💬 MySensors NRF5 Platform

[NeverDie]

@scalz I'm still wondering: was your 840 able to send and receive with the 832's?

In the near-term I'd settle for the additional range that the 840 has to offer. IIRC, it has a 4db higher Tx and a 4db better Rx than the 832. So, 840 to 840 should have an 8db better link budget, which is significant.

[scalz]

@NeverDie I think I tried once, but I'm not sure; so take it as 'nope' :) But all nrf were compatible as they were talking to gw..
I agree 840 should have more range. but that's just datasheet numbers, in 2.4ghz band, and still not 20dB. for a direct replacement, you win range sure. but good 832 design choices can work as good as bad 840 design choices.
I have a different strategy. and I already got 832s ic for 2€. Because bt840f has not really a nice price imho. for what ?? a mcu few passives, pcb antenna, and just a few IOs exposed to castellated pins (I have no time to debug when there is a bad solder point on bottom pads..).
bt840 is more affordable but you loose all the range.
Then, you can find module from chinese brands. price is ok too. but the same lower range. On my side I would prefer spend money on good sensors.

[NeverDie]

@scalz Fanstel has by far the best antenna design in its F series of all the nRF52 modules that I've tested (well, at least on an nRF52832 module, and I presume it carries over to the nRF52840 as well), so you do get some extra value for the extra money. Of course, if you can do your own, then you don't need Fanstel. I'd say you have above pretty good skills when it comes both to soldering and PCB antenna design, and so you are better able to build rather than buy. That's great! In my case, for the nRF52 chips, I pretty much have to buy modules instead. I suspect the same is true for most people here.

[NeverDie]

Actually, the nRF52840 chip looks incredibly hard to solder (well, to me anyway):

[alowhum]

Has anyone got MySensors running on a Micro-bit?

I'd like to create a simple motion sensor for MySensors, and a microbit has all I need on board.

In general, MySensors and MicroBit could be a great combination for education and fun?

[NeverDie]

@alowhum Sounds like a good idea.

[Nca78]

@alowhum it's an nrf51822 so you can, but the interrupt management on nrf51822/arduino needs some tweaking to get really low power.

[alowhum]

@Nca78 I ordered one, it should arrive tomorrow. Would you be willing to help me out in making it ultra low power once I get started?

[Nca78]

@alowhum said in 💬 MySensors NRF5 Platform:

@Nca78 I ordered one, it should arrive tomorrow. Would you be willing to help me out in making it ultra low power once I get started?

If you're planning to use only one interrupt, it will not be very difficult, @NeverDie made some code for the low power comparator, search "LPCOMP" to find the posts in the NRF5 thread.
The constraint is you need the interrupt pin to be in the range of 1-8 (not 100% sure, you need to double check what pin numbers are available with LPCOMP).

[phil2020]

Are there any plans to update the mysensors nRF5 boards definition to now support the nRF52840? I saw that Adafruit have now added support and are offering a feather based on this module https://www.adafruit.com/product/4062. There is also this listing for a module with 1.27 mm spacing on Alibaba https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/low-energy-mesh-network-UART-module_60816297852.html

[Toyman]

I thought I mastered nrf5 platform bit it looks I am not.
I have a PCB where i2c sensor is hardwired to po30 and po31 of nrf52832.
What changes I have to make in MyBoardNRF5.cpp?
Shall I bring lines 28/29 that have "A4" and "A5" in their desciption to 30th and 31st position in the list?

[nagelc]

I think you can just set the I2C pins in MyBoardNRF5.h without remapping the pins in MyBoardNRF5.cpp.
Look in MyBoardNRF5.h, under the Wire Interfaces section. Set SDL and SCA to 30 and 31 as appropriate for your board.