nRF5 action!

[NeverDie]

@omemanti That PIR sensor lens sure has a small footprint. I'll be interested to hear how well it performs and whether you like it or not.

[Omemanti]

@neverdie it's the AM612, and in the little tests I did so far, it did great.

[alowhum]

@maciekczwa If you could share a guide to unlocking these devices, I would be very grateful. I'm have a bit of trouble still. I create an JLink device form an STM32. But even that gives the same general error on all my modules.

nrfjprog --recover
ERROR: JLinkARM DLL reported an error. Try again. If error condition
ERROR: persists, run the same command again with argument --log, contact Nordic
ERROR: Semiconductor and provide the generated log.log file to them.

I tried lots of DLL versions, and a new version of nrfjprog.. no luck.

nrfjprog --recover --log
nrfjprog verion 9.7.0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FUNCTION: open_dll.
FUNCTION: open_dll.
FUNCTION: enum_emu_snr.
FUNCTION: enum_emu_snr.
FUNCTION: enum_emu_snr.
FUNCTION: enum_emu_snr.
FUNCTION: connect_to_emu_with_snr.
FUNCTION: connect_to_emu_with_snr.
FUNCTION: connect_to_emu_without_snr.
FUNCTION: enum_emu_snr.
Device "NRF52832_XXAA" selected.
FUNCTION: read_connected_emu_snr.
FUNCTION: read_connected_emu_snr.
FUNCTION: read_device_family.
FUNCTION: read_device_family.
JLinkARM.dll CORESIGHT_WriteAPDPReg returned error -1.
JLinkARM.dll CORESIGHT_WriteAPDPReg returned error -102.
FUNCTION: close_dll.
FUNCTION: close_dll.

[Mars Warrior]

@alowhum, you seem to need Jlink Commander:

@toyman said in nRF5 Bluetooth action!:

@alowhum I intentionally asked you because I know the problem exists.
You need to erase the chip via Jlink Commander. Neither nrfjprog nor anything alse will work (AFAIK)
Actually, it was @NeverDie who found it in the beginning of his quest with nrf52. "The thing that started it all" (c)

Furthermore, It would be nice to have a small step-by-step guide to unlock and then program the ebyte module.
@Omemanti and @NeverDie are using these modules, so should be able to write something up that works for other ppl

(My ebyte modules are still on their way)

[Omemanti]

@mars-warrior @alowhum

For uploading code onto the Ebyte modules I use an ST-Link V2 (2 dollar USB modules).

• Install the USB-Driver using Zadig

• Connect the DIO, CLK VCC, and GND.
  For testing purposes, I soldered just the tips of some Dupont cables to the Ebyte module and put the female parts on the ST-link.

• The first time I want to upload code, I first "burn the bootloader" (Tools => burn Bootloader) (https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/6961/nrf5-bluetooth-action/386)
  This will give an error.
  After that, you should be able to upload sketches.

[Nca78]

@omemanti said in nRF5 Bluetooth action!:

• The first time I want to upload code, I first "burn the bootloader" (Tools => burn Bootloader) (https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/6961/nrf5-bluetooth-action/386)
  This will give an error.
  After that, you should be able to upload sketches.

That's what I suggested earlier but it seems it didn't work. But I don't remember if it was with an stlink.

[Omemanti]

@alowhum
maybe a very stupid question, but did you check all the wires and after that if your computer uses the right drivers.

I took me quite a while to figure this out myself. Especially the driver part messes things up. Errors everywhere that referred to different problems, but after I used Zadig they all disappeared.

[NeverDie]

@mars-warrior said in nRF5 Bluetooth action!:

@Omemanti and @NeverDie are using these modules, so should be able to write something up that works for other ppl

As I've said many times previoiusly, I use the nRF52 DK to program external modules, and it's what I recommend for noobs because it's relatively hassle free. If you're able to use the $2 st-link v2 programmer then great, my hat's off to you. If not, I recommend the nRF52 DK rather than get frustrated and give up.

[alowhum]

@neverdie said in nRF5 Bluetooth action!:

nRF52 DK

Which hardware programmer do you use with that?

I find many of these software packages, like Segger's JLink stuff, are made for Windows (I'm on a mac).

[gohan]

@alowhum you can still install windows on it

[Omemanti]

@alowhum by programmer you mean in something like the Arduino ide? That's what I use ( I both use the nrf52dk =>j-link aswell the st-link v2 => st-link)

[alowhum]

@Omemanti I didn't realise the nRF52-DK was a hardware device. I thought it was a software program.

On the picture you provided (thanks!), are pin 6 and 8 connected to a serial port to read what's going on? Your ground is connected in a different place than mine (I connect it next to the VCC pin). I suspect both those side-pins near the antenna, at the top, where you have soldered something, are ground too, right?

[Omemanti]

@alowhum said in nRF5 Bluetooth action!:

@Omemanti I didn't realise the nRF52-DK was a hardware device. I thought it was a software program.

The nrf52 dev kit= > NRF52 Dev kit

To connect the DK to a module :
DK Ebyte module
GND(detect) => GND
SWDIO => SWDIO
SWDCLK => SWCLK
VTG => 3,3V
3,3V => 3,3V
GND =>GND

select J-link and there you go.

On the picture you provided (thanks!), are pin 6 and 8 connected to a serial port to read what's going on?

I used Pin 6 and 8 to connect to a FTDI to read out the serial. Since you can tell the sketch where to put the RX and TX I just connected them to 6 & 8.

Your ground is connected in a different place than mine (I connect it next to the VCC pin).

the Ebyte module has multiple GND connections, I messed the one next to the VCC up so I connected them next to the antenna. Just because I was easy

I suspect both those side-pins near the antenna, at the top, where you have soldered something, are ground too, right?

Indeed!

[alowhum]

JLinkExe gives me this:

---

WARNING: RESET (pin 15) high, but should be low. Please check target hardware.

---

I already had some signs these EByte modules have a reset issue. As it they are constantly being reset. This points to that again. hmm.

[Omemanti]

@alowhum

Hey, sorry, I'm not familiar with your error messages.

Can you please sum everything up what you did so far and what your setup looks like (pic)

• Drivers
• Libraries
• what software you use
• Number of modules you tested
• etc

just to retrace your steps ( It might be useful to post it in a separate topic to keep this one cleaner ) => https://forum.mysensors.org/category/5/troubleshooting

[Nca78]

For those interested, NRF52840 is already available on AliExpress from HolyIOT, it's the revision 1 of the chip, too bad they put a chip antenna

https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Nordic-nRF52840-Bluetooth-module-grid-development-board-BLE5-0-Bluetooth-serial-low-power-voice-long-distance/420533_32868365660.html

[Edit] They also have the most compact NRF24 compatible gateway ever, for 10$
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Nordic-nRF52832-BLE-4-0-4-2-5-0-USB-UART-BLE-dongle-for-computer/420533_32862480389.html

[NeverDie]

Looks as though there is also a new DK for the nRF52840 as well:
https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/nordic-semiconductor-asa/NRF52840-DK/1490-1072-ND/8593726
just not in stock.

Looks like HolyIOT is ahead of the curve on this chip.

[alowhum]

@nca78 said in nRF5 Bluetooth action!:

https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Nordic-nRF52832-BLE-4-0-4-2-5-0-USB-UART-BLE-dongle-for-computer/420533_32862480389.html

Cool!

[Nca78]

@alowhum said in nRF5 Bluetooth action!:

@nca78 said in nRF5 Bluetooth action!:

https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Nordic-nRF52832-BLE-4-0-4-2-5-0-USB-UART-BLE-dongle-for-computer/420533_32862480389.html

Cool!

If you buy one, buy the "black" version, it's a bit bigger but it's because it has a PCB antenna, range will be better.

[Toyman]

@nca78 I don't recognize any LDO on the PCB while it has USB power supply. How is 5V converted to 3.3v?

[alowhum]

@toyman said in nRF5 Bluetooth action!:

@nca78 I don't recognize any LDO on the PCB while it has USB power supply. How is 5V converted to 3.3v?

I was wondering the exact same thing!

[scalz]

small internal dcdc converter

[Nca78]

@alowhum said in nRF5 Bluetooth action!:

@toyman said in nRF5 Bluetooth action!:

@nca78 I don't recognize any LDO on the PCB while it has USB power supply. How is 5V converted to 3.3v?

I was wondering the exact same thing!

Look at bottom of page 6 and top left of "schematic" on page 9 of the CP2104 datasheet. It can supply up to 100mA.
https://www.silabs.com/documents/public/data-sheets/cp2104.pdf

[NeverDie]

Can someone please provide a link to the module being discussed? I tried looking on Aliexpress, and I don't see anything which matches.

[Nca78]

@neverdie it's this link, in the description on aliexpress you can see the internal PCB "module"
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Nordic-nRF52832-BLE-4-0-4-2-5-0-USB-UART-BLE-dongle-for-computer/420533_32862480389.html

[Toyman]

@nca78 Got it. So it's kinda Arduino Nano, but nrf52-based.

[NeverDie]

@nca78 said in nRF5 Bluetooth action!:

@neverdie it's this link, in the description on aliexpress you can see the internal PCB "module"
https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/tag-connect-llc/TC2030-CLIP/TC2030-CLIP-ND/2605371

? Plug of nails?

[Toyman]

@neverdie https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Nordic-nRF52832-BLE-4-0-4-2-5-0-USB-UART-BLE-dongle-for-computer/420533_32862480389.html

[NeverDie]

I dropped "Bluetooth" from the title of this thread because the thread instead evolved into the MySensors alternative to Bluetooth.

[alowhum]

How hard, or how much work, would it be to create a version of the MySensors gateway that works on one of those dongles?

[Toyman]

@alowhum my understaning, it should work out of the box

[alowhum]

Really? So something like:

• Upload gateway sketch to it (how?)
• Select "serial connection" in Domoticz?

[NeverDie]

@alowhum You'd still need a programmer

[Toyman]

@neverdie ...and some nifty soldering skills in order to connect to SWDIO/SWDCLK pads

[scalz]

i don't think you need extraordinary soldering skills, pads on bottom looks easy (pretty sure these are the programming pads)

The right question, imho, would be: can you expect from this dongle the range you would expect from a gateway ?? regarding chip antenna performance and maybe its gnd counterpoise..

[Toyman]

@scalz said in nRF5 action!:

pretty sure these are the programming pads

they are even "labeled" on the x-ray picture below

[scalz]

@Toyman yep, this confirms what i said, not difficult to access.
I didn't read the description..just looking at the pcb layout was enough to tell me poor rf range + no basic usb spec design rules (latter point is maybe not the most critical for most of people, but it just shows 1) designer wasn't aware ?? 2) this is what you get for cheap money, whereas missing parts would have cost few cents..).
Just saying, because maybe this dongle can work well enough for some people.

[Toyman]

@scalz actually, it might be ideal as a REPEATER given the form-factor. You just insertt it into any cheap USB charger and voila.

[scalz]

@Toyman that's a valid point, sure. Here, I prefer to not have repeater as much as i can, else i switch to subghz

[Jokgi]

This post is deleted!

[NeverDie]

@jokgi said in nRF5 action!:

@neverdie I would suggest holding off on purchasing a new nRF52840-PDK until the final silicon is released.

Oh! It's still not?

[Jokgi]

@scalz
I would be interested in any range testing in regard to this dongle. For ground it has whatever it is that it is plugged into. (PC, SBC, USB extention cable, etc) There will be a nRF52840 based dongle out soon. See picture above. This dongle will need to be programed over the SWD lines. No Segger on board this one..!

[scalz]

@Jokgi i'm not using usb dongle but it looks nice. (too bad 52840 is AQFN..)

[Omemanti]

@Nca78
Getting rid of the ground plains around the entire module hugely improved the range. Had to stap back to AAA batteries to fit on the board. But I'm happy with the way it's going (AA is still possible but not soldered on it just doesn't fit enough in the wall socket)

[NeverDie]

Very nice. Looks professional!

[Toyman]

Very nice indeed. I thought ground plains improve the range

[Nca78]

@toyman said in nRF5 action!:

Very nice indeed. I thought ground plains improve the range

He's talking about the ground plane around the nrf5 module, not on the full board

[gohan]

@toyman they do, but not too close to the antenna

[Nca78]

What about moving the PID-related discussion to a dedicated thread as this one is already excessively long and useful information will get lost soon ?

@neverdie said in nRF5 action!:

It was very hard to extrude it, so I always seemed to either underextrude or overstrude. I found it very hard to get the right amount exactly where it should go by just manually pressing the plunger on the solder paste syringe that the material came in.

Yes I had the same problem too... added with too old solder paste from my local shop
I just ordered a stencil together with my test PCB, I guess it's the way to go given the now very low prices of stencils (mini-stencils at 9.9$ at Seeed and I just paid 7$ + 2$ PCB at JLCPCB, same company than EasyEDA).

[gohan]

I think we should open a dedicated thread about smd

[Nca78]

@gohan said in nRF5 action!:

I think we should open a dedicated thread about smd

We had the same idea at the same time.
I moved the related posts here => https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/9412/smd-reflow-oven-pid

Not sure the title is the best, feel free to suggest a better one in the other thread

[monte]

Hello guys. Finally I've got some nrf51288 boards, like used here: https://www.openhardware.io/view/510/Button-cell-Temperature-Humidity-sensor I've hooked it up to ST Link, uploaded test sketch and everything worked fine. Then I tried to put it to sleep and measure power consumption. The best number I'm getting is 550uA... And it seems like something is completely wrong with this. Either my readings, or some bug in new version of Mysensors library or nrf5 arduino core.
To be sure it's not particular chip's bug I've checked both I've got, no differences. I've also checked current on stock BLE firmware from manufacturer it was running when they came. It was around 120uA - 200uA while presenting via bluetooth. So I guess it can't be that my readings are completely wrong. But then how can it be that bluetooth presenting consume less current than sleeping?
For now I couldn't find a solution or any hint for this, so I apologize If I am missing something, but I need help.

EDIT: I might just delete this post, but maybe someone will search for the same solution. Long story short 600uA extra is due to the lack of low frequency crystal onboard. It makes HFCLK to not shutdown and draws current during a sleep. I knew, that synth RTC will take more current but I didn't expect it to be that much.
Another question is why sleep that depends on pin change and seems doesn't require RTC consumes 1ma? I'm confused...

[monte]

To summarize, what I have for now.

• Plain mysensors sketch with empty loop consumes - 16.6mA

• The same sketch with sleep(60000); in loop - 95-100uA

• The same sketch with pinMode(10, INPUT_PULLUP); and sleep(10, FALLING, 0); - 1mA

• The sketch based on Nordicsemi example from here https://github.com/NordicPlayground/nrf51-powerdown-examples/blob/master/system_on_wakeup_on_gpio/main.c

void setup() {
  NRF_GPIO->PIN_CNF[10] = ((uint32_t)GPIO_PIN_CNF_DIR_Input        << GPIO_PIN_CNF_DIR_Pos)
                          | ((uint32_t)GPIO_PIN_CNF_INPUT_Connect    << GPIO_PIN_CNF_INPUT_Pos)
                          | ((uint32_t)GPIO_PIN_CNF_PULL_Pullup      << GPIO_PIN_CNF_PULL_Pos)
                          | ((uint32_t)GPIO_PIN_CNF_DRIVE_S0S1       << GPIO_PIN_CNF_DRIVE_Pos)
                          | ((uint32_t)GPIO_PIN_CNF_SENSE_Low   << GPIO_PIN_CNF_SENSE_Pos);
  NRF_GPIOTE->INTENSET = GPIOTE_INTENSET_PORT_Msk;
  NVIC_EnableIRQ(GPIOTE_IRQn);
  delay(2000);
  NRF_RTC1->TASKS_STOP = 1;
}

void loop() {
  NRF_RADIO->TASKS_DISABLE = 1;
  NRF_CLOCK->TASKS_HFCLKSTOP = 1;
  __WFE();
  __SEV();
  __WFE();
}

void GPIOTE_IRQHandler(void)
{
  // This handler will be run after wakeup from system ON (GPIO wakeup)
  if (NRF_GPIOTE->EVENTS_PORT)
  {
    NRF_GPIOTE->EVENTS_PORT = 0;

  }
}

While delay(2000); consumes 4mA, after stopping RTC and HFCLK and going to sleep as expected consumes less than 10uA (my meter can't read less than that so it shows just 0).

• The same code adapted for use with mysensors library:

#define MY_RADIO_NRF5_ESB

#include <MySensors.h>

void setup()
{
  NRF_GPIO->PIN_CNF[10] = ((uint32_t)GPIO_PIN_CNF_DIR_Input        << GPIO_PIN_CNF_DIR_Pos)
                          | ((uint32_t)GPIO_PIN_CNF_INPUT_Connect    << GPIO_PIN_CNF_INPUT_Pos)
                          | ((uint32_t)GPIO_PIN_CNF_PULL_Pullup      << GPIO_PIN_CNF_PULL_Pos)
                          | ((uint32_t)GPIO_PIN_CNF_DRIVE_S0S1       << GPIO_PIN_CNF_DRIVE_Pos)
                          | ((uint32_t)GPIO_PIN_CNF_SENSE_Low   << GPIO_PIN_CNF_SENSE_Pos);
  NRF_GPIOTE->INTENSET = GPIOTE_INTENSET_PORT_Msk;
  NVIC_EnableIRQ(GPIOTE_IRQn);
}

void loop()
{
  transportDisable();
  NRF_POWER->TASKS_LOWPWR = 1;
  NRF_RTC1->TASKS_STOP = 1;
  MY_HW_RTC->POWER = 0;
  MY_HW_RTC->INTENCLR = RTC_INTENSET_COMPARE0_Msk;
  MY_HW_RTC->EVTENCLR = RTC_EVTENSET_COMPARE0_Msk;
  NRF_ADC->TASKS_STOP = 1;
  NRF_ADC->ENABLE = 0;
  NRF_CLOCK->TASKS_HFCLKSTOP = 1;
  NRF_UART0->TASKS_STOPRX = 1;
  NRF_UART0->TASKS_STOPTX = 1;
  NRF_UART0->TASKS_SUSPEND = 1;
  __WFE();
  __SEV();
  __WFE();
}

void GPIOTE_IRQHandler(void)
{
  // This handler will be run after wakeup from system ON (GPIO wakeup)
  if (NRF_GPIOTE->EVENTS_PORT)
  {
    NRF_GPIOTE->EVENTS_PORT = 0;

  }
}

I know that this code is wrong, as it doesn't enable peripherals after wake up, and it I just took chunks of code from different places trying to disable whatever is running by mysensors and consumes that extra current. So in sleep this code consumes 200-230uA.

All is running on WT15822 board like this:
It doesn't have 32KHz crystal, but I program it using "Crystal Oscillator" from board menu of nrf5 arduino core.
As far as I understand some of the periferals and/or interrupts and/or timers is used by Mysensors stack and doesn't shut down when going to sleep, so it tries to use RTC, which is not available, so it wokes HFCLK, so it consumes extra current. A lot more than it should in sleep mode.

I need help with this, as I am planning to build a bucnh of simple window sensors on this board and they doesn't require wake by timer, but will be woken by extrnal pin interrupt. But for now I just can't use Mysensors sleep function to do this, because as I have described it works not as expected. Hope to get some response from you guys.

[mfalkvidd]

Great work @monte, thanks for sharing.

Just to set your expectations correctly: Very few MySensors users have tried nrf5 so far, so the combined experience is quite low. Hopefully someone has an idea on how to help you, but it could very well be that you're the community's most experienced user in this area thanks to your work.

[Nca78]

@monte thé HFCLK is on because of a hardware bug in nrf51822 when you want to wake up using pin interrupt. You have to use PORT interrupt to go really low (around 5uA).

I made some (dirty) test code to validate that with MySensors but there was not much interest in that in the forum so I switched to something else. I will not use nrf51822 but nrf52832/40, they became really cheap now and don't have this hardware bug.

[NeverDie]

@nca78 By the way, were you ever able to get multiple different interrupts working?

Here we are a year later, and I guess there's still no final silicon for the nRF52840?

[Nca78]

@neverdie it works with the code I posted.

There are a few modules available with nrf52840 now so I guess final silicon is out. But it's only available in WCSP format I think so you won't see the chip alone.

[Jokgi]

@nca78 The Rev C (COO) parts are available now and they are the production parts. (Symmetry and Nordic's other distributors have these in stock) There will be a respin of this to a Rev D to fix the REG0 issue. FYI, the current nRF52840 package is not a WCSP. It is a aQFN package. The nRF52840-Dongle is also available now. Go forth and design......

[monte]

@nca78 well, after 2 nights of intense trying and failing I've got code to work as expected. And yes, it works with PORT interrupt, its kinda more code for you to write in compare to simply using attachInterrupt function, but I'm okay with that. For me double the price of 52832 compared to 51822 is significant. And for now, for a simple sensor stuff as we do with mysensors I don't really see any advantages except that interrupt bug fixed.
Also I've found that Mysensors sleep function for nrf5 is missing one very important command, I don't know why, maybe it is nrf51822 specific and thus @d00616 missed it but in current version of Mysensors library it doesn't disable UART before sleep, that's why I was getting 120-200uA current during sleep. I still don't really know how to make pull requests on github, so I guess I will just post it here:
line 290 of MyHwNRF5.cpp should contain: NRF_UART0->ENABLE=0; and line 327: NRF_UART0->ENABLE=1; respectively. That completely disables UART on nrf51822.
I will post my complete sketch later, when I will finish it, maybe someone who strugles as I did will find it useful. Also I think we need to somehow combine all examples that were posted in this thread or at least put a list of them with links, because looking through 1654 posts is not an easy task, especially if you not sure what you are looking for exactly.

[smilvert]

@monte But you solve your issue with the WT15822 board? Can you please share your sketch?

Is the range good of the WT15822 board?

I have started sketching to create a couple of new simple temp / hum sensors (WT15822, si7021 and cr2032) and want to know if I can use WT15822 before I order a pcb

[monte]

@smilvert I think I solved issues I mentioned. But I don't have final code yet as I am waiting for parts to arrive for my board. But I think there is no problem using WT51822 board except that you'll have to manually set PORT interrupt and also set pin SENSE register which is cannot be done with arduino function pinMode().
So I guess you can order PCBs if you want, I'm going to post final sketch with explanations at the end of the month.

[Omemanti]

Hey,

I got an issue with getting my custom board with SI7021 under 450uA.

• Ebyte 52832

I use the Sparkfun library to read data from it

I did some deductions.

• When I insert sensor.begin(); it starts using quite an amount of power when sleeping.

• When I remove this line it shoots down to around the 10ua.

• I tried 2 board, that are identical, with exactly the same results

This happens also when I use this code on a board that doesn't have a SI7021 soldered onto it. So I don't think it is the SI7021.
SDA/SCL are both connected with a 10K pull-up.

My guess is that is has something to do with it being a thing with the NRF.

the readings from the SI7021 seem legit, so it works, but the sleep current wrecks my battery life.

Is there someone that can help me with this?

The same old story, when you finally go looking for help, you find your answer.
It indeed looks like it has something to do with the NRF52.
as mentioned: https://github.com/sandeepmistry/arduino-nRF5/issues/291#issuecomment-407492282

A workaround for the symptoms is known and described at:
http://infocenter.nordicsemi.com/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.nordic.infocenter.nrf52832.Rev1.errata%2Fanomaly_832_89.html&cp=2_2_1_0_1_26

Solution:

you need to add the following lines to shutdown the i2c:

NRF_TWI1->ENABLE=TWI_ENABLE_ENABLE_Disabled << TWI_ENABLE_ENABLE_Pos;
*(volatile uint32_t *)0x40004FFC = 0;
*(volatile uint32_t *)0x40004FFC;
*(volatile uint32_t *)0x40004FFC = 1;

And when you need some readings, just call "sensor.begin(); " to go on your way.

I measure 00.01 mA now, (multimeter doesnt go into the uA ranges )

Maybe @d00616, or someone else can work this into a standard routine (this is way out of my league, i can dump it into my sketch, but dont have a clue what it is doing)

[monte]

@omemanti It seems like some peripherals are not shut down before sleep. As library you've mentioned uses Wire library, it must be TWI (i2c) interface that are active during sleep and consumes extra power. I'm afraid that you will have to manually disable/enable TWI around sleep routine.
EDIT: I see you've found an answer by yourself. Just want to clarify that it isn't nrf5 chip's fault, it just how it intended to work. It doesn't automagically disable all peripherals during sleep. So, someone should write low current sleep library for nrf5 specifically, that will check the state of peripherals before sleep and disable them if needed.

[NeverDie]

Anyone played around with Nordic's nRF52840 dongle? They're $10 each, and a few places have them in stock.
https://www.nordicsemi.com/eng/Products/nRF52840-Dongle

Nordic finally has a v1.0 product specification for the nRF52840, not just the silly v0.5 that they had posted for so long. http://infocenter.nordicsemi.com/pdf/nRF52840_PS_v1.0.pdf

It has 256K RAM and 1MB of flash. I'm having difficulty imagining which applications would require that much of either one. If it were free, that would be great, but I'm afraid the large RAM becomes an energy drain. For instance, it consumes 3.16µA with System ON, full 256 kB RAM retention, and wake on RTC.

On the other hand, it consumes 0.4uA of current if System OFF, no RAM retention, and wake on reset

It consumes 16.4ma if transmitting at full power (8dBm) with DC-DC engaged.

If compared to LoRa, it's going to lose on range. However, the question is: will it be good enough in a large or otherwise difficult home environment? The specs say it should be better than either nRF24L01 and nRF52832, which seem better suited to smaller dwellings. Maybe (?) the question can be answered with a couple of dongles.

[Nca78]

@neverdie I want to, but only shop that can send me with free shipping (and not 75$ like the others) is Arrow, and it's not yet in stock there.
CDEByte sells some too now ... but with a small form factor & ceramic antenna, I'm afraid it will waste all the theoretical extra range...

[NeverDie]

I guess maybe in your case the next best alternative would be the Fanstel nRF52840 modules, which should be drop-in upgrades to whatever PCB designs you may have had that used the Fanstel nRF52832 modules. I had previously posted a few:
https://www.openhardware.io/view/499/10-years-wireless-PIR-Sensor-on-just-one-set-of-3-AAs
https://www.openhardware.io/view/491/PA-LNA-nRF52832-ESP-LINK-Shield-for-Wemos-D1-Mini-ESP8266
https://www.openhardware.io/view/489/BT832X-Power-Amplified-nRF52832-Remote-Control-with-LNA
Fortunately, the remote control I posted would still consume zero current when not in use even with the nRF52840.

I guess that PPI is unique to Nordic. I had previously supposed it was a part of the generic ARM chip design, but I didn't see it when I looked into the STM32 chips.

[NeverDie]

Come to think of it: with so much flash and RAM, I bet the nRF52840 could easily run micro Python. Now that would be interesting!

[Uhrheber]

@neverdie
In fact it can.
Adafruit has a build of their Circuitpython (Micropython fork) for the nrf52832, and there's already an early alpha for the nrf52840.
As the 52840 has native USB, they can use Micropython as it was originally intended to be, with a virtual USB drive that contains all the user code files.

[NeverDie]

@uhrheber Can it run as a USB host? Because then (with a sex change) you could maybe plug it into a USB drive and have a nice little computer.

[Uhrheber]

@neverdie No, device only.

But another thought: This thing has USB, NFC, an AES and SHA accelerator, secure storage, secure boot, random number generator, and Bluetooth.

So it would make a nice USB/NFC/Bluetooth FIDO/U2F security key!

[Uhrheber]

@neverdie said in nRF5 action!:

It has 256K RAM and 1MB of flash. I'm having difficulty imagining which applications would require that much of either one.

Bluetooth 5

[Uhrheber]

@jokgi Someone said 800 to 1000m.
https://www.reddit.com/r/electronics/comments/9b3xhv/a_simple_nrf52840_breakout_board/

[NeverDie]

I suppose plugging the Nordic dongle into a Raspberry Pi via USB would potentially make a powerful gateway with a very easy setup.

[NeverDie]

Anyone know if the dongle has a USB bootloader on it so that you can upload a sketch over the USB?

[Edit: apparently, the answer is yes: http://infocenter.nordicsemi.com/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.nordic.infocenter.nrf52%2Fdita%2Fnrf52%2Fdevelopment%2Fnrf52840_dongle%2Fgetting_started.html ]

[alowhum]

A plug and play dongle.. now there's something. A controller could theoretically take care of all the work - a user just has to plugin the dongle and it flashes it, installs mysensors..

I read it can also support Zigbee and Bluetooth. Could it support Zigbee, bluetooth and MySensors at the same time?

Wow, plug that into a Pi Zero and you have a capable controller for a smart home.

[alowhum]

This looks like an Arduino-nano/pro-mini style device with an NRF51:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Nrf51822-LIS3DH-Bluetooth-Module-CJMCU-8223-Bluetooth-acceleration-module/32821873481.html

[NeverDie]

Maybe this is old news, but it looks like Adafruit put together a nice board and software for the nRF2832. https://www.adafruit.com/product/3406

[NeverDie]

I'd like to take a crack at prograamming the nRF52840. Has anyone here tried it? I'm not sure whether the software support for it is in place yet or not. How best to get started with it? As far as compiling and uploading code goes, do I just treat it the same as an nRF2832?

[heinzv]

@neverdie I have ordered 10x nRF52832 and 2x nRF52840 from EBYTE (E73-xxxB/C). I will join you once I got them (they are on they way since 2 weeks). I'll also work together with ransyer to get new PCB's (the last we maybe together are for the ESP32).
I'm curious what distance I can get indoor with the BLE 4.2/5.0 (no extra radio) and if required, I will combine it with a LoRA RFM95 (that is also what our PCB's is made for RFM69/95 and CC1101).
I'm still working on the sensor with the 1,54" ePaper (where the ATMEGA328p is lost with its 32kB flash and even worse with the 2k RAM)

https://de.aliexpress.com/item/CDEBYTE-E73-2G4M04S-BLE-4-2-5-0-long-distance-100m-2-4GHz-SMD-ARM-Core/32820692238.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.60a94c4dZdIUhQ

this one will be tricky to solder (I'm trying to get something better to solder)
https://de.aliexpress.com/item/NRF52840-Bluetooth-5-0-240-mhz-RF-Transceiver-CDSENET-E73-2G4M08S1C-8dbm-Keramik-Antenne-BLE-4/32906661666.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.1d174c4dKW9mAo

[NeverDie]

@heinzv Well, great, the more the merrier.

[Nca78]

@heinzv said in nRF5 action!:

this one will be tricky to solder (I'm trying to get something better to solder)
https://de.aliexpress.com/item/NRF52840-Bluetooth-5-0-240-mhz-RF-Transceiver-CDSENET-E73-2G4M08S1C-8dbm-Keramik-Antenne-BLE-4/32906661666.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.1d174c4dKW9mAo

Already out of stock it seems, it's not possible to order them any more.
They seem to have both 32K crystal and inductances for DCDC, that's pretty convenient.

[NeverDie]

The answer I got on the Sandeep library made it sound rather iffy as to whether it would work for the nRF52840: https://github.com/sandeepmistry/arduino-nRF5/issues/310
or that the coverage might be rather spotty.

So, I think I may give mbed a try for programming the nRF52840, because mbed claims to support the nRF52840-DK. Also, I found what seems like a nice and simple youtube tutorial series for how to use mbed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kP_zHbC_5eM

If I have success with mbed, I may circle back to the Sandeep library and the mysensors implementation, but I'd like to start with something solid, and it appears that mbed might be.

The other nice thing is that it appears mbed provides an abstraction layer which makes easy to program a whole range of different mcu's, incuding many of the stm32's.

Anyone here familiar with or tried mbed before?

[mfalkvidd]

@neverdie I tried mbed briefly in a workshop on LoRaWAN FOTA. With the workshop instructions it was easy to use, but my impression is that Arduino has a much larger ecosystem with more libraries.

[NeverDie]

Update:
I received some nRF52840 dongles. I confirmed with Nordic that the recommended way to program them over USB is to use nRF Connect v2.5.0 which contains the nRF Programmer v1.0.0-experimental.5 application. I tried that, but I may have somehow bricked my first dongle by not pressing reset first before the upload. Either that, or because my simple program didn't initialize the USB, maybe it can't be found for that reason (I suspect so).

Luckily, I live not too far from Mouser. I should be receiving the nRF52840-DK today, so I figure that way I can unbrick the dongle.

Yesterday I played around with mbed on an nucleo board. Seems to work well (no bricking). Unfortunately, the dongle isn't an mbed device, so the methods above are required unless you program it with a DK or similar. The good news, though, is that the DK is an mbed board, so hopefully that will be smooth sailing. It turns out that USB is built into the nRF52840 chip, so it doesn't require a separate chip like a CP2102 to communicate over USB. I guess that can be good or bad depending on how your write your code.

[NeverDie]

By the way, the nRF52840-DK is even easier to program thant the nRF52832-DK. When you attach it to your PC, it shows as an additional drive in your directory. Any hex file that you copy to that drive gets uploaded and programmed onto the nRF52840. Easy.

[mfalkvidd]

@neverdie that’s how we programmed the device in the workshop as well. Very neat.

[NeverDie]

Luckily, it looks as though I can manually set any GPIO pin I want as the UART TX pin for debugging output from an nRF52840 by setting PSEL.TXD. That means I can probably re-use my PCB's from nRF52832 for the nRF52840 with just a few software adjustments even if I use mbed without the convenient pin mapping afforded by the mysensors code. So, this is starting to look more and more feasible.

[smilvert]

@NeverDie How do I know which nRF52832 board I should use?

Does the CFsunbird-nRF52832 has the DC/DC inductors?
Or can I use nRF51822?

Want a cheap chip, easy to solder (Have a couple of Ebyte e-73 but they take some time to solder and if I understand correctly, the DC / DC inductors are missing?)

[NeverDie]

@smilvert It really depends on what you want to do, but if you want a blanket recommendation, I would recommend the Fanstel modules. For one thing, they're FCC approved, and most of what you'll find on aliexpress isn't and probably wouldn't pass if it tried.

Also, the Fanstel F series has superior range compared to anything I've ever found on Aliexpress.

[NeverDie]

Even better, it turns out mbed solves the problem of handling multiple different interrupts, which no one here could figure out with the sandeep build. With mbed, it looks pretty simple in fact:

InterruptIn button1(P0_11);//(USER_BUTTON nRF52840 DK);
InterruptIn button2(P0_12);
InterruptIn button3(P0_24);
InterruptIn button4(P0_25);

void button1_pressed()
{
  led1 = led2 =led3 =led4 = 1;
  led1 = 0;
  
}

void button1_released()
{
  led1 = led2 =led3 =led4 = 1;
  //led1 = 0;
}

void button2_pressed()
{
  led1 = led2 =led3 =led4 = 1;
  led2 = 0;
  
}

void button2_released()
{
  led1 = led2 =led3 =led4 = 1;
  //led1 = 0;
}

void button3_pressed()
{
  led1 = led2 =led3 =led4 = 1;
  led3 = 0;
 // wait(0.1);
}

void button3_released()
{
  led1 = led2 =led3 =led4 = 1;
  //led1 = 0;
}

void button4_pressed()
{
  led1 = led2 =led3 =led4 = 1;
  led4 = 0;
  
}

void button4_released()
{
  led1 = led2 =led3 =led4 = 1;
  //led1 = 0;
}

int main() {
    led1 = led2 =led3 =led4 = 0;
    
    button1.fall(&button1_pressed);
    button1.rise(&button1_released);
    
    button2.fall(&button2_pressed);
    button2.rise(&button2_released);

    button3.fall(&button3_pressed);
    button3.rise(&button3_released);

    button4.fall(&button4_pressed);
    button4.rise(&button4_released);

   while (true) {}
}

[Nca78]

@neverdie said in nRF5 action!:

By the way, the nRF52840-DK is even easier to program thant the nRF52832-DK. When you attach it to your PC, it shows as an additional drive in your directory. Any hex file that you copy to that drive gets uploaded and programmed onto the nRF52840. Easy.

That's exactly what I'm doing with the NRF52832-DK already. How do you program yours ?

[NeverDie]

@nca78 IIRC, with nRF52832-DK I was using the arduino IDE to program it using the J-link programmer. Anyhow, that's now ancient history.

[smilvert]

@neverdie Im guessing that the BT832 dosen't have the 32.768 khz crystal but the inductors?

The datasheet says

Standby current consumption is important for battery-powered product. We suggest adding a 32.768 kHz crystal 
and 2 capacitors as shown in the upper left corner of the evaluation board schematics. The 32MHz main clock 
won’t be active at idle state to save power.

Two inductors required for DCDC converter are inside BT832 module. You can enable DCDC to lower
power consumption.

[scalz]

@NeverDie
cool. already tried it too. and i agree with you on this, arduino is fun at the beginning, but then you discover its limits. compatible with lot of things but incomplete That said, then you may end up converting some of your arduino libs/stuff to the new toolchain. On my side I like TI toolchain (free, tailored for iot with lot of nice tools, for debugging etc), not using it for nrf of course..
On other side, arduino is maybe "easier" to read for someone discovering coding.

[NeverDie]

@scalz said in nRF5 action!:

@NeverDie
cool. already tried it too. and i agree with you on this, arduino is fun at the beginning, but then you discover its limits. compatible with lot of things but incomplete That said, then you may end up converting some of your arduino libs/stuff to the new toolchain. On my side I like TI toolchain (free, tailored for iot with lot of nice tools, for debugging etc), not using it for nrf of course..
On other side, arduino is maybe "easier" to read for someone discovering coding.

Interesting! Does that mean you're using TI's' MSP430 as your primary mcu now?

[NeverDie]

@smilvert said in nRF5 action!:

@neverdie Im guessing that the BT832 dosen't have the 32.768 khz crystal but the inductors?

The datasheet says

Standby current consumption is important for battery-powered product. We suggest adding a 32.768 kHz crystal 
and 2 capacitors as shown in the upper left corner of the evaluation board schematics. The 32MHz main clock 
won’t be active at idle state to save power.

Two inductors required for DCDC converter are inside BT832 module. You can enable DCDC to lower
power consumption.

yup

[scalz]

@neverdie said in nRF5 action!:

Interesting! Does that mean you're using TI's' MSP430 as your primary mcu now?

nope, as usual I prefer the very best 430 isn't rf.
But I don't want to make OT (nrf, mysensors). just said this to say, you can usually get all power of a mcu by using the right tools like you noticed (pros&cons)

[NeverDie]

Unfortunately, the problemm with mbed is that it provides no real support for using the nRF52 radio in proprietary modes. I would have to code all of that from scratch.

[NeverDie]

Good news. I hadn't bricked the dongle after all. Yesterday I wrote some rather primitive code to send packets using the Nordic proprietary code and this morning I loaded it onto the dongle using its USB connector and USB Bootloader. I'm now receiving the packets on the nRF52840-DK, so that satisfies proof of concept. i.e. it works!

[NeverDie]

Even better news! The range is quite good. Not as awesome as my LoRa modules, but at 1mbps (I haven't yet tried 2mbps) and 8db Tx power, it easily beats the range of the nRF52832 for a comparable setup. So, to be fair, the LoRa's can use quite a bit more Tx power, and the LoRa datarate is far slower, so the nRF52840's seem likely to be quite a bit more energy efficient than LoRa for a home environment.

There is a 250Kbps speed available if using the 802.11.15 mode (which I haven't yet explored), and it should have even better range than the regular Nordic proprietary modes (of which there are only two: 1mbps, and 2mbps). IIRC, 802.11.15 can automatically handle retransmits and the like, and it's a proven standard. It likely handles a lot of the drudgery.

Then there's Thread, which is new to me but which it also supports and which is intended for home automation.

It has built in hardware acceleration for SHA256, which is pretty cool. CRC is handled by hardware too. Also, lots of crypto stuff for those who are into that.

So, although these are just early results, so far I'm liking it. In contrast, I was rather disappointed in the range of the nRF52832's (even though they were better than the range of an unamplified nRF24L01).