nRF5 action!
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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! :)
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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).
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Now if they could put it in a maker friendly package..
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Now if they could put it in a maker friendly package..
@alowhum I don't think Nordic ever will, though for the $10 price the dongle comes pretty close, except for the limited castellated pinout, which is inconvenient though nicely small. I'm quite sure Adafruit and Sparkfun and maybe some others will though. I think from a purely hardware point of view it pretty much blows away the Arduinos since it includes an integrated radio and is low power and has the huge flash and memory and all the other goodies.
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I've started a new thread for everything related to nRF52840: https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/9717/everything-nrf52840
So, going forward, I'll mostly be posting there, unless it's for earlier products like the nRF52832 or the nRF51.
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This company has the cheapest arduino-ish board I've found.
It consists of a dev board..
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/NRF51822-2-4G-Wireless-Module-Wireless-Communication-Module-Bluetooth-module-zigbee-module-DMX512/32726191346.html...and the little module you place in it:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/NRF51822-2-4G-Wireless-Module-Wireless-Communication-Module-Bluetooth-module-zigbee-module-DMX512/32726191346.htmlTotal cost: about 13 euros.
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I just turned the BBC Micro:bit board into a MySensors repeater. No problem, went totally smooth.
The cheapest Micro-bit I've found is $18 on Aliexpress.
Lady Ada has a great PDF tutorial, full of little code snippets, to help you get started with all the onboard sensors it comes with.
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I just turned the BBC Micro:bit board into a MySensors repeater. No problem, went totally smooth.
The cheapest Micro-bit I've found is $18 on Aliexpress.
Lady Ada has a great PDF tutorial, full of little code snippets, to help you get started with all the onboard sensors it comes with.
@alowhum Thanks for your post. I just now looked on ebay, and there's an entire eco-system of little ad-ons for the micro bit! Lots of displays, buttons, sensors, power packs, etc.
I thought there would be a vast supply on ebay of cheap used BBC micro bits, but I didn't see any. Not sure, but maybe on the UK ebay they can be found. After all, I think a lot were given away for free initially by a magazine or something.
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Yes, a million were handed out to school children. And if you buy one now, one is given to a child (theoretically).
The ecosystem of attachment is indeed impressive. Parents who want their children to embrace and succeed in technology, there's quite some money to be made there.
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Well, this is interesting: you can run micropython on your micro bit: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1260117588/ref=rdr_ext_tmb
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Not sure if it is allowed, else I remove this post, but the nrf52832's at ebyte are for sale (50% off)the coming 2 days.cdebyte AliExpress I sure grab myself some (max 2 at a time, but last time I ordered multiple times :)) only €2,62 a piece
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Not sure if it is allowed, else I remove this post, but the nrf52832's at ebyte are for sale (50% off)the coming 2 days.cdebyte AliExpress I sure grab myself some (max 2 at a time, but last time I ordered multiple times :)) only €2,62 a piece
@omemanti said in nRF5 action!:
Not sure if it is allowed, else I remove this post, but the nrf52832's at ebyte are for sale (50% off)the coming 2 days.cdebyte AliExpress I sure grab myself some (max 2 at a time, but last time I ordered multiple times :)) only €2,62 a piece
Your post is perfectly fine, and I would even encourage it. It makes good sense to share tips like that.
The funny thing is that the 50% price is, IIRC, close to what the original price was when it was first introduced. Then the price slowly crept up from there.
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@omemanti said in nRF5 action!:
Not sure if it is allowed, else I remove this post, but the nrf52832's at ebyte are for sale (50% off)the coming 2 days.cdebyte AliExpress I sure grab myself some (max 2 at a time, but last time I ordered multiple times :)) only €2,62 a piece
Your post is perfectly fine, and I would even encourage it. It makes good sense to share tips like that.
The funny thing is that the 50% price is, IIRC, close to what the original price was when it was first introduced. Then the price slowly crept up from there.
@neverdie well, July 2017 they were €4,15. So they went up around 1 euro in a year. FYI the last one I bought was about 5 months ago since then they went up from version 1,1 to 1,3.
Also, the item number changed a bit (but the datasheet checks out).
It went from E73-2G4M04S to E73-2G4M04S1B, and the introduced a nrf52810 E73-2G4M04S1A with the same footprint and pinout. -
@neverdie well, July 2017 they were €4,15. So they went up around 1 euro in a year. FYI the last one I bought was about 5 months ago since then they went up from version 1,1 to 1,3.
Also, the item number changed a bit (but the datasheet checks out).
It went from E73-2G4M04S to E73-2G4M04S1B, and the introduced a nrf52810 E73-2G4M04S1A with the same footprint and pinout. -
@neverdie well, July 2017 they were €4,15. So they went up around 1 euro in a year. FYI the last one I bought was about 5 months ago since then they went up from version 1,1 to 1,3.
Also, the item number changed a bit (but the datasheet checks out).
It went from E73-2G4M04S to E73-2G4M04S1B, and the introduced a nrf52810 E73-2G4M04S1A with the same footprint and pinout. -
@alowhum IIRC, the crystal oscillator is only required by Bluetooth. For everything else, the internal resonator is sufficient.
@neverdie Sorry, im a bit confused.
If im are going to use the BT832 for a battery sensor do I need to connet a 32 khz crystal like you did on the 10+ years wireless PIR Sensor (on just one set of 3 AA's!) project? But you have also written:
@neverdie said in nRF5 action!:@alowhum IIRC, the crystal oscillator is only required by Bluetooth. For everything else, the internal resonator is sufficient.
How much more current are used if the crystal is not connected?
Can I use P00/P01 as a data pin instead of using the crystal?
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You don't need the crystal. Not sure difference in current. Yes, to your last question.
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@omemanti said in nRF5 action!:
@nca78 yeah I noticed that, what is the downside of the NRF52810?
At least lower memory (ram and flash) and I don't know for the peripherals. Not sure if the core for nrf52832 will work flawlessly or not. Given the tiny price difference it's better to stick to nrf52832.
Low frequency crystal will make you save energy when you use Bluetooth, because it needs to wake up at precise time frames to send/receive data. Do in that case the internal oscillator is not precise enough and mcu has to wake up regularly to recalibrate it with high frequency clock.
For MySensors, it's not useful. -
@omemanti said in nRF5 action!:
@nca78 yeah I noticed that, what is the downside of the NRF52810?
At least lower memory (ram and flash) and I don't know for the peripherals. Not sure if the core for nrf52832 will work flawlessly or not. Given the tiny price difference it's better to stick to nrf52832.
Low frequency crystal will make you save energy when you use Bluetooth, because it needs to wake up at precise time frames to send/receive data. Do in that case the internal oscillator is not precise enough and mcu has to wake up regularly to recalibrate it with high frequency clock.
For MySensors, it's not useful.@nca78 There is no downside to using the nRF52810. It depends on your needs. If you can live with 192K Flash and 24K RAM and a stack that supports peripheral only (at this time) then you are good. The device can use the internal 32Khz RC osc for BTLE and there is a slight current consumption hit as the receive window will be longer. (+/- 500ppm) . No different then on the nRF52832. as stated, a 32Khz crystal will give you a tighter clock and lower current consumption.
This is a scaled down version of the nRF52832 so there are some peripherals that have been taken out or reduced. PWM for example, only one. No NFC, 1x SPI Master or Slave, (instead of 3), No I2s...... The full datasheet and product briefs are available on Nordic's website so you can A-B the features.
