nRF5 action!

[NeverDie]

@Terrence said in Minimalist SAMD21 TQFP32 Pro Mini:

Guys, when you start using these 832 chips are you going to be programming via Bluetooth or just using the radios in some other way?

I'd like to see the work extended to include Bluetooth. Nearly everything has bluetooth these days, so leveraging that would seem to make a lot of sense. I just don't know where to start.

[Terrence]

@NeverDie said in Minimalist SAMD21 TQFP32 Pro Mini:

Nearly everything has bluetooth these days, so leveraging that would seem to make a lot of sense. I just don't know where to start

I agree.
I have done a little bit of BT programming. It seems pretty complex, but I am sure that will change once we immerse our attention in it.

[NeverDie]

I'd like to see an extremely basic script that simply has two bluetooth nodes talking back and forth to one another (maybe just increment a counter on each turn and send just that). If we could get that simple activity working, then I suspect the rest could follow more easily.

[NeverDie]

Or there's this from Arduino: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Arduino-Primo-Core-MCU-nRF52832-ARM-32-bit-64MHz-ESP8266-WiFi-BT-BLE-A0000138-/122599125462?hash=item1c8b7a31d6:g:LQkAAOSwmFNZaQRe

[Terrence]

@NeverDie Here is Kris's great looking board over on Tindie for $40
https://www.tindie.com/products/onehorse/nrf52832-development-board/

And his great GitHub repo showing how to program it.
https://github.com/kriswiner/nRF52832DevBoard

And Sandeep Mistry's Arduino core lib
https://github.com/sandeepmistry/arduino-nRF5

I am going to try and contact Kris and see if he will come over and join us.

[NeverDie]

@Terrence

All the bluetooth sketches that I've heard of so far boil down to a bluetooth node communicating with your smartphone. That's great, and I'm glad for that, but it seems more like a wireless GUI than the internet of things.

[NeverDie]

@Nca78 said in Minimalist SAMD21 TQFP32 Pro Mini:

@d00616 said in Minimalist SAMD21 TQFP32 Pro Mini:

@NeverDie said in Minimalist SAMD21 TQFP32 Pro Mini:

So, what's the smallest nRF52 module that also includes a 32Khz crystal? I think I might want to standardize as much as possible on a single module rather than juggle a bunch of different ones.

I have found the Raytec Modules. http://www.raytac.com/products.php?id=1
The smallest one is the MDBT42V 8,4x6,4x1,5mm with PCB antenna and 80m range in open space.

This module https://www.mtmtech.com.tw/M905.html is 6.5 ✕ 6.5 x 1.1 mm

M905 is impressive, but with connectors at the bottom it's impossible to hand solder...
Raytac module is what scalz used for the prototype of his "Aeos" board, pretty small but he didn't look so happy with the range.

What's great is that both nodes are built around the Nordic nRF52, so the software still works.

With such a small antenna on the small Raytac node, at least some impairment is probably unavoidable. @Scalz How many dBm are lost because of it?

Regarding the M905, if there were some company that could simply solder the M905 to a PCB of the same size with castellated pins along the edges.... we'd be set, because we could then hand solder to that. I have no idea what that would cost or what the minimum batch size would have to be for it to make economic sense. Maybe someone here knows about such things? Perhaps it's something that Itead or one of the mysensors manufacturing partners could comment on or do?

[Terrence]

@NeverDie Here is a repo from Seeed showing master and slave comms.

https://github.com/Seeed-Studio/Bluetooth_Shield_Demo_Code/tree/master/examples

Oh and it looks like Kris posted his dev board on ohw.io
https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/7160/nrf52-development-board

[NeverDie]

@d00616 said in Minimalist SAMD21 TQFP32 Pro Mini:

I have a lot of RedBear BLE Nano 2 (18x21mm) modules. It's complete including 32Khz crystal and a 3-13V voltage converter. With 2.54mm pins it's easy to solder.

Sounds like a good way to get started, as well as build quick prototypes.

[NeverDie]

@d00616 said in Minimalist SAMD21 TQFP32 Pro Mini:

I think the best option for beginners is to use an CMSIS-DAP/DAPLink adapter. Firmware and drivers are open source and there is an integrated serial port.

Is this how to wire up a CMSIS-DAP to the nRF52832?

i.e. it's the same as a j-tag wiring setup, except that you add the serial Rx and Tx lines?

[NeverDie]

Well, this is bordering on ridiculous. I received the CMSIS-DAP from Adafruit, but there is no windows driver for it. Furthermore, the company that made it (armstart) has apparently gone out of business.

[d00616]

@NeverDie said in Minimalist SAMD21 TQFP32 Pro Mini:

Is this how to wire up a CMSIS-DAP to the nRF52832?

You have to wire SWCLK and SWDIO. In a note of RedBear BLE Nano 2 i have seen, you require DAPLink >1.5 for nRF52832 support. Rx+Tx is not required for programming.

@NeverDie said in Minimalist SAMD21 TQFP32 Pro Mini:

Well, this is bordering on ridiculous. I received the CMSIS-DAP from Adafruit, but there is no windows driver for it. Furthermore, the company that made it (armstart) has apparently gone out of business.

You should see an storage device and an serial device. The serial device windows driver is available at https://developer.mbed.org/handbook/Windows-serial-configuration

[NeverDie]

@d00616 said in Minimalist SAMD21 TQFP32 Pro Mini:

The serial device windows driver is available at https://developer.mbed.org/handbook/Windows-serial-configuration

Unfortunately, when I try installing that, it says, "The driver could not be installed. No mbed Micronctrollers were found."

[gohan]

@NeverDie said in Minimalist SAMD21 TQFP32 Pro Mini:

Well, this is bordering on ridiculous. I received the CMSIS-DAP from Adafruit, but there is no windows driver for it. Furthermore, the company that made it (armstart) has apparently gone out of business.

That sucks a lot. Try searching for the hardware id you see in windows, maybe you can find some other drivers from other vendors.

[Nca78]

Has anyone noticed that a bunch of cheap Chinese "smart bands" use a nrf51822 ?
This opens some new possibilities if used as MySensors actuator !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBHyQ1OSM-4

[d00616]

@Nca78 said in Minimalist SAMD21 TQFP32 Pro Mini:

Has anyone noticed that a bunch of cheap Chinese "smart bands" use a nrf51822 ?

Yes. There are people working with it. Please read the discussion at github. There are watches with non nordic chips.

https://github.com/sandeepmistry/arduino-nRF5/issues/165

There are a lot of other hardware like the Noke Lock

Or the iStubb 2 with integrated stop up converter (maybe inductor + software) which works with 0.9V.

[NeverDie]

@d00616
Fortunately, I just received the J-link segger from aliexpress. When I plug it in, Windows seems to immediately recognize it. However, the problem is that the Arduino IDE doesn't seem to recognize it: it doesn't show up in the IDE port list under the tools menu.

I've tried installing each of the Zadig usb drivers, in turn, with no difference.

I tried installing the mbed usb windows driver, but it fails with the same error message as before.

I also tried downloading the segger software pack and installing it. Still fails.

Frustrating!

[d00616]

@NeverDie said in Minimalist SAMD21 TQFP32 Pro Mini:

I've tried installing each of the Zadig usb drivers, in turn, with no difference.

You have to remove the J-Link software completely. With my old j-link I had to install the J-Link software for Firmwareupdate. After that I removed the J-Link Software and all drivers via "device manager" (module plugged in) and reinstalled the correct driver with zadig (plugin module after starting zadig).

[NeverDie]

@d00616
OK, I'll try that. Which of those 4 Zadig usb drivers should I pick?

[d00616]

@NeverDie said in Minimalist SAMD21 TQFP32 Pro Mini:

OK, I'll try that. Which of those 4 Zadig usb drivers should I pick?

Open the windows device manager and pull/plug the device and remove all depending drivers with option to uninstall the drivers.