain to be checked against the board the part is going into. The statuses above are dated facts read on 2 August 2026, and the sources below carry the wording as it stood on that date.
FAQ // Frequently asked
Frequently asked questions
Which Sense HAT sensors are obsolete?
Four ST parts on the Raspberry Pi Sense HAT carry a lifecycle flag. The LSM9DS1 IMU, the LPS25H barometer and the HTS221 humidity sensor read Obsolete on ST’s product pages, and the HTS221 adds “Out of Production”. The LED2472G LED driver reads NRND, which ST defines on the page as not recommended for new design while remaining in volume production.
What replaces the HTS221?
ST recommends the SHT40-AD1B, which is made by Sensirion rather than ST. ST publishes it under its partner programme on a page headed “SHT40 replacing HTS221”. ST states ±3.5% rH over 20 to +80% rH for the HTS221 and Sensirion states a typical 1.8 %RH for the SHT40, which are not stated on the same basis, and the change brings a second supplier into the design. Sensirion’s ordering table fixes the SHT40-AD1B at I2C address 0x44. The package and the register access still have to be read from both datasheets.
What replaces the LPS25H?
ST names the LPS25HB, which it lists as active and which shares the 260-1260 hPa range and the I2C and SPI interfaces. It carries the fewest differences of the four, and the differences are still qualification work. The two datasheets give an identical pinout, identical register addresses and the same WHO_AM_I identity value at 0Fh, so firmware cannot detect the change by probing the device ID. RES_CONF at 10h resets differently, 05h against 0Fh, which is 32 pressure averages at power-up against 512. The package keeps the 2.5 x 2.5 mm outline and the 10-pin arrangement and moves from a 1.0 mm cavity HCLGA to a 0.76 mm typical full-mold HLGA. The two land patterns were not compared for this page.
Does the LSM6DSO replace the LSM9DS1 completely?
No. The LSM6DSO is a 6-axis accelerometer and gyroscope with no magnetic sensing, so a design using all nine axes needs a magnetometer in addition. DigiKey’s substitutes field lists the LIS2MDL alongside it for that reason, while ST’s own page names the LSM6DSO alone.
Is there a replacement for the LED2472G?
ST names no replacement for the LED2472G. Its product page carries no recommendation line, unlike the other three parts here. The part remains in volume production per ST’s own NRND wording, so the constraint is the absence of a documented path rather than supply.
Is the LED2472G obsolete?
No. ST lists the LED2472G as NRND and states it is “in volume production only to support customers ongoing production”. NRND and obsolete are different statuses calling for different plans, and the distinction matters most on this part because it is the one still shipping.
Can the Sense HAT still be built today?
The board question is answered separately in the Can You Still Build audit of the Sense HAT, which counts every part on the board. This page covers what replaces the ST parts that audit found.
Sources // Public, primary
Sources
- ST, LSM9DS1 product page
- ST, LPS25H product page
- ST, LPS25HB product page
- ST, HTS221 product page
- ST, LED2472G product page
- ST Partner Program, SHT40-AD1B, “SHT40 replacing HTS221”
- ST, LSM6DSO product page
- ST, LIS2MDL product page
- ST, LPS25H Datasheet, DocID023722 Rev 6, October 2018 (read from an Internet Archive capture because st.com blocks direct document fetches)
- ST, LPS25HB Datasheet, DocID027112 Rev 4, August 2016 (read from an Internet Archive capture because st.com blocks direct document fetches)
- ST, LSM9DS1 Datasheet, DocID025715 Rev 2 (read via the SparkFun mirror because st.com blocks direct document fetches)
- Sensirion, SHT4x Datasheet, Version 7.1, March 2025
- DigiKey, LSM9DS1TR product page
Part of // Featured in
Related reading
Class · Hub
IMU and motion-sensor obsolescence: the class guide
Can You Still Build
Could you still build a Raspberry Pi Sense HAT today?
Issue 12 · 9-axis IMU
MPU-9250 and MPU-9255 replacement: the obsolete 9-axis IMU cross-reference
Issue 11 · 6-axis IMU
MPU-6050 replacement: obsolete 6-axis IMU cross-reference
Issue 10 · Migration
MPU-6000 vs ICM-42688-P: migrating off the obsolete IMU
Lifecycle, package, electrical and interface data is vendor-reported, not independently audited. Alternates are candidates to validate in your own design, so every detail remains to be confirmed with the manufacturer before commitment.
About the author
Editorially independent and from public sources only; lifecycle, pin and rating data is vendor-reported, not independently audited. Alternates are candidates to validate in your own design. Confirm every detail with the manufacturer before committing.