nRF5 action!

[Terrence]

@NeverDie said in Minimalist SAMD21 TQFP32 Pro Mini:

most of what I learn with the 832 will be applicable to the 840

Right. I have been trying to get my head around the BT communication pattern. It is a different beast indeed.

[NeverDie]

Looks as though the 52 Thingy might be a good starting point for some people:
http://www.mouser.com/new/nordicsemiconductor/nordic-thingy-52/

[NeverDie]

What I'm not sure about is whether the NRF52832 will have truly adequate indoor range. Max tx power is 4db, which is better than the 0db of the NRF24L01. Will that be enough? I can only guess. That's why I ordered two of the Adafruit NRF52832 feathers: to see for myself. If they disappoint, then I may shelve them until the 840 becomes more available, and then try again using the 840. On the other hand, if the 832 turns out to be "good enough", then the 840 may not matter so much.

I do like that it apparently is programmable from within the Arduino IDE. That will make trying it out a lot easier. If the OTA uploads are easy to do, then I'll be really happy. :)

[scalz]

@NeverDie
nrf52832 is definitely better than nrf24l01. if i'm not wrong, 4db can double range in theory.
For range, an important point is the antenna, as you already know.
Chip antenna can be ok, depending on the environment and usecase, but can't compete with a rfm69. These antennas are not for long range, so the adafruit board. How to miniaturize antennas without loosing performance..

[NeverDie]

@scalz said in Minimalist SAMD21 TQFP32 Pro Mini:

These antennas are not for long range, so the adafruit board. How to miniaturize antennas without loosing performance..

Good point. Looks as though the aliexpress module I referenced above, though, does have some kind of antenna connector on it:

So, maybe plugging something (?) into that would give better range?

Also, I just now read that these 832 modules can communicate with the older NRF24L01's. Is that true? That would be nice.

[scalz]

@NeverDie
yes these one looks better. looks like you can also tune ant (there are some footprints).
note the "meandered" antenna. it reduces antenna size, needs some tuning, a bit less efficient vs others type. but maybe better than chip antenna i think. and you have the ipex in case, cool!
Not so cheap (not fcc) but interesting i agree.

Yes, indeed! it's compatible with nrf24 thx to @d00616
You should try, i'm using my nrf52 board (aeos) with my esp32 gw (halo) :)
And the cherry, with VS Micro, and multiple serial monitors in same ide ;)

[Terrence]

@scalz said in Minimalist SAMD21 TQFP32 Pro Mini:

And the cherry, with VS Micro, and multiple serial monitors in same ide

Guys I have been developing with VS Code (free) for Arduino type coding. been very happy with it. It does not have multi serial monitors (not that I know of).
Anyone else using VS Code?

[NeverDie]

@Terrence said in Minimalist SAMD21 TQFP32 Pro Mini:

@scalz said in Minimalist SAMD21 TQFP32 Pro Mini:

And the cherry, with VS Micro, and multiple serial monitors in same ide

Guys I have been developing with VS Code (free) for Arduino type coding. been very happy with it. It does not have multi serial monitors (not that I know of).
Anyone else using VS Code?

What are its advantages that are the reason for your preferring it?

[Terrence]

@NeverDie I prefer it over the Arduino platform, not VS Micro.

It is a super lightweight editor, but really powerful with added extensions.
In Windows Explorer, right click a folder and click on "Open with Code' and the folder and all code files are there.

I have been using Visual Studio for work for a decade. It is a very heavy capable environment, but too heavy for simple ino projects.

I used VS Micro 3 years ago or so, but I can't compare the two.

https://code.visualstudio.com/

Here is a snip showing the Arduino extension.

[NeverDie]

I received the adafruit nrf52 feathers today, and I'm really quite shocked: adafruit doesn't supply any demo code (at least none that I can find) which would allow two nrf52 feathers to talk to one another. In fact, most of the demo code has nothing to do with bluetooth at all! This is very disappointing.

[Yveaux]

@NeverDie I guess they just rely on mySensors for the communication :-)

[NeverDie]

@Yveaux said in Minimalist SAMD21 TQFP32 Pro Mini:

@NeverDie I guess they just rely on mySensors for the communication :-)

Wait, does mysensors demo code already work using the nrf52832?

If not, does anyone know of some demo code somewhere that demos two 832's communicating (like there's plenty of demo code already for the NRF24L01)? I really don't want to figure this out from scratch using just the datasheet. Been there and done that already with the RFM69, and I don't want to have to do it again with the NRF52832. If there is not already a good "load and go" demo somewhere, then I'm going to return these modules to Amazon.

[scalz]

@NeverDie
Adafruit only provides examples for Bluetooth.

regarding mysensors, i have answered here https://forum.mysensors.org/post/70297 ;)

[scalz]

@NeverDie

sidenote i forgot to say:

your adafruit board should have a bootloader inside, so you can burn a sketch from arduino just by using ftdi (and allows some other features like ota etc). This is why i've also added dtr signal on my aeos in case.

But I've not tried this configuration yet, and if i'm not wrong adafruit added freertos to their core files.
So, i have no idea if burning a mysensors sketch by using adafruit boards in Arduino (so their core) will work out of the box.

As, for the moment, i burn my mcus by using swd programmer (like for the atsam), and use the sandeep core files, in Arduino board manager, with custom board definition regarding my boards as i have not this adafruit board,I made mine before, else i would have ordered one :).

I hope my explanations are clear, don't hesitate in case ;)

[NeverDie]

@scalz
I've been able to run Blink on the Adafruit NRF52 by compiling the Adafruit example Blink program within the Arduino IDE and then uploading it to the Adafruit NRF52 over the USB cable using the Arduino IDE, if that's what you mean. That part seems to work as intended, and it behaves just like any other Arduino in that respect. It's just that I had wrongly imagined that NRF52's would be communicating with each other using Bluetooth, and instead it sounds like (?) they'll actually be using a different, non-Bluetooth mode, for that--which is fine by me.

If I understand you correctly, I should be able to just upload the mysensors demo code (one for a gateway and one for a node) to my two Adafruit NRF52's, and that's all it should take for them to then be communicating in a normal mysensors way. Is that right? If so, that would be very welcome news indeed.

[scalz]

@NeverDie
yes, you just need to do this

[NeverDie]

@scalz
Are you sure? I just tried compiling the SerialGateway example inside the Arduino IDE with the board set to "Adafruit Bluefruit NRF52 Feather, " and it won't even compile. Looking at mysensors.h file, I think I can see why:

// Enable radio "feature" if one of the radio types was enabled
#if defined(MY_RADIO_NRF24) || defined(MY_RADIO_RFM69) || defined(MY_RADIO_RFM95) || defined(MY_RS485)
#define MY_SENSOR_NETWORK
#endif

// HARDWARE
#if defined(ARDUINO_ARCH_ESP8266)
#include "core/MyHwESP8266.cpp"
#elif defined(ARDUINO_ARCH_AVR)
#include "drivers/AVR/DigitalWriteFast/digitalWriteFast.h"
#include "core/MyHwAVR.cpp"
#elif defined(ARDUINO_ARCH_SAMD)
#include "core/MyHwSAMD.cpp"
#elif defined(__linux__)
#include "core/MyHwLinuxGeneric.cpp"
#endif

The library seems to have no recognition capability for either the NRF52 nor for any board based on it.

What do I need to modify to get it to work? Anyone know?

[Yveaux]

@NeverDie what MySensors library are you using? Nrf52 is only supported in development.

[scalz]

@NeverDie

Yveaux is right, you need to use development branch of Mysensors, and just need to enable this define:
#define MY_RADIO_NRF5_ESB

You can also get more details here:
https://www.openhardware.io/view/376/MySensors-NRF5-Platform

[NeverDie]

I had been using the publicly released Mysensors library, but after your suggestions I switched over to the developers release.

So, now a new obstacle: if I compile using the board set as an Adafruit Bluefruit nRF52 Feather, I get the following fatal compile error:

Build options changed, rebuilding all
In file included from C:\Users\CoolerMaster\Documents\Arduino\mysensors sketches\GatewaySerial_v002\GatewaySerial_v002.ino:85:0:

C:\Users\CoolerMaster\Documents\Arduino\libraries\MySensors/MySensors.h:352:2: error: #error No support for nRF5 radio on this platform

 #error No support for nRF5 radio on this platform

  ^

exit status 1
Error compiling for board Adafruit Bluefruit nRF52 Feather.

However, if I switch over to the "Generic nRF52" board from Nordic Semiconductor, it compiles just fine, but it hangs while uploading. :(