nRF5 action!

[NeverDie]

Here is a photo to document the solution which worked:

For some reason the wiring shown in the Sparkfun and Bluey photos using header P20 didn't work for me, but using the ten pin P19 header, in combination with externally powering the Adafruit nRF52832 Feather, did work. :) So far, this is the only solution I've found which works from the Microsoft Windows environment using the Arduino IDE. So, this is what I'm going to move forward with.

[NeverDie]

So, I have the Mysensors Light Sensor demo sketch running now on the Adafruit. I'm sorry to report though that the range is not good. Not sure why. Maybe it's that chip antenna Adafruit is using on its nRF52 Feather? Now that I know this, I won't be buying any more of them.

[Terrence]

@NeverDie Good work, I am glad you have successfully programmed a chip from the DK.

Do you think we should open a new thread devoted to all of this Bluetooth action?

[NeverDie]

@Terrence said in Bluetooth action!:

@NeverDie Good work, I am glad you have successfully programmed a chip from the DK.

Do you think we should open a new thread devoted to all of this Bluetooth action?

Meh, I'll leave that up to the moderator. Meanwhile, I changed this thread's title to match your catch phrase.

[NeverDie]

@MiKa said in nRF5 Bluetooth action!:

next nice board with NRF 52832

http://www.espruino.com/Puck.js

Thanks for your post! Looks as though they have some very nice tutorials to go with it. That really sets it apart and makes it much more desirable.

Perhaps most significant of all: it claims it can be "programmed and debugged wirelessly"! Well, that makes sense, given the nature of its language.

[gohan]

@NeverDie said in nRF5 Bluetooth action!:

BTW, the adafruit LED works the opposite of the DK LED: on the Adafruit (as with most Arduino's), LOW means OFF, and HIGH means ON. For some reason the DK is the opposite of that.

Maybe it is like the esp32 that the led is connected to vcc and not to gnd

[Terrence]

@NeverDie said in nRF5 Bluetooth action!:

Meanwhile, I changed this thread's title to match your catch phrase

Perfect.

[NeverDie]

Looks as though the nRF52832 sparkfun board has more of a conventional trace antenna:

though isn't it somewhat odd that it appears to also be directly connected to the ground plane(?), or at least a copper pour. Is that normal? This was one of the images produced by sending their .BRD file to oshpark, so that I could get a look at the antenna.

[jpb]

http://news.silabs.com/2016-11-08-Bluetooth-SiP-Module-from-Silicon-Labs-Offers-Worlds-Smallest-Footprint-for-IoT-End-Nodes

Please, take a look at the Soc version, only 3,33,10,5 ... Ok it is a Soc version ...

but unbelievable ....
BR
JP
Same question for WIFI bgn and bng/ac ... including a low power CortexM4F also ?

[NeverDie]

@jpb said in nRF5 Bluetooth action!:

http://news.silabs.com/2016-11-08-Bluetooth-SiP-Module-from-Silicon-Labs-Offers-Worlds-Smallest-Footprint-for-IoT-End-Nodes

Please, take a look at the Soc version, only 3,33,10,5 ... Ok it is a Soc version ...

but unbelievable ....
BR
JP
Same question for WIFI bgn and bng/ac ... including a low power CortexM4F also ?

@jpb
Nice, but for present purposes the problem is that it doesn't use a Nordic nRF5. The existing mysensors development release doesn't support bluetooth per se, but rather the nRF24-type modes of the nRF5 chip. A chip from a non-Nordic chip manufacturer wouldn't support those modes.

What will be interesting is if/when mysensors does in some way support bluetooth proper, at which point maybe some kinds (?) of bluetooth interactions with non-nordic bluetooth devices may be possible. Nordic has a bluetooth stack available for use on its nRF5 chips, and so it's ripe for integration.

[NeverDie]

For people who like coincell motes, this type of PCB design should be easy to put together:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/iBeacon-Module-Bluetooth-4-0-BLE-Support-Near-field-Positioning-Sensor-Wireless-Acquisition/2049663760.html?spm=2114.search0104.3.32.DOxJ8e&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_4_10152_10065_10151_10068_10130_10084_10083_10080_10082_10081_10110_10178_10137_10111_10060_10112_10113_10155_10114_10154_438_10056_10055_10054_10182_10059_100031_10099_10078_10079_10103_10073_10102_5360020_10189_10052_10053_10142_10107_10050_10051-normal#cfs,searchweb201603_1,ppcSwitch_4&btsid=4fa0fbcf-4595-46be-bd67-15faeeec2be5&algo_expid=f9915ec2-6be8-4ffb-aa7c-5da25d04f4a1-4&algo_pvid=f9915ec2-6be8-4ffb-aa7c-5da25d04f4a1

[NeverDie]

I have some of these 1.27mm 10 pin box connectors on order from Aliexpress (above), but I'm ordering a few more from Digikey so I can get them faster:
https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/3220-10-0100-00/1175-1627-ND/3883661
It should make wire-ups for chip programming/debugging a lot easier.

Of course, I'd most prefer to do it all wirelessly.... Has anyone reading this had any success with that, or know of anyone who has without resorting to espruino?

[NeverDie]

If we upload to an nRF52840 the current mysensors demo code examples for an nRF52832, will it work? Anyone tried it?

[d00616]

@NeverDie said in nRF5 Bluetooth action!:

If we upload to an nRF52840 the current mysensors demo code examples for an nRF52832, will it work? Anyone tried it?

The 52840 is currently unsupported:
https://github.com/sandeepmistry/arduino-nRF5/issues/70

You can try the source code from: https://github.com/lpercifield/arduino-nRF5/tree/nrf52840

[NeverDie]

In that case I think I may order another nRF52832 DK, because I want to establish very soon some kind of reasonable baseline for the kind of range I should expect. The adafruit nRF52832 Feather seems to have awful range, and I'm not sure if that's what I should expect generally, or whether it's just that particular design/device. If it turns out to be true for nRF52832 generally, then I may just shelve things and wait for the nRF52840 to become supported and then try again with that.

[Terrence]

@NeverDie

[NeverDie]

I found I could improve reception from the Adafruit nRF52832 Feather by using an PA+LNA boosted nRF24L01. So, although this feels a bit like a step backward, it's at least workable and fairly cheap. Also, it need only go onto a gateway, thereby allowing other motes to potentially use smaller nRF5 modules. :)

[NeverDie]

I have this on order to serve the purpose:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/E01-ML01DP5-Ebyte-2-4GHz-20dBm-2100m-nRF24L01-SPI-Wireless-transceiver-module/32638720689.html
though yesterday I tested the idea using one of these:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Smart-Electronics-1Set-2-4G-1100-Meters-Long-Distance-NRF24L01-PA-LNA-Wireless-Transceiver-Communication-Modules/32707423150.html?spm=2114.search0204.3.105.TGUiz5&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_4_10152_10065_10151_10068_10130_10084_10083_10080_10082_10081_10110_10178_10137_10111_10060_10112_10113_10155_10114_10154_438_10056_10055_10054_10182_10059_100031_10099_10078_10079_10103_10073_10102_5360020_10189_10052_10053_10142_10107_10050_10051-10111,searchweb201603_5,ppcSwitch_4_ppcChannel&btsid=a7086a85-885c-430a-a6db-e8f80171efc1&algo_expid=959e3532-756a-47c5-8de7-461b096da1d9-10&algo_pvid=959e3532-756a-47c5-8de7-461b096da1d9

[NeverDie]

Here's a demo of the high speed feature of nRF52 on a Samsung S8 phone:
https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/blogs/1106/bluetooth-5-2mbps-demo-with-nrf52-series-and-samsu/

It occurs to me now how much more interesting this will get when phones later have the nRF52840 in them and can do long range bluetooth communication.

[Terrence]

@NeverDie >>1100-Meters Long-Distance

That would be impressive.